A film as brilliant as it is unsettling, the story of Okuyama, a married man who gets disfigured in the face by an industrial accident and goes to a psychiatrist, who makes a mask for him to wear. Tatsuya Nakadai is not even recognized until 50 minutes into the film, otherwise his face is in bandages. Its amazing what happens from there, what Okuyama discovers about himself once he dons the mask (or, the mask dons him) and how it has changed him. If the film centered only on him it would be more than fine. However, there are two unusual female roles which deserve mention: One is a girl who is obsessed with yo-yo's and who knows that Okuyama is the person in the mask (you will see why). The other is the very pretty Miki Irie, whose story is similar to Okuyama in that she is horribly disfigured, but her hair hides it until it doesn't. Okuyama and this lady never meet, which I think is a great idea, since wearing the mask means Okuyama does not have to show his disfigurement in public. The acting is uniformly wonderful, with lesser but pivotal roles by Machiko Kyo as Okuyama's wife and Kyoko Kishida as the nurse. Just be warned that this film is in no way conventional. It is a psychological drama rather than science fiction. I thought it was excellent.
Review of The Face of Another
