The Ruined Map (1968)

Like the novel it is based off, Hiroshi Teshigahara's The Ruined Map is a film that can best be described as dry. Out of the three films Teshigahara collaborated on with Kobo Abe, this is definitely the weakest. There is a rupture here between Abe's existentialism and Teshigahara's surrealist sensibilities. Both artists indulged in the macabre and bizarre, but Abe used it as a vehicle to criticize capitalist Japan, while Teshigahara was more interested in man's spiritual isolation and relations to the world. The Ruined Map follows a private detective who is hired to track down a missing man, a man who just up and vanished, but soon finds himself plunging into some sort of internal crisis as the case leads to nowhere but dead ends. The film is very dialogue-heavy, and Teshigahara is less daring in his use of cinematic language here. There is a beautiful use of 'Scope and color compositions, and I was at times reminded of what Haneke would eventually do in Cache. But overall, the sense of tension and mystery is lacking. At times I found myself more interested in clipping my nails than the endless rounds of dialogue. But when it was good, it was good. The riot scene is haunting, and the use of architecture is sublime. Overall, though, I wanted more.