A better title for this movie would be, "What Wouldn't a Man Do for a Woman Like Shima Iwashita?" When a gruff mountain man kidnaps the widow of an official he murdered, he finds himself bewitched, and takes her for his wife, his life takes a turn for the bizarre as she begins to force him to procure fresh human heads for her screwed up sex games. Is this woman even human, or is she some sort of demon from the nether-realms? Masahiro Shinoda is perhaps my favorite of all Japanese filmmakers. His style is one that can be described as minimalist expressionism; his visuals are often stark and symmetrical, and make use of minimal camera movement, but there is this vibrant and energetic passion to it, too. Like all of his films, Under the Blossoming Cherry Trees has the power of myth; it is a traditional Japanese horror story, yes, but Shinoda suffuses it with a thoroughly modern psychosexual outlook, very much in the Freudian tradition. The Demon Wife is dominating and sadistic, manipulating her lover with twisted and animalistic sex. This world of sexual and violent terror plays out against the backdrop of visually sumptuous images and an eerie Takemitsu soundtrack. Shinoda's films are always less about plot, and more about the worlds he creates; by building a somewhat theatrical barrier between the proceedings on-screen and the audience, Shinoda actually more fully envelops the viewer in his fantastical constructions, but not at the sacrifice of characterization or a gripping narrative. If there is one fault this film has, it is the abrupt transition to the second act that is set in the city. The head hunting just begins without any prior explanation as to why the wife wants these heads. Perhaps this makes it creepier, but it is also disjointed. The ending, however, is easily one of the most spine-chilling in cinema; few directors have created such pure horror.
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