It must have been back when I was looking for tickets to see Aubrey Plaza and Christopher Abbott on Broadway that made me think about the 2018 film Piercing. I didn’t watch it upon its release, but I did enjoy however many years later. In m Christopher Abbott prime, this was an odd and graphic film that floated between several different genres.
What I learned a bit later was that this film was based on a Japanese novel of the same name by prolific writer, Ryu Murakami. In looking through his history, he’s been writing bangers since the 70s! This particular story came out in 1994, and though its eventual Hollywood treatment traded two Japanese leads for American ones, didn’t dilute the premise of the story in any way. As far as I can tell, the script stayed pretty loyal to all of the oddities the book took me through, though we are missing the alternating perspectives.
In the novel, we do spend a considerable amount of time in Kawashima’s head. He’s gotten the sudden fear, since his daughter’s birth ten days ago, that he will accidentally stab her with an ice pick. He’s done it before and he has the same feelings and signs now as he did then, and he vows he must do something about it so he doesn’t hurt her. In meticulous detail, he plans out how he is going to stab a prostitute and cover the whole thing up. From a distance, it’s a control thing. It’s also clear that his abusive history with his mother is majorly to blame for this dangerous disposition, though would have always turned out this way?
Alternatively, Chiaki is a prostitute who is suffering her own set of problems. She’s currently in a state of mental duress that hits her in waves from time to time all thanks to the relentless sexual abuse she endured from her father growing up. She becomes numb and detached from reality, and it’s in this state that she causes harm to herself. Kawashima happens to catch her in this state on the night of his planned murder, so he ends up helping Chiaki get her grip back on reality. The rest of the evening is spent in a series of misunderstandings and the results are chaotic.
Though the book and movie alike were graphic, the thing that binds these two together in ultimate understanding is their past abuses. Kawashima has channeled his into a controlled violence, where Chiaki has reprogrammed her personality. I think it takes this encounter for them to truly see themselves, but what impact that has on their future, I can’t say. Will they be forever shaped by their past? Still, I’m not sure. Both the book and the film were well done and an excellent choice for independent die-hards.