One of the things that struck me while watching Takashi Ishii’s “A Night in Nude: Salvation” was the exquisite cinematography, and the director’s special flair with camera angles and lighting used to express characters’ psychological states. A similar mastery of the medium could be seen in his “Brutal Hopelessness of Love”. Ishii’s fascination with those living on the marges of society and his extraordinary visual finesse even compelled me to compare him to Japan’s greatest living director, Shinya Tsukamoto. So I was taken aback when I read the following in a review of “Salvation” over at Sketches of Cinema:
“One area where Salvation falls slightly short is the technical side. Ishii knows how to use digital to a decent effect, but it’s nevertheless a mismatch to his slightly romanticized neo-noir style. The original film looked more colorful and was visually more detailed, no doubt because Ishii was able to draw bigger budgets back then. Salvations does, nevertheless, look good – just not quite as good as it could in a better world.”
There is no questioning the very good camerawork of the original “A Night in Nude”, in particular the film’s final half hour. But I would think that anybody who has seen both the original film and the sequel could not fail to be impressed with the greater freedom with camera movement, the bolder use of lighting and the greater attention to the minutest details of the latter. Far from being inhibited by smaller budgets, Ishii’s imagination seems to soar to ever greater heights, perhaps inspired by the capabilities of the digital medium. Not only that, but the soundtrack on his recent films is also superior. And finally, the presentation of the sequel in a pristine high definition transfer makes the earlier (1993) film, released on DVD, look unsatisfactory by comparison.