HELTER SKELTER

Tokyo. Lilico is a supermodel whose perfect appearance and style make her the object of intense jealousy among young women. Her face is on the front of every fashion magazine, she is featured in advertisements shown on giant outdoor television screens on the city’s buildings and her career is taking her into movies and TV dramas. At the top of the entertainment industry, she is everywhere all over Japan. Bathing in the glow of camera’s, clothed in the latest fashions, and with an army of assistants behind her, Lilico stands at the pinnacle of beauty. Her private life is also going well. Her relationship with Takao Nanbu, heir to the Nanbu Holdings fortune, seems well on its way to marriage. But behind the glittering stage on which she is the envy of all, there is a clock whose ticking only Lilico can hear. Because she has a deep, dark secret. The second feature of photographer and video clip director Mika Ninagawa ( Sakuran ) is an adaptation of Kyoko Okazaki cult manga. Helter Skelter is an extremely stylish and baroque attack on the cultus of appearance. Visually this is one of the most fascinating films in recent years. The dazzling array of colors and the decadent, exuberant sets are a reflection of the deranged psyche of its disturbed protagonist, a stand out performance by Erika Sawajiri ( Shinobi, Ghost Train ). Helter Skelter is the kind of movie that’s way to unusual, unique and bizarre to be shown in the multiplexes, but it’s right up BIFFF’s alley.