Pitfall (1962)

☆ ☆ ☆ ☆

Pitfall (1962) – H. Teshigahara

Teshigahara’s first feature is strikingly original, from the impressive blend of long shots and unusual angles to the very strange plot.  The latter involves a war deserter turned labouring miner who finds himself in the wrong place at the wrong time and is stabbed to death by a mysterious man in a white suit and gloves.  Rising as a ghost, he observes (but can’t interfere with) the efforts of the press and police to find his killer – and suspicion naturally falls on his identical double, a union official.  If it sounds as though I’ve given away too much about the plot, this probably doesn’t matter because the film continues to surprise (and delight) with its weirdness.  Teshigahara called it documentary-fantasy and perhaps it does take a rather matter-of-fact approach to the proceedings (unique camera moves aside, of course), even when they are unrealistic.  He followed up with Woman in the Dunes (1964) and Face of Another (1966), both highly stylized and also scripted by novelist Kobo Abe, who wrote Pitfall as well.  A sixties artefact to be sure but still refreshing today.