Noriko Kijima in a Tense Tatami Room Scene from The Crawler in the Attic (2016)

In this scene from “The Crawler in the Attic” (2016), Noriko Kijima’s character is held by her wrists in a bright tatami room with tall paper windows. The Japanese film adapts Edogawa Rampo’s famous story about a man who spies on the people of a boarding house from the space above their ceilings, and it keeps the old wooden interiors and slow, uneasy mood of the original tale. A shirtless man ties her arms above her head, pulls open her robe and then stuffs a piece of her own clothing into her mouth to silence her as she struggles. The sequence is shot in harsh daylight with handheld close ups, making it raw and unsettling rather than romantic, and it shows the cruelty of the men in the story. Noriko appears partly nude. The film’s main plot follows the hidden watcher as his obsession grows into darker crimes, while the residents beneath him remain unaware. Fans of Rampo adaptations and Japanese pink cinema will recognise the blend of period atmosphere and disturbing content that defines this version.

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