Before embarking on a career as a feature filmmaker, Katsuya Matsumura directed documentaries. It’s quite possible this is what makes his All Night Long series so compellingly watchable despite the fact they’re amongst some of the bleakest and most nihilistic films ever made.

As Thomas Weisser points out in his Japanese Cinema Encyclopedia. Matsumura’s films deal with a canon referred to as “dove-style violence”. In this particular field, flocks of birds have been known to single out different or weaker members of their group and peck at them until they’re dead. However, rather than make a film about birds, Matsumura has taken the behavior and transmigrated it to human teenagers—with intensely disturbing results.

Shinji Saito, Kensuke Suzuki and Tetsuya Tanaka have absolutely nothing in common—at least not until all three bear witness to the savage stabbing of a young Japanese woman at a local train station. Brought together by this horrific event, the three young men form a tenuous bond despite their different social standings and goals. That each of the three youths is frustrated socially plays an increasingly more vital role as the events in the film unfold. Shinji is an honor student who has no luck with women, Kensuke is the unemployed son of a well-to-do family, and Tetsuya has the simple goal of becoming an airline mechanic—a goal he simply can’t achieve because of his poor test grades.

It’s in this pent-up frustration that the three seem to find a common bond, although none of them actually realize it. Instead, our three “heroes” labor on under the misguided impression that they’ve come together in the face of adversity—something that isn’t true early on, but will become all too real later in the narrative.

Kensuke has the brilliant idea that they should have a party to celebrate their newfound friendship. He tells Shinji and Tesuya to bring their best girls for a get-together in a week. It’s here that Matsumura shows us the desperate lives of these three young men.

Shinji, unable to get a date, falls in with the local bully. The bully sets him up to be humiliated by the object of his desire, but Shinji overhears the scheme. Undaunted, the young student tells the girl that he knows what she’s supposed to do, and that he doesn’t care—he’s that desperate for a date. However, rather than have any sort of happy conclusion, Shinji becomes so panicked that he barfs on the girl—a fate probably just as embarrassing as the one the bully had planned for him.

Kensuke, meanwhile, can’t get a date either—which leads him to picking up an escort in order to maintain his macho image. Unfortunately, even that doesn’t work out when the prostitute handcuffs him to a fence, pulls his pants down to his ankles, and leaves him stuck.

Tetsuya seems to be the only one with any luck—meeting up with a pretty girl who’s interested in him—but as Matsumura has demonstrated throughout, life is not about happy endings in his vision of Japan. A Tokyo gang beats Tetsuya, and his love is raped and murdered.

With this final act of atrocity, even the most level-headed and seemingly well-adjusted member of the trio snaps. He gathers his two friends, scrounges up some weapons, and the three set out for revenge on the gang—a climax that comes with more than a few unexpected results.

While I’m normally against writing so much plot synopsis for a film, it’s almost unavoidable with All Night Long. While the plot could be broken down into a simple Hollywood-style logline, it wouldn’t convey the actual tone of despair that colors every frame of this film.

What’s perhaps most intriguing about All Night Long is that it’s the most “uplifting” film of the original three. Here, Matsumura seems to be intent on showing that the line between being civilized and savage is a fine one, and that any of us can cross it in an instance. Later installments basically tend to equate mankind with garbage…

Typically speaking, whenever these films come up, they’re invariably linked with stuff like the Japanese Guinea Pig films. This is an erroneous association at best. Outside of both series being born in Japan, the two sets of films have little else in common. Guinea Pig is a gore fan’s wet dream, existing with little other purpose than to titillate an audience with its over-the-top special effects. All Night Long aims to say something much deeper about the nature of humanity—and while it isn’t always successful, it brings a lot more to the table philosophically than any of the Guinea Pig movies.

To say that All Night Long is not for everyone is a pretty major understatement. Its bleak tone, nihilistic philosophy, and entirely flawed cast of characters without much in the way of redeeming qualities can make for an unpleasant viewing experience—and one that only gets more unpleasant in subsequent films in the series. However, for those interested in looking into the abyss, they’re almost essential viewing—warts and all.


Recommended:
Yes

Viewing Format: DVD
Video Occasion: Fit for Friday Evening