Goth: A Teenage Memento Mori

I’ve not yet read the novel  by Otsuichi or the manga adaptation on which the movie Goth (2008) is based but that didn't hinder my appreciation for this film (perhaps not being familiar with the source material allowed me to appreciate it more. I’m forever saying ‘the book was better…’)  With a title like Goth you’d probably expect to see a film with kids dressed in black, with black lipstick, eyeliner and nail-polish, and vampires and other stereotypical goth accoutrements.  But director Gen Takashi tells a compelling story without using any of those goth stereotypes.  In fact, most of the movie is filmed in an over-saturated brightness on sunny days. 

The story follows two teenagers – a popular boy named Itsuki and a sullen girl named Morino – as they attempt to discover the identity of a serial killer who cuts off his victims’ left hands and poses their bodies in an artistic manner for the police to find.  It’s not exactly a horror film, though it does deal with some horrific material and there are a couple of scenes that will make the squeamish turn away.  It is instead a combination coming-of-age story and detective thriller.

What I appreciated most about the film was its approach to personal identity.  Being a teenager is tough.  It’s in those years that we start to determine who we are and who we want to be, and at the same time we’re being pressured by our parents, by our classmates, by our communities, by our culture to behave in certain ways.  Discovering who we are is a lonely and terrifying venture; why else do you think so many horror films involve teenagers?  Morino doesn't even have a cell phone - if you can imagine that, a teen-aged girl without a cell phone - because, she says, "who is there to call?"  Goth shows us two lonely teens who are trying to discover their own lives in the face of death all around them. 

“Tell me… how do you put on that happy face?”

Itsuki and Morino try on different identities in their quest for self discovery and their search for the killer.  They empathize with the murdered victims. They try to understand the mind of the killer.  They put on a different looks and go to new places so that they can better understand the people around them and in doing so, they finally come to understand and accept themselves for who they are.

The film is a teenage memento mori­ – which is a bit ironic since teenagers often act as if they expect to live forever.


I was also really impressed by the soundtrack. There's some beautiful minimalist music in this picture.