You simply will not find a more disturbing documentary than 2017’s CANIBA, which takes an up-close and very personal look at the infamous Japanese cannibal-murderer Issei Sagawa, and reaches conclusions most people would probably rather not face.
On June 11, 1981, while studying in Paris, Issei murdered 25 year old Renee Hartevelt and cannibalized her corpse. A textual prologue outlines the facts of the crime, which concluded with Sagawa being arrested, only to be let free by reason of insanity and sent back to Japan. Since then he’s been unable to find work, and so uses the notoriety of his crime to make money while living with his brother Jun. It’s in the latter’s house, the layout and furnishings of which are kept indistinct, that the following takes place.
As directed by Lucien Castaing-Taylor and Verena Paravel (whose previous films include the eccentric documentaries LEVIATHAN, from 2012, and SOMNILOQUIES, from 2017), the film proceeds in extreme close-ups of Sagawa, a vacant-eyed and downright creepy personage who looks every bit the monster he is. Oft-times the images are out of focus, while at others the camera stays focused on Jun, who constantly hovers nearby, and occasionally interjects with biographical details about their childhood and frequent squabbles—and makes sure we’re aware that “I don’t understand cannibalism at all.”
Sagawa begins his recitations with his ultimate fantasy: “I want to be eaten by Renee.” From there he discusses his crime, admitting he was consumed with a desire to cannibalize Renee upon first meeting her, a compulsion that only grew increasingly pronounced—and that, upon finally devouring her, Sagawa experienced a profound union of flesh and spirit.
All of this is related in distinctly halting and uncertain terms, with a lot of lengthy pauses. Sagawa, whose health was evidently deteriorating, has a tendency to ramble interminably. At one point he unexpectedly passes out and hits his head on the floor, followed by a lengthy stretch of catatonia—with the camera lingering unnervingly on his blank face.
The film’s most upsetting scene, unexpectedly enough, involves Jun, who in the final third takes center stage to set up kind of barbed wire torture device, designed to inflict as much pain as possible—on himself. Jun repeatedly claims he doesn’t share his brother’s compulsions, yet he does have an overpowering B&D fetish. He reveals this to Sagawa, who is unmoved, correctly deducing that his own proclivities far outdo those of his brother in freakishness and aberrance.
Toward the end we see Sagawa being attended to by Satomi Yoko, a cosplay-obsessed nurse. She talks of how she once outfitted herself as a zombie, and describes the cannibalistic compulsions that drove the character—compulsions that are remarkably similar to those experienced by Sagawa.
Also covered (albeit obliquely) is the celebrity status Sagawa attained in Japan, manifested in innumerable media appearances and movie roles, including one in a pornographic feature—a few especially revealing excerpts from which are included here. We also see some pages from a manga Sagawa drew about his crime, which are likewise quite revealing (and will likely prevent this film from ever being legitimately released in America).
I’m not sure we come away from CANIBA knowing much about Sagawa that we didn’t already (or couldn’t easily have learned), but the filmmakers’ aims seem more universal in nature. Intimate though the film is in its depiction of Sagawa’s proclivities, the examination of the depraved fetishes of Sagawa’s brother and the role-playing games of his caretaker portend that the type of psychosis that drives Sagawa isn’t nearly as isolated as it might seem.
Final thought: powerful stuff, but definitely not for everybody!
Vital Statistics
CANIBA
Norte Productions
Directors/Cinematographers/Editors: Verena Paravel, Lucien Castaing-Taylor
Producers: Valentina Novati, Verena Paravel, Lucien Castaing-Taylor
Cast: Issei Sagawa, Jun Sagawa, Satomi Yoko