EM Embalming (1999) - By Duane L. Martin

Film Reviews: EM Embalming (1999) - By Duane L. Martin
Posted on Wednesday, June 01, 2005 @ 00:00:00 Mountain Daylight Time by Duane

Crime dramas are more commonplace nowdays. One only needs to turn on the television to find themselves with a literal smorgesborg of shows, and the theaters have several of these types of movies every year. We've become so accustomed to seeing the same ol' thing all the time that it's nice to see something different once in a while. In this case, that "something different" is a film called Embalming. The Japanese specialize in being different, so it was only natural that this movie was going to be far more bizarre than anything you'd see on American television or in American cinema.

Embalming is the story of a woman named Miyako who became an embalmer after seeing as a teenager how perfect and lifelike her mother's body was presented at her funeral. The story starts out with Miyako being invited by her policeman friend to visit the scene of a suicide. The teenage boy who committed suicide was the son of a high ranking politician, and his family wanted their son's body restored completely for the funeral. During the embalming process, which is shown in a very technical way, Miyako finds a needle in the teenager's neck. Suddenly, the suicide doesn't seem so much like a suicide anymore. Now this is where it gets confusing, and I must admit I had a hard time keeping the story straight at this point.

There's a bogus religious leader who used to be a doctor working on ways to cure mental illness. He's basically a cult leader at this point, but while he was doing his research, he found that if you stab the area right below the ear with a needle, it'll make the body go into a state of virtual paralysis for a short time. That doesn't come up until later though. Initially, he spends his time trying to stop Miyako from doing her "evil work." Well Miyako refuses to be intimidated and goes ahead with the embalming process. Once she had finished though, the boy's head was cut off and stolen. Thus beginning an investigation that ultimately leads to her finding her long lost father, who used to be a physician, who due to unethical practices, was relegated to becoming an embalmer, and was actually the person who embalmed her mother. He's now nothing more than a criminal, supplying organs to the black market.

To go into who committed the crime and why would be to give away the whole story, but in the end, things got so convoluded and confusing that it took me a while after it was over to figure it all out, and even then I wasn't too sure what the whole story was. This isn't a bad thing though because it actually makes you think about what you saw rather than leaving it as just another disposable crime drama.

One of the highlights of this movie were the scenes of the embalming process itself. They were done in a very technical and methodical way and it was really very interesting to watch. Most people are unfamiliar with the process and actually seeing how it's done and how even accident and suicide victims can be made to look whole again is just facinating. The whole thing is about preserving the dignity of the dead and allowing the family to say goodbye in a proper way, rather than being traumatized by seeing their loved ones in a horrific state of trauma and death. It really comes across in the film that Miyako takes pride in her work and really cares about giving the dead the dignity that they deserve.

Embalming is a very different kind of a film. It's original, and doesn't just follow along the same old stale plot lines that so many other crime dramas seem to adhere to. There's bizarre twists, a world of black market organs, a psychotic girl with multiple personalities, realistic scenes of the embalming process, corrupt religious leaders, and more. It leaves you guessing for much of the movie as to what actually happened and why, leading you to a false conclusion initially and then ultimately taking you down a far more bizarre path later on.

Is this movie for everybody? Not really. It's a crime drama and you have to like crime dramas and or psychological thrillers to appreciate it. Those who do will like the film, and those who don't probably won't get too much out of it unless they're horror fans and enjoy watching scenes of organs being removed from dead bodies that aren't really fully dead, and technical shots of bodies being embalmed, which were in fact some of the best scenes in the film.

If you'd like to pick up this disc, or check out some of ArtsmagicDVD's other releases you can check out their website at http://www.artsmagicdvd.com.