Review: The Mononoke trilogy sticks the landing with The Curse of the Serpent

The Medicine Seller is back at the Ōoku for one last battle against a demon in Mononoke The Movie: Chapter III - The Curse of the Serpent. Likes its predecessors from the past couple of years, this is a visually dazzling, slightly erratic bit of fantasy-action-mystery. It very much follows the same formula as the other two movies, which means there isn't much here to win over new fans. If you didn't enjoy the others, this one will not change your mind, though I think it is probably the best of the trilogy narratively. Otherwise, it's a lot of sound and fury, not signifying nothing, but maybe signifying in ways that make it difficult to know what is being signified.

(If you want to catch up on my reviews of the first and second movies, click away.)

The Curse of the Serpent finds the Medicine Seller returning to the Ōoku (the massive palace where the Emperor lives alongside numerous servants, consorts, and concubines). As is often the case in such places, royal succession is on the mind. The Emperor is desperate for a male heir, and one is finally due to be born. This, of course, is a cause of celebration for some and a cause for alarm bells for others. Whoever gives birth to the heir will gain prominence and power, as will the wet nurse assigned to him. This is palace intrigue writ kaleidoscopic, with many cooks in the kitchen, and many fingers in the pot.

I always struggle a bit with these movies, because they move at such a breakneck pace, and there are tons of characters. At some point, I kind of give up on remembering who most of the people are, trying to hone in on who the most prominent players are, and keeping their names/ranks/motivations straight. In a way, I feel like watching these movies puts the viewer on a parallel path to the Medicine Seller. You see, he has a magic sword that can only be unsheathed when the demonic threat is revealed and understood: its shape, name, and motivation must be revealed before the vanquishing weapon is usable. Similarly, I spend most of the movie trying to understand who people are, who's who, what they want, and what the underlying connections are. It's a lot of work.

Especially because this clocks in at 87 minutes. It's not a long movie, and it packs quite a lot into those minutes. Part of my struggle is getting used to the pace, because the editing is a bit nauseating, constantly cutting, few shots lasting more than a moment or two. When you combine that with the film's uber-colorful visuals, it becomes a bit of a headache, at least until you settle into the rhythm. And I eventually do/did.

The visuals are a big draw here, as they were for the previous movies. After a whole trilogy that looks like this, the wow factor is obviously mitigated a bit, but there's still no denying that these are really gorgeous movies. You could argue that it's maybe a bit too visually busy. It's a cacophony of colors, patterns, shapes, all shifting and swirling and bumping up against each other. It's a lot to take in, and a pleasure to bask in. Let it wash over you.

This is purportedly the final movie in this iteration of Mononoke (I think a new TV anime is in the works), and this is a strong capper to the trilogy. Without getting into spoiler territory (if I even followed the movie well enough to be able to spoil it), this movie delves into the history and lore of the Ōoku, and the royal family that resides there. It's a wrinkly and complicated past, one that's more narratively rich than the previous entries. I loved watching it get untangled and grappling with the ramifications. And the "monster of the week", the eponymous serpent, is very cool, and makes for a formidable foe in the film's flashy action sequences.

There's also a nice little note toward the end that feels like it's circling back to the first movie, with new women arriving to the palace, excited to start their journey there. Maybe the Serpent is an ouroboros, munching its own tail, the story never ending, always beginning.