INDEX
A recurring musical trick that keeps playing on
The song “Hei no Ue de” is reprised several times in “Skinless Night.” The first time is in the scene where Chie (Yasuko Yagami), the wife of Kayama, visits him after the aforementioned “reference preview” as he gazes absentmindedly at the 8mm footage. What is interesting is that “Hei no Ue de,” which was used in high-fidelity sound quality (as if it were the “accompaniment” to “Skinless Night” itself) during the aforementioned first preview, echoes in the room with wow flutter caused by the slow playback speed of the 8mm film screening machine. The point is that the “Hei no Ue de” used (as if it were a “play” of its own) echoes in the room with wow-flutter caused by the slow playback speed of the 8mm film projector. In short, it is clear that “Hei no Ue de” was a “soundtrack” recorded on 8mm sound film by Kayama himself at the time (a very casual but very effective sound editing).
In the same scene, Kayama says, “This would come back to us out of the blue just like old songs.”
The second reprise takes place in the apartment rented in front of the current residence of Yoriko Jinbo played by Fumi Katsuragi, the woman he once had a crush on (how risky and pathetic!), where he plays a CD he has just bought. It is noteworthy that what Kayama is listening to here is not “Sentimental Street,” but the live album “9th June 1988 Hachimitsu Pie Live” (1989), which was released after Hachimitsu Pie’s reunion. （Keiichi Suzuki’s vocals, sung against the sound of an electronic piano very late 1980s), tell the story of the passage of time over the past 10 years, and at the same time, the 10 years of Kayama listening to the CD also overlaps with that time.
The reunion version of Hachimitsu Pai’s “Hei no Ue de” is played again a little later in the same apartment scene. This time, Kayama watches from the window of the apartment as Yoriko Jimbo goes out with her child. Keiichi Suzuki’s MC interspersed in the middle of the scene is effective. He says, “Now we can break up without any worries. Goodbye, Uncle Rock ‘n’ Roll, Aunt Rock ‘n’ Roll” (Suzuki’s last words at the original Hachimitsu Pai breakup concert in November 1974 were “Goodbye, Rock ‘n’ Roll Boy, Rock ‘n’ Roll Girl”).
(Suzuki’s last words at the original Hachimitsu Pai breakup concert in November 1974 were “Good-bye, rock ‘n’ roll boy, rock ‘n’ roll girl. The hope for a “reunion” and the fragility of the dream of a “reunion. Rarely has a film so skillfully used different versions of the same song.
