Yashagaike (2005) aka Demon Pond

Rating: 5.0/10
Runtime: 129
Language: Japanese (English softsubs)
Country: Japan
Color: color
IMDb Link: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1213576/

Director: Takashi Miike
Cast:
Kenichi Endo
Masato Hagiwara
Kitaro
Ryuhei Matsuda
Ryohei
Shinji Takeda

Description: Demon Pond is based on a Meiji era fairy play. In autumn of 2005 Takashi Miike directed it as a highly successful kabukiesque (now there´s a nice word) stage play. The DVD version basically captures the stage production, though the performances have been rearranged a bit to work on film.
The story: Yamazawa, on a hike through the same woods that his friend Akira disappeared into two years before, comes upon a ruined temple on the banks of a curiously white river. A woman named Yuri comes outside offering a room at the temple for a story but, when the woman doesn't like the story, she runs away. When her husband comes outside to check on the commotion, lo and behold, it is Akira, who tells of why he dropped out of society. He has taken a job to ring the bell three times daily that, on the surface, appears to be a simple job that keeps him close to the beautiful Yuri. Legend, however, merges with reality as the tolling of the bell keeps the Dragon Princess in the pond at bay. If a single ring is missed, she will leap from the pond in the form of a flood to smite the village below. As the story moves from present to past and back again, we find the Dragon Princess cowed for centuries by her "aspects," which take the form of various fish, from seeing her love, the Serpent King. He lives in a larger lake in a different part of Japan and sent a letter expressing his desire for her. She is madly in love, but leaving Demon Pond means destroying the town below, a town her ancestors vowed to protect long ago. A young and brash dragon, however, she didn't make the vow and doesn't understand why she should keep it. This is paralleled in "reality." Drought has scourged the land below, leaving the townspeople starving and destitute. The think they have a solution, though. Historically, so they say, droughts have ended by humiliating a young girl and sacrificing her in the pond. Yuri is helpless to resist them, but Akira won't let that happen. To save Yuri, however, he would have to leave the bell silent, which would in turn kill the townspeople. Is the life of one worth the lives of many? Mortals and divine alike must make this decision.

Download Links:
http://rapidshare.com/files/120732359/d-monpond.part01.rar
http://rapidshare.com/files/120743401/d-monpond.part02.rar
http://rapidshare.com/files/120750021/d-monpond.part03.rar
http://rapidshare.com/files/120755335/d-monpond.part04.rar
http://rapidshare.com/files/120797360/d-monpond.part05.rar
http://rapidshare.com/files/120802144/d-monpond.part06.rar
http://rapidshare.com/files/120806808/d-monpond.part07.rar
http://rapidshare.com/files/120813580/d-monpond.part08.rar
http://rapidshare.com/files/120818894/d-monpond.part09.rar
http://rapidshare.com/files/120824437/d-monpond.part10.rar
http://rapidshare.com/files/120830361/d-monpond.part11.rar
http://rapidshare.com/files/120834997/d-monpond.part12.rar
http://rapidshare.com/files/120840013/d-monpond.part13.rar
http://rapidshare.com/files/120845887/d-monpond.part14.rar

subs:
http://rapidshare.com/files/121094293/d-monpond.srt.rar

Rar Password: none