LUPIN III: THE COLUMBUS FILES (1999)

 

PHENOMENALITY: *marvelous*
MYTHICITY: *good*
FRYEAN MYTHOS: *comedy*
CAMPBELLIAN FUNCTION: *psychological, sociological*

Since the original LUPIN III manga was unquestionably more "comedy" than "adventure," unlike many of the anime adaptations, it's fairly appropriate that the last Lupin III adaptation for the 20th century was totally in the comedic mode of creator Monkey Punch. It was also the last of three Lupin screenplays by writer Shinzo Fujita, and the best.

First, let me dispose of the film's obligatory MacGuffin over which the factions battle. The Columbus Files comprise a treasure map that can lead one to the Columbus Egg, which in turn contains some ancient civilization's techniques for controlling the world's weather, and even creating things like giant water-geysers. But the connection to the explorer Columbus is entirely meretricious: the script might as well have used the subtitle "Plato Files" and claimed that Plato preserved a techno-egg from ancient Atlantis.

What isn't meretricious is how Fujita not only recaptures the raucous, licentious spirit of the manga, but uses it to ask a new question: given all the constant conflict between Lupin and his adversarial amour Fujiko, would he still want her if she lost all of her contentiousness?

So Fujiko summons Lupin to a meeting, and while he tries earnestly to get in her pants, she explains that she has a map that will lead her, and any partners, to the Columbus Egg. A gunship appears and attacks them. Lupin and Fujiko escape the strafing, but the map is destroyed, so that the coordinates are preserved only in Fujiko's memory. Then before Lupin can catch her, she goes over a cliff into the sea below.

Lupin and his gang don't find Fujiko, but a young female treasure-hunter named Rosaria does-- and this Fujiko has no memory of anything. However, the guy in the airship, one Nazalhoff, somehow tracks Fujiko to Rosaria's lair, and abducts Fujiko, whose personality has vanished along with her memory, so that she's an entirely helpless damsel in distress. For reasons that are not clear-- though the script implies some lesbian desire on Rosaria's part-- Rosaria is willing to risk her life to rescue the distressed damsel.

The young treasure-hunter hooks with the three males of the Lupin Gang and joins forces with them-- though at times she shows a Fujiko-like tendency to betray Lupin. The master thief makes a few passes at Rosaria, but for the most part he's intensely confused at Fujiko's change in personality. In one scene, he rips off his clothes and makes as if he intends to ravish her, just as he constantly did whenever she was in her "normal" persona. It's not clear whether Lupin really means to follow through, or if he's applying "shock therapy." But trembling Fujiko gives him permission to take her, in the hope that she'll regain her normal memory. Lupin declines and treats her like a gentleman from then on, suggesting that he really doesn't want only Fujiko's body; he wants her to be with him, body and soul.

It turns out that Nazalhoff-- who shares Lupin's tendency to mack on both Fujiko and Rosaria-- is one of a small army of henchmen serving a mad scientist named Barton. Barton's the one who wants the hidden technology of the Columbus Egg, in order to create a weather-weapon whereby to rule the world. And as a cherry on top of all that James Bond goodness, Rosaria is his daughter, who becomes involved in stopping him even before she knows he's involved. Rosaria's got a bad history with her papa, who killed her mother in his scientific experiments, and seems willing to use his daughter as a test subject too. 

Lupin and his associates delve into a mysterious pre-Columbian temple, where they face a sampling of Indiana Jones perils, and even quote RAIDERS overtly. I forget how Barton gets the Egg from them, but soon he's creating waterspouts to show off his power (though I could swear he creates one early in the movie, before he has the full technology). One waterspout even works to Lupin's advantage, separating him from Zenigata just as the obsessed cop catches up with the thief. And just to demonstrate that anime writers share the American tendency to use technology to achieve any magic-like effect desired, toward the end Barton even uses the Columbus Tech to transform himself into a super-strong, nearly invulnerable monster. This frustrates Rosaria's chances to avenge her mother directly, but without revealing too much, the young woman's potential "lover" does it for her.

As for Jigen and Goemon, they're largely relegated to support roles. Goemon gets the best scenes: he uses his katana to slice a waterspout in two (!) and uses artificial respiration to revive a waterlogged Jigen, much to the gunman's disgust. Lupin is more in line with Monkey Punch's image of the character as "the trickster who tricks himself," taking many comical pratfalls not seen in the more serious iterations. And like the comics version, the master thief is able to assume instant disguises and use assorted gimmicks concealed on his person to thwart his foes. And of course, Fujiko must regain her normal personality: vain, unscrupulous, and venal-- though of course there's always the implication that she enjoys her bouts with Lupin. Though not everything in the script makes perfect sense, the writer's take on the "war between male thief and female thief" elevates FILES to the top of the Lupin heap.