A Movie I Watched Once: Director Kon Ichikawa's "The Inugami Family" (Released in 2006)

I had the opportunity to watch the remake of "The Inugami Family" (released in 2006).
At the time of its release, I didn't watch it because I assumed the remake couldn't possibly beat the original (released in 1976), but after actually seeing it, I thought it was better than I expected.
Or rather, I was surprised that the dialogue and shot composition were almost identical to the original version.

A major characteristic of the 2006 version is that the average age of the main characters has increased.
Koji Ishizaka, who plays Kosuke Kindaichi, was in his mid-60s at the time (he was in his mid-30s during the original version). Despite that, his acting is incredibly agile.
Takeshi Kato, who plays Chief Todoroki (Chief Tachibana in the original version), was in his mid-70s (he was in his mid-40s during the original version).
Hideji Otaki, who plays the shrine priest, was 81 years old (he was 51 in the original version). However, he looks almost exactly the same as he did in the original.

In the 2006 version, Isao Bito plays a low-ranking detective, but he was already 63 years old at the time. He is far too old to be a low-ranking detective, but he is so youthful that you don't even notice it.

Why did Director Ichikawa create a work that, despite being a remake, had the exact same script and shot composition as the previous one?
I thought to myself: perhaps this is what you would call a revival in theater. For example, it is like Mitsuko Mori's "Hourouki" (Chronicle of Wandering). Perhaps Koji Ishizaka, who is past the age of 60, playing a young Kosuke Kindaichi is exactly that. Maybe he put that into practice in a film.
Looking back at it now, the 1976 version is almost perfect as a film. That is likely why he didn't change it much.
Now, for a trivial matter.
Having rewatched the film this time, I noticed that the eldest daughter, Matsuko Inugami (played by Mieko Takamine in the 1976 version and Junko Fuji in the 2006 version), appears several times opening the top door of the Japanese chest in her room and praying to a painting of a strange, long, thin creature.
It is a very strange scene, but the film provides no explanation for it whatsoever. It doesn't serve as foreshadowing for the incident either. In other words, it is completely ignored.

From the perspective of someone watching the movie,
(Is there any meaning to her praying to that painting of a strange creature?)
one might wonder, but Director Ichikawa offers no explanation for this scene.
I suspect it is a type of cult that Matsuko Inugami believes in, but the lack of explanation regarding how it relates to the murders makes the scene all the more eerie.

Also, in the film, it is stated that the Inugami family made their fortune through the pharmaceutical industry, "Inugami Pharmaceuticals," but in Seishi Yokomizo's original novel, it says they made their fortune through the "silk reeling industry," so the original work has been altered.
The company that served as the model for the "silk reeling industry" in the original work is a company located on the shores of Lake Suwa. That building is now a hot spring.

The serial murder case of the Inugami family took place in 1947, but the film states that during the war, the Inugami family manufactured opium and exported it to the continent to make their fortune. I think the film's setting makes the shadiness of the Inugami family stand out more than the original novel's setting.
And, this is where my delusions begin, but "cults," "opium," and "the continent" synchronize in my mind with Seicho Matsumoto's unfinished final work, "Kamigami no Ranshin" (The Madness of the Gods).
I feel like a grand story could be written by combining Seicho Matsumoto's "Kamigami no Ranshin" and Seishi Yokomizo's "The Inugami Family," but since it is nothing more than a delusion, I will stop writing about it here.

But someday, I would like to read a grand novel that combines "Kamigami no Ranshin" and "The Inugami Family," and if possible, I think I would like to write it myself.