Fear of Outsiders: A Story of Blue Blood
Blue Christmas is a 1978 science-fiction film directed by Kihachi Okamoto from So Kuramoto's original screenplay UFO Blue Christmas. Made in the year Star Wars opened in Japan, it is known as an unusual challenge from Toho, a studio skilled in effects films: science fiction deliberately made without special effects.
The story begins with a phenomenon in which the blood of people who see UFOs around the world turns blue. Those with blue blood lose feelings of hatred and anger. Governments nonetheless perceive a threat and advance a worldwide plan to eliminate them on Christmas Eve.
The protagonists are Oki (Hiroshi Katsuno) of the Defense Agency's general staff and Kazuya Minami (Tatsuya Nakadai) of Japan's state broadcaster JBC. Oki belongs to a special unit tasked with dealing with blue-blooded people, but his girlfriend Saeko Nishida (Keiko Takeshita) also sees a UFO and acquires blue blood. Minami, meanwhile, searches for Professor Hyodo (Eiji Okada), who disappeared after asserting the existence of UFOs, and approaches the truth of an international conspiracy.
Although science fiction on the surface, the film fundamentally concerns society's deep-rooted exclusion of difference. Its conspiracy by politicians seeking to expand their power by exterminating the blood of another group, as Hitler once did, exposes problems of human fear and structures of power.
The Creativity of Kihachi Okamoto and So Kuramoto: Background and Challenge
Blue Christmas fused the talents of director Kihachi Okamoto and screenwriter So Kuramoto, two creators accomplished in their fields. Okamoto was known for films including Japan's Longest Day and Human Bullet, while Kuramoto would become famous as the writer and director of dramas including From the Northern Country.
Effects-driven science fiction was attracting attention after the enormous success of Star Wars. Choosing to make a science-fiction film without depending on effects was therefore innovative. It failed commercially, but has been called a late-blooming masterpiece whose reputation rose whenever it screened later at repertory theaters.
During production, Kuramoto stipulated that the screenplay could not be altered, and Okamoto filmed under that condition. Locations included New York and Paris as well as Japan. Cinematography was by Daisaku Kimura of Sanshiro Sugata, rather than Rokuro Nishigaki of Haru Ranman, and the film was shot in color rather than monochrome.
Blue Christmas holds an unusual place in Okamoto's varied filmography. Many of his films are entertaining works with comic elements or address war, while this one foregrounds ideas and social concerns. Okamoto made it under the concept of science fiction without special effects and focused on human drama rather than visual spectacle.
Uniting Visual Expression and Music: Okamoto's Directing Style
Okamoto's direction in Blue Christmas features the brisk pace and fine cutting associated with him. He was known for editing as densely as an average of a thousand cuts in a hundred-minute film, and this work uses the method.
Visually it combines a documentary touch with dramatic direction, telling events and government responses around the world through multiple viewpoints. The Okamoto hallmark of combining humor with seriousness also appears throughout, giving even a grave theme a certain irony.
Masaru Sato, who scored many Okamoto films, composed the music. Guitarist Char performed the theme song “Blue Christmas,” also released as a single. The song matches the film's atmosphere and tightly connects its title with its music.
Beyond this union of image and sound, the actors receive distinct direction. Leads Hiroshi Katsuno and Tatsuya Nakadai give entirely different kinds of performances suited to their roles. Oki's conflict over his blue-blooded girlfriend forms the central drama.
A Message That Resonates Today: Reception and Influence
Blue Christmas performed poorly on release but gained value through later reassessment. Film-review sites give it a relatively high average of 3.6 out of five, and many film fans support it.
The theme of a terrifying system that persecutes and secretly disposes of people with blue blood resonates beyond its time. Fear and exclusion of difference persist in many forms as eras change, strengthening the film's universal value.
The film also influenced later cinema and animation. Neon Genesis Evangelion uses “BLOOD TYPE: BLUE” as a code for detecting Angels and inherits the theme of human power unjustly discriminating and conspiring against people simply because their blood is blue. Evangelion director Hideaki Anno is known as an avid Okamoto fan.
Beyond science fiction, the film is a socially conscious work about universal themes of discrimination, power, and fear. The fusion of Okamoto and Kuramoto's talents remains a valuable part of Japanese film history and continues to be loved by film fans.
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