Nails everywhere. A guy hammers in a nail into the ground and kills some other guy voodoo-style. A guy hammers in a nail into the floor, giving a naked woman powerful orgasms. A woman is stalked by nails. A woman performs a blowjob to a huge nail. Some women in a workshop are seen hammering nails to a larger nail. A guy hammers nails into a book. A naked guy carries a huge nail around. A couple having passionate sex are being spied by a huge nail.
One of the weirder Terayama films, even by his standards. He takes a simple object such as a nail (present as a motif in some of his other works) and makes it a symbol of anything; sexual euphoria, paranoia, guilt, hatred, fear, anything. It's pretty entertaining.
The last ten minutes are nothing but a blank screen. You see, The Trial is a combination of (experi)mental film and interactive performance art. The audience members were given nails to hammer them into the screen during the last ten minutes. Yes, the only way to fully experience this mad film is to actually be present on an actual screening.
2 out of 3 found this helpful