Nathanael Hood takes on Emi-Abi (2016) Japan Cuts 2016

Those who think movie going is not a social event have never gone to the movies with myself or any of the Unseen Films crew. We wade into films and film festivals and end up picking up people along the way. We are a bunch of people who love good movies, good company and good discussion.

It’s the last two that bring me to the author of this review of EMI-ABI, Nathanael Hood. I met Nate last year at the Tribeca film fest. We met waiting on the line for one film or other. We fell into a conversation that has continued for the last year and a half on line and in person and it has brought a good many laughs, much thought and general good time. Finding people like Nate who not only writes well but is a hell of a nice guy makes doing Unseen worth it.

Nate is a hell of a writer. He is a freelance  film critic and writer and his writing can be found at TheYoungFolk.com, TheRetroSet.com and ScreenComment.com.. He also is on Twitter (@NateHood257) and Nate Hood Reviews. (Do yourself a favor and read his other stuff because he’s great). 

He is a man whose opinion I respect to the extent that when I got tied up trying to review EMI-ABI I asked Nate to step in and help me out. After some arm twisting and a promise of dinner he agreed to take over and do a review.

So with out further adieu, except to say thank you to my friend for stepping up, here is Nate's review of EMI-ABI

Precisely 50 minutes into Kensaku Watanabe’s Emi-Abi, the film craps the bed. Or, to be more specific, the pants of Unno (Tomoya Maeno), one half of the eponymous manzai duo. While on a date, a trio of thugs try to rob him. But upon recognizing him from television, the thugs give Unno an ultimatum: make them laugh and they’ll leave; fail and they’ll kidnap his girlfriend. He concludes his desperate attempts at getting them to laugh by squatting down, grabbing his legs, and farting so hard he literally levitates a good ten feet off the ground, suspended in mid-air for several seconds before crashing back down. Keep in mind that until now Emi-Abi had been a deathly serious drama about grief and loss. The scene itself is a flashback to before Unno and his girlfriend were killed in a freak accident, devastating his manzai partner Jitsudo (Ryu Morioka) and putting him out of a job. Unno was the frantic funnyman, Jitsudo the straight man—although in an odd reversal of Western-style double acts, Unno spent their routines overreacting to Jitsudo’s cocky, bizarre antics. Without his funnyman, Jitsudo’s world falls apart. He comes to the sobering conclusion that he isn’t funny on his own.

But after the farting scene, it becomes impossible to take Emi-Abi seriously. The scene severs any sense of realism from the story, completely spoiling our emotional investment in Jitsudo’s recovery. For the rest of the film we wonder if we’ll see him demonstrate some other magical power. The farting scene is quickly shown to be a comedically exaggerated retelling. But later the film confirms that, yes, Unno achieved flight via farting.

I can appreciate what Watanabe tried to do with Emi-Abi. He attempts to examine the whole idea of comedy by deconstructing it, ruining serious scenes with comedy and comedic scenes with tragedy. The most devastating example of the latter comes when Jitsudo visits his old mentor Kurosawa (Hirofumi Arai) and gets ordered to make him and his recently departed sister laugh. Kurosawa ends up abusing, insulting, and finally assaulting Jitsudo for his terrible comedy. But then the scene takes a further turn when Jitsudo’s manager Natsumi (Haru Kuroki) runs in and reveals it was all a prank. Or maybe it wasn’t. The film doesn’t seem to know. There’s also a sobering scene in a graveyard where Kurosawa tries to perform for a grieving couple before—in a twist more at home in Paul Thomas Anderson’s Magnolia (1999)—getting smacked in the head with several large metal bins thrown by a tornado with laser accuracy.

If Watanabe had been more straight-forward in the film’s presentation, it could have been remarkable. There isn’t a bad performance in the bunch. Maeno in particular steals the show in his handful of scenes, demonstrating the same emotional elasticity and physical prowess that made Robin Williams so formidable. The few manzai scenes are astoundingly effective despite the language and cultural barrier. I like how subtle sound effects were added or emphasized to further accentuate the comedy: fabric rustles as loud as the dialogue, springs snap for certain punchlines, air whizzes by their gesticulating limbs like they were in a kung fu movie. But Emi-Abi is too scattershot for any of it to truly work.

Rating: 5/10

Japan Cuts Capsules-BEING GOOD. KAKO MY SULLEN PAST and KEN AND KAZU

BEING GOOD
Pained slice of life from Mipo O who gave us the bleak but amazingly wonderful THE LIGHT ONLY SHINES THERE which played Japan Cuts last year. The intertwined stories of an elderly lady misidentified as a shop lifter, a teacher trying to to decide what to do with abuse and a mother trying to cope as a single parent.

A very heavy very serious drama that sucks you in and drags you along BEING GOOD is one of those films that is not for anyone wanting a light and fluffy film. This is full course of extremely well done and well acted strum and drang. If you are looking for a heavy meal this is very recommended.

KAKO MY SULLEN PAST
High schooler drifts through life not caring about anyone or anything has her life up ended by the aunt she thought was long dead, killed in an explosion years before. The returning aunt wrecks her thoughts and her complacency.

Unremarkable comedy drama isn't bad but isn't anything to write home about. This is a middle of the road film that has moments but is largely forgettable and the sort of film you'll wonder why it was being programmed.

KEN AND KAZU
Feature version of a short film is a low budget crime film that looks no different than any number of American films- only all in close up.

The plot has two drug dealing friends having their friendship and partnership tested to the breaking point when one of them want to go straight with his pregnant girl friend.

Well acted tale might have amounted to something more than run of the mill and merely adequate if only director Hiroshi Shoji had decided to use something other than a close up. Told almost entirely in faces the film has no real sense of place because for most of the film we are tight on someone face or looking at a location in such away that a body or some part of it fills the frame. I felt claustrophobic and after a while I simply didn't want to bother watching any more because I got no sense of anything beyond  the stern faces.

I have no doubt that Shoji is a fan for Dreyer's JOAN OF ARC with its constant close ups, but even so Dreyer knew when to go wide.

For those who think inde films can do no wrong only.

Fake (2016) Japan Cuts 2016

FAKE is the story of Mamoru Samuragochi who was hailed as a modern day Beethoven because his deafness and his musical abilities made it seem like he was similar to the great composer.  However it all fell apart on the eve of the Sochi Olympics. Seemingly out of left field a man came forward to say that he was the real writer of all of Samurgochi's works and that the composer was lying about his deafness. The media attacked Samurgochi was destroyed and the man who accused him was hailed as a hero for revealing the truth.

The trouble is what was revealed isn't the whole truth.

Tatsuya Mori returned to documentary filmmaking for the first time in 15 years in order to chronicle Samurgochi's story. Using long takes that allow things to play out Mori's film paints a complex portrait of man who is neither hat he presented himself to be nor what the media said he was either. While it's clear that Samuragochi can hear sound, he is effectively deaf since his ability to differentiate sound isn't there. Also he it's clear  he does have talent.

While that may sound spoilery, I assure it's not since the film is about more than can he or can't he. This is a portrait of man in crisis and the nature of the relationship with his wife who is kind of trapped in his cage. Its also a portrait of an out of control media which never really fact checked and just kicked a man because they felt they could. Its interesting to note that director Mori doesn't think the film will do any business because a TV interview with Samuragochi examining his side of the story was unwatched.

I like this film. I like the long flowing sequences because this is a situation where letting the camera run allowed for things to be caught on tape. Where Mori did similar things in his previous two films on the Aum Shinrikyo cult making them a tough slog, here it works to the film's advantage as we really get to see and examine the man at the center of the film.

One of my favorite films at this year's Japan Cuts, Recommended, especially for anyone interested in the media and the gulf between the truth and what is reported.

I AM A MONK (2015) Japan Cuts 2016

I AM A MONK is one of the reasons Japan Cuts exists. Highlighting small films which would probably not get a big audience if released widely in the US, Japan Cuts points out films that really need to be seen. I Am A Monk needs to be seen.

Based on an autobiographical story by a monk, the film tells the story of a young man who takes over the family business, running one of 88 temples on the trail used by pilgrims seeking enlightenment. We watch as he tries to find his footing handling the daily prayers and the daily grind of actually administrating the temple. It is a humanizing portrait of the men and women who have chosen the religious road for life since we also see him blowing off steam, getting drunk and hanging out with friends. This is a wonderful peak behind the curtain of a religious life, probably all religious lives. What I like is that the film gives us the sense he is just this guy like us.

I think this is one of the best films at Japan Cuts and I recommend it…with one proviso, the pacing is methodical and very deliberate. The film has been described as plodding by some other reviewers and it’s a criticism I can’t argue with. However at the same time the pacing matches the ebb and flow of life at the temple. This is life and this is the way it goes. The pacing is also a reflection of meditation.

If you’ve ever wonder what it’s like to be a Buddhist monk or follow a religious life see this film

For tickets and more information go here

The Art of Fasting (2015) JAPAN CUTS 2016

Masao Adachi's art film is going to be one that splits the audience. This work of confrontational art is going drive many people from the theater and make them ponder what sort of person would schedule crap while others are going to connect with it and think it' great.

The basic plot has a guy go into mall and sit down and fast. He refuses to be movedMeanwhile the act is interpreted by various people in differing ways and we get side pieces that are supposed to highlight the main ideas.

Personally I found the film a tough go, with everything intentionally obtuse and striving to be deep and meaningful. My instinct was that its pretentious twaddle. I would dismiss the film out right except that a friend of mine who shall remain nameless sung the films praises and said that he had wanted to run the film at his film festival but knew it was going to a film that was going to have a small audience and result in lots of complaints by people who didn't get it. For him it was a masterpiece of the highest order- praise he rarely gives, and not to films as challenging as this.

Your're on your own with this one- but recommended for those who want their films challenging and more the multiplex fodder.

In brief:Mother, I've Pretty Much Forgotten Your Face

Every July  Japan Cuts usually runs one film full of music that knocks my socks off and becomes a favorite. This year  its MOTHER,I'VE PRETTY MUCH FORGOTTEN YOUR FACE.

I love this film.

I loved it so much that when it was done I sat down to write about it and found that all I could say was that was great, let me see it again. That's not a proper review but it kind of explains where the head space is- "the this is really special let me experience it again".

The film is a  portrait of musician Michiro Endo on the eve of his 60th birthday. Endo was and is one of the major movers and shakers in the Japanese punk scene. He eventually left several influencial groups and started touring on his own As he tours the country in the spring of 2011 the Fukishima native learns of the devastation of 311. This sets him reflecting about life , his home and his mother.

A fantastic mix of talking heads, conversation and music (the film has lots of great music) we get to know the man and his music. This is the sort of a film where I went in knowing almost nothing but came out wanting to know more. This is one of those films where you get the feeling that you've discovered a new favorite artist.

One of my must sees of Japan Cuts.

For tickets and more information go here

Experimental Anime Shorts Japan Cuts 2016

I was curious why the Japan Society was essentially burying the collection of experimental anime shorts at 930 on a Sunday night and then I saw them and I kind of understand why, some of them are the sort of thing that will confuse the regular audiences for the festival and send them out into the street with an early exit. Some of these films are not for general audience

Not to beat around the bush this collection of films is a mixed. Bouncing from visually amazing (LAND, AGE OF OBSCURE) to just strange (OUCH CHOU CHOU and MASTER BLASTER) the collection had me swinging from wide eyed delight to “how much longer is this going to go on” (MASTERBLASTER- I mean do we really need to see women flying out of people’s butts?)

For the most part the collection is pretty good, with the visually wild ones (LAND and AGE OF OBSCURE) being the ones that are going to get your blood pumping and being the reason that if you don’t mind being up late on a Sunday night go.

The biggest problem with the collection is that there is a sameness to the films. The visual motifs repeat in film after film. It’s as if someone with a certain eye picked all of the films and then threw in some button pushing films simply to mix things up. While I was enjoying some of the films I started to keep an eye out for the things that tied the films together.

Should you see the collection? If you are a fan of animation and don’t mind being up late on a Sunday give it a shot, if not you can skip it.

The Shell Collector (2016) Japan Cuts 2016

To some degree more form over content THE SHELL COLLECTOR is an often heady more frequently hypnotic tale of a blind shell collector and the things that was up on his beach.

A blind professor spends his days collecting and cataloging the various shells he finds on his beach. When a woman washes up on the shore, she ends up cured by a sting of one of his shells. This then brings civilization to his door as the world thinks he's got the cure to a mysterious disease

Meditative film ponders the relationship between man and nature. It also ponders how people will strive to get what they need. Full of beautiful imagery the film pulls us in and sucks us under in a variety of unexpected ways. There is always some kind of sensation , either visual or aural, to delight us. This is a film that is a pleasure to see and experience.

If the film isn't quite an absolute delight when  you walk from the theater, some of the plotting feels rushed, it will remain a film that you will want to return to and share with friends simply because there is something so absolutely haunting about it that you'll find you need a return visit to get recharged up.

One of the highly recommended films at Japan Cuts.

For tickets and more information go here

In brief:Nagasaki:Memories of My Son (2015) Japan Cuts 2016

Award winning film has the ghost of a medical student killed in the Nagasaki bombing returning to help his mother and fiance get over the loss  they feel at his passing.

Earnest and heartfelt movie strives very hard to be a grand message picture that is about something important. It the kind of important films that Hollywood used to turn out in the late 1950;'s and early 1960's. It's little wonder that the film has walked away with a boat load of awards.

While I like the film a great deal, even to the point of being moved by the ending I knew was coming, I did find it's 130 minutes of talk a bit much in the context of a motion picture. While not intended to be a stage play, the film very much feels like one  since the film is little more than long conversations between the characters. This is not a knock against the film, rather more an attempt to illustrate that what is a very good story on the cinema screen would make a most excellent story on the stage.

If you like dramas of the sort they don't do any more grab yourself a ticket and go.

For tickets and more information go here.

Magnificent Nine (2016) Japan Cuts 2016

Yoshihiro Nakamura is one of my favorite directors. He is also a loved by Japan Cuts who have screened most of his films from A FISH STORY to GOLDEN SLUMBERS to SNOW WHITE MURDER CASE to CHIPS to the awesome  A BOY AND HIS SAMURAI. If Nakamura has film it seems Japan Cuts will screen it and I will see it.

The latest one to cross the Pacific and North America is THE MAGNIFICENT NINE, a low key charmer that will probably put a smile on your face.

The plot of the film has a poor town dying from the lack of money.When a young man who wants to sell tea returns home to find poverty he muses about the way to get some money to save the town. He casually suggested that if the town raised a certain amount of money they could loan it to their cash strapped lord and collect interest and save the town. He didn't expect anyone to take him up on it, especially if they went about it the wrong way it could end up with everyone in serious trouble.

Based on a novel which was based on an actual even THE MAGNIFICENT NINE is a sweet little gem. Relying on the situations to bring smiles and laughs, there are no real jokes as such, the film is a low key and dead pan film that feels more like life than a movie. To be certain this is a film, but it never goes for the big gag rather it simply plays out as life would. Its a film you have to give yourself over to allow it to do what it does. It also a film where you have to watch the faces  since many of the laughs come as people react to what is going on around them.

I really ike this film a great deal. It made me smile and feel really good about people. And while it may not be as great as the best of the director's other films it is much better than most other directors best films.

Recommended when it plays Saturday at Japan Cuts in NYC.

For tickets and more information go here.

A non-review of A Road (2015) Japan Cuts 2016 (Also the short BORN WITH IT)

A ROAD is a documentary/dramatic hybrid put together by Daichi Sugimoto. Playing a character that is essentially himself he ponders life and what he should do as he crashes into the college years. He then tries to capture the wonder he felt when he was younger.

I'm not going to do a review of the film. Its low tech mash up of drama and documentary (you have a sense that some of this is just conversations he had filmed) will either thrill you or drive you mad. Ten minutes in I knew this film wasn't going to work for me and while I hung around to the end I knew that there was no way that I could in good conscious review the film. I debated whether to even mention I saw the film, but in fairness, and because of the way I'm wired, I'm telling you what it is and leaving you to parse out if you ant to see it.

At Japan Cuts A ROAD will preceded by a short film called BORN WITH IT.  The film is about a dark skinned Japanese kid who experiences prejudice when he moves to a rural village with his mom. It's an okay film that feels very much like the student film that it is.

For tickets and more information go here

Bakuman (2015) — Japan Cuts 2016 / Fantasia 2016

Hands down one of the top three films at Japan Cuts and one of my favorite films of the year this is a must see film for anyone who love films about creation and comics of all sorts. (I'll wait to see more of Fantasia but it's already high on my list of favorites)

Based on a best selling manga the film follows two high schoolers Saiko and Shujin as they create their own comic and then attempt to crash the offices of Shonen Jump in the hopes of getting into their weekly magazine. Of course there ends up being competition....and a cute girl who wants to be a voice over actress.

Charming, wonderful and as good a cinematic adaption of any sort as you're likely to see this is just a fantastic film. Its characters you relate to doing what they love in a way that moves you. I love that the film sucks you in and brings you into the creative process. As a writer of uneven success I related to the drive to create and what it takes.

I can't say enough good about the film- other than I need, and I mean need, to see this film again because it touches my soul in away that makes me want to go out and create something wonderful.

If you love great films or if you simply want to create see BAKUMAN when it plays at either Japan Cuts this weekend or Fantasia on July 30th.

For tickets and more information on the Japan Cuts screening go here

For details on the Fantasia screening go here

In Brief: The Projects (2016) Japan Cuts 2016

Old couple move into a new apartment block. As they settle in and get into the routine one of them goes missing. Rumors fly and....well that will be telling.

I'm not going to really say much about the film, A dry absurdist shaggy dog story is more about the journey than the destination. It's the interaction between characters that is important here because where the film is going, is unexpected to say the least.

I like the film but I don't really love it. Its a quietly off kilter film that you're either going to  love or hate, its a film for those who like Japanese quirkiness. If you're one of them give the film a shot hen it plays at Japan Cuts

For tickets and more information, go here.

Sayonara (2015) Japan Cuts 2015

In the running for one of the most pretentious pieces of trash of the year SAYONARA plays like what it is, an adaption of a stage play, opened up is such away that the static scenes take place in real locations. You know you're in trouble when the most interesting thing in the film is the robotic actress who reprises her role from the stage play.

 Following a nuclear disaster, Japan faces evacuations and re-settlements.  Tanya, a terminally ill South African woman living in Japan is at the bottom of the list. As friends come and go, and the inevitable approaches, she is left mostly in the care of her robot Leona.

Long sequences of meaningful silences are interspersed with long take scenes of the play. Its all so meaningful in the wrong sort of way.  Yes we are supposed to feel the slow tick of time, yes we are supposed to ponder the aftermath of 3/11 and 1945, but life isn't this static. Worse people don't speak in ways that  are full of meaning and explanations that are only necessary in poor stage plays. These people live in the world of the story so they don't need things explained.

I wanted to scream...and I did frequently...usually "will you get on with it!?!"

I should have let the damn thing lull me to sleep.

The most interesting thing in the film is the robot created by Hiroshi Ishiguro named Geminoid F. A largely lifelike creation she is moves just oddly enough to make you wonder what the deal is- its a machine and not a person.

Recommended only for those who like pretentious twaddle and slow static films that seem to confuse silence and inaction for deep meaning especially when covering material that worked better elsewhere.

Not recommended.

For the hipsters and those loving overly arty films with pretensions of grandeur More informtion and ticket can be found here

In Brief: A Room of Her Own: Rei Naito and Light (2015) Japan Cuts 2016

Director Yuko Nakamura looks at the work of artist Rei Naito and her Matrix in particular as it affects the lives and psyche of five women. The piece is located in a museum on a remote island where it is the only piece of art in the place.

This film is about an artist and her work is a kind of object de arte itself taking a very avante garde style at times in the telling.  I say this because the film is very much the sort of thing that would play in the New York Film Festival's Projections sidebar which covers all the avant garde and truly art films, shorts mostly that seek to push the limits of film.

Here the artistic bend is not geared toward pushing the boundaries of film, rather its merely attempt to replicate Naito's art cinematically.  The film is attempting to connect us to the art the way that she connects to it.

I like the film, but I kind of wish I had seen the film in a theater without distractions where I couldn't be interrupted or called away. This is the sort of film that, assuming you get on it's waive length, you'll fall into. I liked it and the head space it created and therefore recommend it

For tickets and more information go here

Japan Cuts Starts Thursday

As you’ve no doubt noticed the Japan Society’s Japan Cuts is opening this week. Running Thursday through the 24th the festival is New York’s annual survey of all types of Japanese cinema.

Continuing the move away from the wild and craziness that was part of the years when the festival was so presented by Subway Cinema the film is full of a good many serious and artistic films. If you’re looking for the craziness of wild Yakuzas, and giant monsters your only real choice is Sion Sono’s LOVE AND PEACE which is one of the best films you’ll see all year. It doesn’t have Yakuzas but it has a growing turtle and is perfect for the whole family.

I am about to get into trouble with the Japan Society-

To be honest I don’t know what to say about this year’s festival. I’ve seen over half the features and I’m trying to come up with something great to say. Normally I do these curtain raisers weeks in advance and I’m thrilled because I know the goodies you’re going to see. This year I’m really split. While the festival has some really great, as in best of 2016, films are largely of a type and very arty. In a bunch of the reviews I warn that the films would almost be better at something like the New York Film Festival as opposed to Japan Cuts where you’re going to be getting a different audience who want a broader selection of films-it would have been nice to have genre films. The festival is not so much a survey of all Japanese cinema, rather it’s a survey of one facet- drama with a couple of comedies and documentaries thrown in. Even Sion Sono’s WHISPERING STAR, one of his most impressive films is a high art film comparable to the meditative works of Andre Tarkovsky and not the man who did TAG, COLD FISH or BAD MOVIE. This is not a survey of all cinema, rather it seems to be one person’s idea of it. (And with that I’ve just been disinvited to everything the Japan Society ever does from here on out)

I am not telling you this to imply this is a bad festival, just to warn you that this is not the festival of the last seven or eight years- this is look at “serious” Japanese film, even the comedies which are more dry and deadpan. Imagine walking into your favorite diner to find it’s suddenly and unexpectedly gone upscale

Again the films are really good and worth seeing- just don’t expect anything populist.

My favorites so far:

WHISPERING STAR
BITTER HONEY
LOVE AND PEACE
MOTHER, I’VE PRETTY MUCH FORGOTTEN YOU FACE
SHELL COLLECTOR
BEING GOOD

The festival starts Thursday and runs through the 24th. For tickets and more information go here

In Brief: Lowlife Love (2015) Japan Cuts 2016

Tetsuo is a once promising director reduced to making quickie porno films for cash and running workshops where he harasses the cute students. When two new students show up with potential he sees a chance to get back into the big time

A bit low key and dead pan with a not particularly likable main character, LOWLIFE LOVE is a film you are either going to embrace warmly or turn off to as it unspools before you.

Sadly I was in the the second group and I found myself doodling in my note book while it was on. Its not that the cast is bad or its a badly made film, its just I really didn't like Tetsuo so watching him go through his paces didn't interest me. I suspect it maybe because I've run across a fee too many similar characters both in real life and on film and almost all of the cases my attitude has been to simply walk away.

It didn't work for me, but I know this is the sort of film that may work for you and if you like dead pan black humor give it a shot

For tickets and more details go here

Whispering Star (2015) Japan Cuts 2015

Sion Sono’s minimalist science fiction drama begins with a statement that humans have caused devastation across the universe and now with most of them dead the universe is a much better place. The film then follows the day to day existence of robotic delivery woman who travels the universe delivering packages to people and A.I. robots across the galaxy.

A minimalist art house sort of film this is a film that is going to be a tough haul for people expecting Sono’s wild and crazy style of film making. Meditative film some on the order of Samuel Beckett, Andre Tarkovsky or other Eastern European masters the film is full of long takes and lengthy silences. Dialog when we get it is elliptical and oblique. This is a film you have to commit to and go with or else you the film will bore you.

The film is an obvious mediation on Fukishima and the devastation left in its wake having been filmed in the devastated areas, the film makes you ponder what makes us human and what we are doing to the world around us.

I’m not sure what to say about the film. I think the film is a masterpiece. A brilliant change of pace for a master filmmaker. It is the equal of Tarkovsky’s films like STALKER, SOLARIS or THE SACRIFICE as well as other art house science fiction films. It’s a film that deserves a full on write up away from the crush of Japan Cuts. If you love head trip scifi and don’t mind deliberate pacing see this film.

For tickets and more information go here

Peace and Love (2015) Japan Cuts 2016

As part of Japan Cuts 20126 day long look at Sion Sono they are going to be running one of his most deliriously wonderful films PEACE AND LOVE. The story of a boy, a girl and a magic turtle is just wondrous beyond words and is a must see regardless of who you are.

I saw the film at the Ithica International Fantatic Film festival and it blew me away. Go see it Saturday at the Japan Society and be equally rocked- in a happy way.

Sion Sono's musical romance fantasy giant monster movie is something only he could pull off. Not only pull off but do so with so much skill that he moves you to tears at the end. Its magical

Ryo is a salary man who is greatly put upon by life. Once an almost rock star he now works in an office. He likes a mousy girl in his office but has no idea if she feels the same When his turtle gets flushed down the toilet he is consumed with guilt. But the turtle suddenly can grant Ryo's wishes-with the price of his growing to a size equal to the desire in the wish.

Sheer movie magic of the sort that only Sion Sono can manage. Sono is one of the greatest directors working today and his ability to make subjects like this work is amazing.Actually that he can bounce between subjects and genres is the amazing part- there seems nothing he can't do from hip hop musical (TOKYO TRIBE) to mad killer movie (COLD FISH) to quiet meditative film inspired by his dad (BE SURE TO SHARE) he can do it all and do it well. When he makes a film I never question what it is I simply try to see it because it's something special.

I have no idea where to start with this film and I'm not going to try. I'm simply going to say go find a copy and see the wonders for yourself.

In Brief THE SONO SION (2016) Japan Cuts 2016

Documentary portrait of the great director is a rambling in your face look at all things Sono. We watch as he talks, paints and creates. We are also treated to insights from his collaborators.

Probably the most cutting edge film at Japan Cuts (even with actual Sono films screening) the film takes an atypical, fly on the wall, grunge tact in documenting it’s subject. We are there as he goes through his paces and it’s a thing to behold. Its Sono the mad genius holding court.

It’s interesting for a while but the often no-tech style wears on the viewer. While I like that we got to see Sono talking at length, there were a couple of times when he went on too long. It’s much too jagged a film that looks at times like a home movie in the wrong sort of a way with the result Sono can seem like he’s playing to the camera rather than being

At the risk of getting booted from Japan Cuts I found that Sono’s statement about how Japan applauds things that don’t embarrass odd because it's screening in a normally  envelope pushing festival that this year, that aside from one other film, is extremely sedate and in no way will rock the boat. How odd that a film about a provocateur is more more challenging than the films screened with it?

For hardcore Sono fans only.

For ticket and More information go here.