Dancing Mary (2020) Fantaspoa 2021

Sabu comes through yet again with one the  truly great films of 2020. 

This time out Sabu returns to two sorts of stories that he is really good at portraying, notions of Karma and destiny (look at his early body of work) and romances (look at Chasuke's Journey). However this time out he mixes things up with horror, comedy, gangster films and a few other things as well. The result is a film that delighted the hell out of me and explains why Sabu is one of my favorite directors working in the world.

Mixing Romance and philosophy with horror comedy yakuza films and a touch of samurai, Dancing Mary is about a haunted dance hall that everyone is afraid to tear down. The ghost won’t let anyone work on demolishing the place and psychics who try to get to the bottom of it end up in the hospital. A low level guy in the construction company is tasked with sorting it out before his bosses have the yakuza destroy the building for them. Finding the right psychic he discovers Mary refuses to leave because she is waiting for her lost love. The pair then has to run down the missing lover if they want to put Mary to rest.

This film is a joy. From start to finish, top to bottom this film just delights with each turn. Sabu, a master of the mash up does what he does, which is tell his story, his way with out worrying if it’s crossing genres. Having spoken with the director on several occasions he has made it clear genre doesn’t matter, the story does. He tells the story and lets it go where and how it has to. As with most of his films this always results in something magical and glorious.

Frankly films like this are the reason I love the movies. Film directors and artists like Sabu are the reason that I still hold out hope for mankind, because through their work they show the true nature of the human condition.

Highly recommended, this was one of favorite films of 2020

DANCING MARY (2020) NYAFF 2020

Sabu comes through yet again with one the few films I’ve seen at this year’s NYAFF that is truly great. As the NYAFF people swallow their tongues at my saying that, understand that while they have programmed a lot of good films, but the ones that make you go wow, that make you fall in love and want to take them home to mama have been missing (then again the great ones may be playing only on the app which with me technologically backward can’t use)

This time out Sabu returns to two sorts of stories that he is really good at portraying, notions of Karma and destiny (look at his early body of work) and romances (look at Chasuke's Journey). However this time out he mixes things up with horror, comedy, gangster films and a few other things as well. The result is a film that delighted the hell out of me and explains why Sabu is one of my favorite directors working in the world.

Mixing Romance and philosophy with horror comedy yakuza films and a touch of samurai, Dancing Mary is about a haunted dance hall that everyone is afraid to tear down. The ghost won’t let anyone work on demolishing the place and psychics who try to get to the bottom of it end up in the hospital. A low level guy in the construction company is tasked with sorting it out before his bosses have the yakuza destroy the building for them. Finding the right psychic he discovers Mary refuses to leave because she is waiting for her lost love. The pair then has to run down the missing lover if they want to put Mary to rest.

This film is a joy. From start to finish, top to bottom this film just delights with each turn. Sabu, a master of the mash up does what he does, which is tell his story, his way with out worrying if it’s crossing genres. Having spoken with the director on several occasions he has made it clear genre doesn’t matter, the story does. He tells the story and lets it go where and how it has to. As with most of his films this always results in something magical and glorious.

Frankly films like this are the reason I love the movies. Film directors and artists like Sabu are the reason that I still hold out hope for mankind, because through their work they show the true nature of the human condition.

Highly recommended, this is one of favorite films of 2020

Sabu at the New York Asian Film Festival 2019

On June 8th, right before the New York Asian Film Festival’s Sabu double feature I got a chance to sit down with the director one on one and talk to him about his career. This was my third meeting with the director who is one of most favorite filmmakers in the world. The first time was a passing encounter at the Japan Society where I confused him with an autograph request. The second time was interview I tag teamed with Nobu Hosoki of Yahoo Japan when he was here for the NYAFF screening Chasuke’s Journey. This time I had the man to myself and I could ask him anything I wanted.

What follows is pretty much what happened. Since Sabu’s English is not good we spoke through a translator, Kana Hatakeyama who is also a kick ass filmmaker in her own right.

I want to thank Stevie Wong of the New York Asian Film Festival for setting this up. I need to thank Ms Hatakeyama for her excellent translation and mostly I want to thank one of my cinematic heroes, actor, writer and director Sabu for taking the time to speak to a crazy fan boy about his body of work.

Steve: Thank you for taking the time. Please excuse me, I may have to do this from the notes because you've made too many movies.

[laughter]

Steve: I want to begin with the film you're in but only because I was thrilled to see you in it Martin Scorsese's SILENCE. I'm just curious how did that come about? Is Scorsese a fan? Did he come to you?

Sabu: I actually auditioned for this. The auditions were in Tokyo. And right now, I'm living in Okinawa so I couldn't make the auditions in Tokyo, but they asked me to send a video so I had my wife and children help me with the recording, and the lights, and stuff and then I sent them the video.

And he had also watched my films. He really liked MISS ZOMBIE."

Steve: Speaking of MISS ZOMBIE, you mix up genres when you when you make films MISS ZOMBIE was promoted here as a horror film, but it’s more complex than that. Other of your films also defy genre. Do you try to do films that are a certain type of film, or do you just make the film that you want?

Sabu: I'm really not thinking about genre at all when I'm making films. You know, it really depends on the cast I have, my instinct and what I want to be seeing in that moment.

Steve: When you make a film do you come in, "Oh, this is a great idea," or do you just start writing?

Sabu: It's actually really both. You know, sometimes I start with an idea and then I write it, but sometimes as I'm writing the idea comes, becomes more crystallized. But I think a lot of my earlier works were, started more with an idea like with MONDAY, DRIVE  and like, you know, like the memories coming back so I started more with the concept for a lot of the earlier works.

Steve: On the train ride in, I was looking over a list of your films again ad I was wondering if you see your films as connected? 'Cause you could almost say like,MONDAY DRIVE," and THE BLESSING BELL almost tied together. Are they tied together or are they all completely separate entities that stand on their own?

Sabu:  I think early on it was connected you know. Uh, one idea would kind of lead to another idea, but more recently there's been kind of other projects in-between. And I'm finally understanding what it is to make a film. So, my works in the future might be a little bit different in how that manifests.

Steve: When you do a film from a novel as opposed to just writing it, do you attack adapting it differently if it is something based on your novel different than somebody else's novel? Or do just look for what's gonna be the best way to do this? I'm thinking specifically of  CHASUKE'S JOURNEY which you wrote  the novel of and  KANIKOSEN which you didn't.

Sabu:  I think when I'm working based on a novel and if it's not based on my novel, I really do try to not let my sensibility and my style interfere too much. When it's based on other people's work I try to stay as true as I can to the source material.

But there's a movie coming out next year that's also based on a novel. And the people who have seen  have told me it is my movie [laughs] and it's in my style.

Steve: Your films tend to be about the journey of through life either physically or spiritually. You've got the early films like DRIVE, the more recent CHASUSKE'S JOURNEY. And then you, in the middle of these you have KANIKOSEN which is a political film.

Looking at your range of films  it's the one that doesn't fit

What made you make a film that seems so radically different than, um, everything else you've done?

Sabu: With KANIKOSEN, the novel is really popular in Japan. And it was offered to me. And , I was a bit like "Should I be the one doing this?" But I did it. However  I infused a bit too much of comedy into it and so I got into a bit of trouble with the political party. [laughs]

Steve: That's crazy. I think of it as a very political film. I don't understand why there would be a problem with that. Then again I only know the novel by reputation.

Sabu: Well, originally it's a really old story, so I just did a lot of modernizing a bit. So, for example,  the boat that was getting the crabs was a little too chic. Things like that.

Steve: Could you do a film that was a straight drama? Because all of your films have humor. That's one of the things I absolutely love about your films is that, no matter what's happening there's always a sense of, "Yes these are, this is tragedy and yes this is whatever," but you still see the humor of, of things. You know it's heartbreaking as say, "MISS ZOMBIE" is. But there's still ridiculousness to some of it. However I was wondering could you do a film with no humor?

Sabu:  I could work on a serious drama. If I come up with the right idea, maybe. The next film that's being released next year, is also based on a novel but that one is quite serious. Although you might still laugh a little.

Steve: It's the George Bernard Shaw quote, "Life does not cease to be funny when people die any more than it ceases to be serious when people laugh".

Sabu: Yeah. It makes me really happy that, you'd be viewing it this way, that you can cry but also laugh.

Steve: That's what I love about your films. [Looks at Notes]The one thing I don't think you've done... But could you do say, a period drama? Say a, samurai film or something deep in history.

Sabu: I would really love to. It's just hard because those tend to be more expensive. Um, but if I get theright script, yes. But I actually do have a lot of ideas back from in the day so it's something I would really like to do.

Steve: Well, cool.

Sabu: , I think maybe it might be easier and faster to write a novel. Like a historical period novel. kind of like a CHASUKE'S JOURNEY as opposed to just having a screenplay. In Japan right now I think without  it existing a different medium, it's kind of hard to get made. So that might be the path.

Steve: .How do you feel about  the way people watch films now? Do you have a preference?  Everybody's watching them on phones. Um, you know, a big screen. Would you prefer big screen? .

Sabu: Of course I would rather people see it in theaters 'cause I spent so much time on the sound and color. And so than to have people watch it on such a small screen, that's kind of well, yeah. But you know, I do think it's not bad that it's become more easy, more accessible to watch films.

Steve: Why aren't you in more of your movies?I don't think you're in many of them at all. Is it too hard to act and direct or...?

Sabu: I just...I can't focus. And so I appeared in up until my third film as a director. But since then, I haven't.

Steve:  I thought it was you were more expensive as an actor than a director.

[laughter]

Sabu: Yeah, I was in Silence so I'm not expensive as an actor [laughs] .


Steve: Is there like any dream projects that you have? Is there any film that you'd love to do? That you simply, you know...

Sabu: There's a project I've been wanting to make for a very long time. And I haven't quite got been able to get it made. Although, it might finally go through. But uh, it's a project that I would make in Europe.

The screenplay is all done. Um, I would cast it over there in Europe. It'd probably be in English but you know, we'd shoot somewhere like Berlin or Venice. So that's something that I'd like to make happen.

Steve: That's cool. That's really cool.

Sabu: Good.

Not a review of Sabu's Jam (2018) NYAFF 2019

This is purely a place holder. I wanted to simply say that I saw Sabu’s JAM which played at the New York Asian Film Festival, but I don’t know what to think. This uncertain reaction is not what I expected from a Sabu film since every film of his has produced some sort of emotion—even if only in the end when the plot threads came together in an ah ha moment.

Beginning at the end the film follows three people as their lives end up converging in a single moment where, they literally crash into each other. And I really don’t know.

A couple days on I’m still pondering it. I know I should watch the film again but I’m torn, especially since I’ve been told that the film is getting a sequel. Perhaps down the road, linked to another film it will make more sense, or provoke a reaction that I can put into words.

For now I just want to say that I’ve seen the film and full review is coming. Until then here is Nate Hood’s review.

Nate Hood's 400 words on Sabu's Mr Long (2017) NYAFF 2019

Few directors play with genre as audaciously and consistently as auteur Sabu. For decades he’s crafted some of the oddest, most unclassifiable films to poke their way out of Japanese genre filmmaking, challenging norms and audiences with stories that refuse to fit into boxes. His 2017 film Mr. Long is no exception, deftly skipping from gruesome violence to light-hearted comedy to soul-crushing tragedy.

The film follows Mr. Long, a Taiwanese assassin who finds himself trapped in Japan after a hit gone wrong leaves him stranded with no cash or identification. Wandering through the outskirts of Tokyo, he discovers a young boy and his junkie mother living in a squalid neighborhood. He quickly bonds with the child and draws the attention of their neighbors after they learn that he’s an excellent cook. (Apparently, slicing jugulars aren’t his only knife skills.) The neighborhood bands together and builds him a noodle stand where he serves Taiwanese beef noodles outside a nearby temple with the boy as his assistant. Meanwhile, Long forces the mother to get clean the old fashioned way: tying her up until she rides all the poison out of her system. Crude and pitiless, yes, but considering Long’s bloody pedigree it might be the most compassionate way of helping her he can think of. Soon, the two fall in love and start a new family with the boy. But then Sabu pulls the rug out from under us by revealing that the mother was a former prostitute who ran away from her mafia handlers after getting pregnant from a customer she’d fallen in love with. And that mafia boss whose been hunting her all these years? He’s the same gangster Long failed to hunt down earlier. And wouldn’t you know that right as she starts a new life with Long he finally finds her.

The thing that keeps Mr. Long cohesive as it weaves its way through various tones is an overarching emotional unity of loneliness and sadness that gives way only through the kindness of strangers and the individual’s ability to forgive themselves of their pasts. It keeps us from mentally disassociating as Sabu shifts from ultra-violence where Long stabs and slices his way through literally dozens of goons to gentle comedy as he tries to navigate his new adopted country despite not speaking the language. It’s by keeping the drama human that he keeps it believable.

Rating: 7/10

Nate Hood's 400 words on Sabu's Jam (2018) NYAFF 2019

For his eighteenth feature Jam, idiosyncratic Japanese auteur Sabu abandons the straightforward storytelling that’s dominated his career in favor of a film featuring three distinct storylines that weave and intersect purely by chance much like the early 2000s hyperlink features of Alejandro González Iñárritu. The first revolves around Hiroshi (Sho Aoyagi), a struggling enka singer with a devout fanbase of older women who dreams of global stardom. Following a meet-and-greet session with a group of his fans, he’s kidnapped by a mentally unstable woman named Masako (Mariko Tsutsui) who ties him to a chair and forces him to write a love song for her. Elsewhere there’s Tetsuo (Nobuyuki Suzuki), a silent ex-con fresh from prison hunting down the gangsters who abandoned him during a heist gone wrong. While not killing his way through the criminal underground, he dutifully cares for his senile grandmother, pushing her around in a wheelchair as he goes about his bloody business.

Both of these storylines unfortunately feel like pale imitations of other, better movies: it’s impossible to watch Hiroshi’s story without having flashbacks of Rob Reiner’s Misery (1990) and Martin Scorsese’s The King of Comedy (1982), while Tetsuo feels ripped straight out of Chan-wook Park’s Oldboy (2003) what with his imperviousness to pain, bedraggled appearance, and use of a hammer as his primary weapon.

It’s only the third and final storyline that feels truly original, and it’s here that we see the dark humor that’s characterized so much of Sabu’s career. It centers on a young man named Takeru (Keita Machida), a good-natured fellow with cosmically bad luck. After his girlfriend is accidentally shot and sent into a coma while a bystander to the heist where Tetsuo got arrested, he receives a vision from God telling him that if he does three good deeds a day she’ll wake up. However, his good deeds seem to backfire, such as almost getting lynched after getting mistaken for a pedophile while trying to help a crying little girl. In his eagerness to help others, he inadvertently becomes the getaway driver to a duo of robbers. Their next big score? An upcoming Hiroshi concert.

Jam is an occasionally charming genre exercise, but an ultimately hollow one, as it never demonstrates any underlying philosophy or ideas; there’s a recognition of fate and coincidence, but no conclusions about them. There isn’t even a point about pointlessness.

Rating: 6/10

Mr Long (2017) NYAFF 2019

This is my review of MR LONG from the 2017 Tribeca Film Festival

Sabu's MR LONG is a film that only he could have made. A rambling, philosophical gangster/cooking film it goes off in unexpected directions and returns with unexpected delights.

The film concerns Long, a Taiwanese hitman who is sent to Japan to kill another gangster. When the hit goes wrong he barely escapes with his life. Wounded he ends up in an abandoned part of town. Making the acquaintance of a small boy he eventually falls in with the residents who warm to his ability to cook. As he waits for a boat back home he helps the boy's mother get off drugs and builds a culinary business.

A deliberately paced film, the film can seem long at times. The film has a long digression into the history of the boy's mother. It may seem an odd thing to do but it pays off in the end with an emotional punch in the face at the end.

This is a great film to just look at. This is a film that uses all of the visual cues to heighten and deepen what we are feeling about the story. The opening city sequence is stunning and it makes us feel we are seeing something special. The action sequences are among the best I've seen in a long time. How Sabu films them adds a real punch. When the final confrontation occurs it is as a cathartic bloodletting as anything I've ever seen on film. It's not just what physically happens but what we are seeing actually means that makes it so shattering. There is a release not only for Long but for us in the audience as well. Even the final ridiculously joyous traffic stopping sequence works because of how what we are seeing amps up the emotion of the moment.

I am a huge Sabu fan. His films are not like any one else's. No one mixes things up quite the way he does. This is fact that makes selling his films difficult because people don't know what to make of them which means studios don't know how to release his films in the US. His films defy genres and it annoys people

After the screening I got into a very heated argument with another writer who despises Sabu's films. In their mind he is an actor and should remain that and not turn out films because they don't follow cinematic rules. I don't know what rules they are thinking about, however I do think the films are something more since they tend to be more philosophical journeys rather than straight on narratives. That Sabu's films break the rules, whatever they are, is what makes them so delightful and special.

MR LONG is a delight. It is, as all Sabu's films are, a must see. He's to hoping it gets a wide US release.

MR LONG plays Monday at NYAFF with the director doing an intro and Q&A. For tickets go here

Happiness (2016) New York Asian Film Festival 2017

If I described Sabu's HAPPINESS as the bastard child of MONDAY and MISS ZOMBIE with the silences of BLESSING BELL thrown in almost none of you is going to understand what I'm talking about. I would use other descriptions but the only things I can compare HAPPINESS to is other work by the film's director Sabu. Despite it's happy start, HAPPINESS is a sad painful film that will infect your soul and make you wonder about the good and bad in our lives.

The film concerns a man who arrives in a dying town carrying a case. In the case is a helmet that can be used to make you remember your happiest memory. He is more than willing to use it on the various towns folk in order to make them come back to life. However making the town happy isn't why he's there. He has a purpose that is not so cheerful...

I doubt that anyone other than Sabu could have made this film. A meditative throw back to his early philosophical  explorations such as DRIVE, MONDAY, or BLESSING BELL this is not so much a feature film as a cinematic discussion about the best and worst moments in or lives. As one character says the best and worst memories are very close. HAPPINESS explores that as the joyous first half hour turns on a dime to something darker.

I will not say what happens or why but I will say that it will break your heart and have you thinking about life's moments and other things for a long time afterward. We really see the good in the bad and vice versa. A good time on I'm still trying to figure this out.

Beautiful and told with a minimum of dialog Sabu lets his images speak, He makes us feel what he wants by careful combinations of shots. He is  also blessed with actors who are good enough not to need words to let us know what they are thinking. This a film where it's all in the body language and in the eyes of the characters. We buy everything that happens, even the seeming left turns because we accept the characters.

I was, and am, moved.

I love the film but I know that not everyone is going to like this. The turn toward the heavy is going to bother some, as is the violence.   There is a reason why Sabu's films are nigh impossible to see in the United States, they are not your typical art or genre films. No one knows what to do with or how to market his films.  I've had a giddy conversation with a writer from Japan who loves Sabu and a heated argument with another Japanese writer who despises him, clearly passions run high.

From my stand point HAPPINESS is a must see. A heady challenging film that is unlike any other film anywhere other than from Sabu (and that will make more sense once you see all his work). If you don't want to be challenged and made to think and feel stay away. If you are ready to see something special go....

HAPPINESS plays Friday July 14th and is highly recommended.

Mr Long (2017) Tribeca 2017

Sabu's MR LONG is a film that only he could have made. A rambling, philosophical gangster/cooking film it goes off in unexpected directions and returns with unexpected delights.

The film concerns Long, a Taiwanese hitman who is sent to Japan to kill another gangster. When the hit goes wrong he barely escapes with his life. Wounded he ends up in an abandoned part of town. Making the acquaintance of a small boy he eventually falls in with the residents who warm to his ability to cook. As he waits for a boat back home he helps the boy's mother get off drugs and builds a culinary business.

A deliberately paced film, the film can seem long at times. The film has a long digression into the history of the boy's mother. It may seem an odd thing to do but it pays off in the end with an emotional punch in the face at the end.

This is a great film to just look at.  This is a film that uses all of the visual cues to heighten and deepen what we are feeling about the story. The opening city sequence is stunning and it makes us feel we are seeing something special. The action sequences are among the best I've seen in a long time. How Sabu films them adds a real punch. When the final confrontation occurs it is as a cathartic bloodletting as anything I've ever seen on film. It's not just what physically happens but what we are seeing actually means that makes it so shattering. There is a release not only for Long but for us in the audience as well. Even the final ridiculously joyous traffic stopping sequence works because of how what we are seeing amps up the emotion of the moment.

I am a huge Sabu fan. His films are not like any one else's. No one mixes things up quite the way he does. This is fact that makes selling his films difficult because people don't know what to make of them which means studios don't know how to release his films in the US. His films defy genres and it annoys people

After the screening I got into a very heated argument with another writer who despises Sabu's films. In their mind he is an actor and should remain that and not turn out films because they don't follow cinematic rules. I don't know what rules they are thinking about, however I do think the films are something more since they tend to be more philosophical journeys rather than straight on narratives. That Sabu's films break the rules, whatever they are, is what makes them so delightful and special.

MR LONG is a delight. It is, as all Sabu's films are, a must see. He's to hoping it gets a wide US release.

The New York Asian Film Festival Interview of SABU

This is the tag team interview I did with Nobu Hosoki of Yahoo Japan of the great director Sabu on July 8th 2015 at Lincoln Center.

Sabu was in town to introduce and talk about his film CHASUKE'S JOURNEY, which concerns an angel who comes to earth to save a girl destined to die. Its one of Sabu's best films and in danger of becoming one of my all time favorite films.

A couple of quick notes about this interview:

Sabu doesn't speak English, or he doesn't speak it well (When I met him in 2011 at the Japan Society he indicated that he didn't speak English) so all of the questions were translated in and out of English. Nobu being the supreme gentleman that he is gave his questions in English so that I could understand what he was being said. Only occasionally would he slip into Japanese to clarify something that was said. 

All of my questions and Nobu's questions are more or less exactly what we said (or what the transcriber says we said). 

All of the statements credited to Sabu are the words of the translator.

The entire interview ran approximately 25 minutes and was done minutes before the screening of Sabu's film in a theater across the street from where this took place. When the interview took place neither Nobu nor myself had seen the CHASUKE'S JOURNEY.

Sabu introduces CHASUKE'S JOURNEY

NOBU: Just warming up. Do you want to start?

STEVE: You go.

NOBU: This is actually based on a novel that you wrote. I was curious about the difference between your novel and the film, the content of it. That's the...

SABU: What changed is the setting. In the novel, it's not set in Okinawa. It's just set in a metropolitan city. There are also more characters in the novel compared to the film.

STEVE: I'm curious, all the larger films are very spiritual. Your early films, like DRIVE, BLESSING BELL, MONDAY there's a very strong karmic relationship. How close is that to your personal belief? Is it of your reflection of what you believe?

SABU Yes I think so, for sure.

NOBU: The novel's illustration was done by Katsuhiro Otomo who created "Akira". I was curious to how the relationship got started and how did he get him to actually do the illustration on his novel?

SABU: My relationship with the director Otomo, the director of Akira, is that his first live-action film, WORLD APARTMENT HORROR I had the starring role in that film. That's why we have this relationship. We just meet maybe once or twice a year.

The publisher, when I was writing this novel, asked me to contact him so that I could ask him to draw the cover image. I actually had to make the call, but fortunately, he said he was very agreeable.

STEVE: I'm very jealous [laughs] .

SABU: [laughs]

STEVE: You've made some films that are not based on novels. You're working from novels. Which do you prefer, working from the novel, like "Kanikōsen" -- you smile, am I saying that right? -- Kanikōsen, where you're working from a classic novel, whereas some of your other films are not based on novels. They're just something you came up with or a screenwriter came up with. Which is better for you?

SABU: I would say that adopting from my original story is much more fun. It's much more enjoyable for me.

NOBU: The main actor is Kenichi Matsuyama. He also worked in a movie called RABBIT DROP or...I don't know the English title. "Usagi Doroppu". How's it different this time around? Obviously, it's been a long time, but how did Kenichi Matsuyama becomes an actor that he is now, that is so different from the previous film that he's working with?

SABU: Before, with Usagi Doroppu, BUNNY DROP in American title, was a manga adaptation. His character was this straightforward depiction. He just did how he was depicted in the manga.

This time, it was based on my original work, and he had a lot of action scenes. He played a yakuza. He's always told me that he wanted to play a role that was based on my original work, so I think he was much more enthusiastic this time than before.

STEVE: I know a lot of the actors in your films show up again and again. Do you like to work with the same actors over and over again, or would you prefer to work with new actors?

SABU: I would like to work with new actors and especially crew. I try to work with new people as much as possible, but when it comes to actors, I feel a little limited in my choices. I just end up working with the same people.

NOBU: This film actually was handled by the Office Kitano, who handle most of Takeshi Kitano's films. I was curious, because his film is oftentimes recognized in foreign film festivals, was it a conscious choice that you team up with Office Kitano for this one because you're targeting film festivals around the world?

SABU: This film began because of my correspondence with Mr. Ichiyama, who works for Tokyo FILMeX. He's also very closely associated with Office Kitano. He made the introduction, so I was very fortunate.

STEVE: One of the things that runs through most of your films is, there's always some of these gangsters. I don't know how to phrase this. Why do you seem to be so fascinated with gangsters and bad guys? There's always somebody chasing somebody. There's always the bad guys are gangsters who always seem to be somehow involved in everything.

SABU: In regards to yakuza, I think they're very easy to use in action scenes. Of course, they're also recognized worldwide as this very symbolic, evil character. I like to use them often. In regards to the running scenes, in these days in interviews, people ask me all the time and comment on the other running scenes. I feel as if it's expected of me by now. It's sort of a fan service now.

Sabu during the post film Q&A

NOBU: This was shot in Okinawa. I heard that he cast some of the local folks for the extras. They have a traditional...I think it's called a festival called Eisa Noh Matsuri. I was curious, talk about the challenge of shooting in Okinawa. Also, explain the Eisa Matsuri that take place over there.

SABU It's been four years since I've been living in Okinawa. For the first time, I've been witnessing all these festivals that are rooted in the community. I'm so intrigued and fascinated by them, so I always wanted to use them in my films. Here was my chance. It fit with the story, fortunately.

In regards to the difficulties of shooting in Okinawa, I heard a rumor that it was very difficult to use them as extras, because people there are very relax and they're very chill. I heard that it's very difficult for them to commit to a time. I didn't really know how many people would be there until the day of the shooting.

I also heard a rumor that they would take a lot of bathroom breaks and just leave and not come back. Fortunately for me, it worked out quite well. They were very dedicated, and the fact that the actors were there really invigorated them. There was a good sense of kinship and community.

STEVE: I'm curious, you've done work for television. You did TROUBLE MAN which is 12 parts, I believe, for television. It's 6 parts or 12 parts. Do you prefer working in television where it's something like a long form, where you can fill several hours, or would you prefer to do a shorter?

SABU Working in television had its benefits. I quite enjoyed it because there's a story that's fitted to TV. To be honest, I prefer film, working in film.

NOBU: I want to ask you a question about Director of Photography Daisuke Sôma. He'd done HELTER SKELTER and the TOKYO TRIBE which is also at the festival.  I was curious to how's the collaboration working with, to set out to do the creation that in his mind?

SABU I worked with the Director of Photography Sôma for Kanikōsen, previously. I remember that he was very quick on his feet. He has very quick footwork. He's very agile in that way, and he was very easy to communicate with, too. It was great to work with him again.

NOBU: I think he also adds to the second unit.

SABU: Sorry, sorry. Second unit, yes.

NOBU: He used to work in the second unit.

SABU: As you mentioned, he worked in the second unit for Kanikōsen . Since then, he really debuted as DP and has been very much in demand. It's wonderful.

STEVE: I have to apologize. I haven't seen the new film, so that's why I'm focusing on his older films.

I'm curious, there's a lot of us in the US who know you and know your work. A lot of people don't, which is a shame. This is a weird question. How would you sell yourself or how do you think we should present your films so that more people can discover you?

Even a lot of Asian-film fans are just discovering you this year at NYAFF or did so when the Japan Society had your retrospective. It was like, "Why haven't I heard of him? This is the first time I've heard of him." What do you think we can do to try to get you more attention here?

SABU: I guess I can just say that...I do get offers to shoot films in the US, so I know I should be more proactive about that. I know that I just need to work harder to be more famous.

NOBU: This one's selected at the competition for the Berlin Film Festival. He's been around a lot of film festivals, but it's not the competition on a significant top-three festival. How's the competition like, in your perspective, this time around? How's the reception at the Berlin?

SABU: As always, my films do get a very warm reception from the audience, because I always hope that...I always intend my films to be enjoyable for the audience. This was my eighth time in Berlin, but what I can say is my experience with the competition, it was completely different from the previous times.

Competition is an entirely different experience. Every time the audience was roused or were having fun, I knew my award was getting further and further away from me. This film is a little manga-like in a way. I know that in Berlin, especially for the competition, they prefer more films that deal with social issues and so on.

I was just surprised that it even got in, in that sense. At the same time, I really respect and appreciate that Berlin is reaching out to find these new films, like mine.


If you want to read the Unseen Films back catalog of reviews for the films of Sabu follow this link.

Miss Zombie (2013)

Leave it to the great Japanese director Sabu to bend the zombie genre sideways. He has so kicked the horror genre sideways that most horror fans are going to be severely disappointed when they see this film since the title would seem to promise the latest chapter in the over used, over done, and now stupid as a stick zombie genre. If you found that last line offensive, this film is not for you. The other people who are going to hate the film are the ones who want blood and gore. Sorry there isn't very much and even that is in black and white.

Instead of blood and guts and gore Sabu has instead crafted a small scale gem of a film that is more about people than monsters and the one's who are truly monsters are people. Its a film of dry wit and deep emotions, with a path that takes us from a place a relative detachment  to an ending that will break your heart.

Not to put too fine a point on it Sabu has made, in my humble opinion, one of his very best films, one of the best horror films you're likely to see and one of the best films I've seen in 2014.

The plot of the film has a family being sent a zombie by an ex-employee. She is, he assures the family, quite docile. She can be used to help out around the house. You can feed her anything (fruits and veggies are okay), just try to stay away from meet because she may go feral. Complications arise almost from the start since the people of the village don't want her there. The family assures them that she is fine, there will be no trouble, she is a low level zombie, pretty much still human, and not to worry she'll live on the outskirts of town. Besides it's only going to be a couple of days...

I should point out that the zombie plague of the film is completely different than in any other film. Its a matter of fact, there are medical journals on the subject, there are stages and infection can take years. Not all zombies are blood thirsty monsters, or even cannibals, though diet does affect how the zombies behave. If you ask me this approach makes a hell of a lot more sense than in 99% of other zombie films.

A moody absurdist art house zombie film there is a hell of a lot more going on beyond the monsters. This is a film that works on so many levels it will spin most horror fans heads. Like most good horror films this film is concerned with the human condition. Its a film that is largely about the haves and the have nots, about hatred and bigotry, about man's in humanity to man, and about the quest for something lost. Its a profoundly sad film about loss. By the time the film ended I felt as though some one had hit me with a large stick.

Interestingly all of the monstrous acts are committed by humans. Our heroine is stoned and stabbed  and abused repeatedly by humans. She takes it quietly because she can't speak, but at the same time we can see the heart break and rage in her eyes. I want to compare the film to the abuse in this film in some ways to the abuse in a film like 12 Years a Slave because the zombie is very much in a similar position, perhaps an even worse one than the slaves in that film. Its not even that our heroine can fight back, she simply has to take it and go on. She has to endure it without even being able to scream in anguish at the cruelties, even the right to cry out is denied her.

My heart broke repeatedly. Some times it was an overt act such as the stabbings or the rape, but at other times, a look in the mirror, or a glance as mother looked at son. What starts out as a film with humor slowly changes into something troubling as the monster is revealed to be much more sinned upon than sinner. And then there are the moments where the living make choices that blow back in ways unexpected (I won't reveal those twists)

Somewhere somehow there is a quiet humanity to it all.

Sitting here writing this film up several hours after I saw it I'm torn. I desperately want to see the film again so that I can properly express and describe what is going on in it so that you know just how wonderful this film is but I can't.I had a one shot look at the film and after a certain point I stopped taking notes, I stopped trying to remember, I simply let this film wash over me. I went to the place and the film and experienced.

God help the fickle film going public. I want to curse the studios who won't release something different. To be perfectly honest I don't know if this film will show up in the US. I can't see it happening outside of some film festival simply because it isn't what people expect. As I said at the top the title promises blood and guts and not a story of humanity. Maybe perhaps NYAFF, but beyond that who knows.

If you want something off beat and truly unexpected put this one on your radar. Keep a serious eye out because if you're willing to go with it this film will knock your socks off, especially if you let it rattle around in your brain.

One of the best of 2014.

Drive (2002)

Sabu's transitional film. It is his last film with his friend Shin'ichi Tsutsumi who acts as a kind of stand in, and the this film marks a kind ending before a change of direction, a direction of experimentation and some darkness.

I originally saw this film back in February as part of the Japan Society's retrospective of Sabu films and it blew me away. There is something wonderful and life affirming about the film.

The film begins with a discussion between a doctor and a patient about headaches. What causes them and how to deal with them. From there we see out hero Asakura sitting at a light, watching a young girl at a flower shop. We sense the longing. The idyll is interrupted when the car doors open an into the car come barreling three masked bank robbers. "Follow that Car!" they shout. And as soon as the light turns green Asakura chases after the car... at exactly the speed limit, following all of the rules of the road...

Where the film wanders off from there is the film.

Actually where the film wanders from there is into the territory where action/comedy meet philosophy.

I know who wants philosophy in their action comedy, but I assure you that's what makes the film so wonderful, so charming.

The philosophy here is that of Buddhism. the notion of karma, of fate hundreds of years in the coming...

Where the film is going is set up in two wonderful back to back scenes. One is a scene in a restaurant. Here the three robbers and our hero discuss what to do to find their missing comrade, and also the notion of fate and karma and how the long dead may still be with us since it seems that Asakura has a dead relative around him who is trying to tell him something.

This is followed by a scene that is one of my most favorite in any film I've ever seen. It involves punk rock music and a discussion of fate and the way one should live. Its so truly amazing and odd as the mix sounds it's brilliant. As with all Sabu films I could tell you exactly what happens and even then you'll still not expect what you get. Then again if I told you what happens in this scene and later in the film you won't have the joy of finding out for yourself what happens.

I loved this film a great deal. I was really impressed with it. However as I walked out of the screening I found the more I thought about the film, the more I liked it. I found myself texting and calling friends to tell them they had to see this film. Actually I called up one friend to ask him to try and find it for me because I had to have a copy of it. (I still haven't found one- at least an affordable one with English subtitles)

You need to keep an eye out for this film. If you get the chance to see this either at a screening or on DVD do so. It will impress the hell out of you. I know it impressed me.

I know you're probably wondering why a Buddhist film about fate and all that is doing on Easter Sunday. I don't rightly know myself. All I know is that it somehow felt right to put it here. Since it's a Sabu film it actually makes perfect sense since his films, as you've seen off and on over the last 10 weeks, are constantly filled with left turns and unexpected twists that are right on target. He is a filmmaker who somehow understands life and what it means to be alive.... At least I hope that's what you've come away from the reviews since his films are ridiculously difficult to see.

Do yourself a favor, make an effort and try and track down his films, they will make you think about things in a new way.

Trouble Man - The Series (2010)

Mondocurry saw the version of this that ran at the Japan Society back in February as part of their Run Salary Man Run retrospective of the films of Sabu. The Japan Society didn't really say that what they were showing wasn't a "film" rather it was the second half of the series.

I was supposed to attend, but I over booked myself and there was no way I was going to get from the BAMkids Fest to the Japan Society in any mood to enjoy the film. The result was I deferred to less crazy heads and took a pass.

That was until I had the chance to pick the film up on DVD. I didn't realize what I had ordered until it came, namely the entire 12 episode series. Since I saw the entire series I thought it would be best to write that up as a counterpoint to the review of the Japan Society version.

I'm kind of at a loss as to how much I should reveal about the plot. Then again the plot can be explained simply its the execution that takes forever.

The series starts with some arresting images, the sound of a car crash is followed by the appearance of a burning tire, some burning people and a burning car. We also see the young man who will be revealed to be out hero Kazuo running down the street and towards us. The camera then follows as he runs. The sequence will be repeated in the final episode of the series as our hero runs towards his destiny.

The film then flashes back to several hours earlier and we follow the sequence of events as Kazuo meets various characters and they all end up in an apartment together. For the next FIVE plus episodes the series picks up in the apartment and then flashes back for the majority of each episode so that we know the back story of each character.

Its a tough haul since the central story stops dead and we end up seeing the same things over and over way too many times.

Once the characters are set the series kind of goes forward in later part of the second half and we realize how all of the too long set up ties together directly with Kazuo. Clearly there is a karma and no such thing as chance.

I can't imagine what it would have been like to see the short version of this since some of what you see in the early episodes makes what happen later have more meaning. Sure you could follow what happens if you didn't see the bits, it just won't mean as much.

On the other hand there is so much crap that you have to get through it kind of isn't worth bothering with the early stuff. (I don't know how far I would have gotten had I had to watch this on a episode by episode basis)

Sigh

There is a great movie lurking in this over abundance of material but frankly I don't know how you would cut this down to find it.

For me, watching this film in it's complete 12 episode form I kind of felt that this was a paycheck job for Sabu. I think he wanted to see how far he could stretch a story but was ham strung by the TV structure which requires precise parts all the same length.

As I said there are these great moments all along the way but they never build to anything. Partly because the TV structure kills the momentum and partly because there is too much filler.

For me this is the weakest of Sabu's films. Its too much mediocre material swamping the gems.

I can't really recommend this. It's not bad as such it's just too much....

For Sabu fans only.

On import DVD

Dead Run (2005)

I picked this up on DVD as an in case film. If we didn't pull the week of Sabu films together this film would fill a slot. The trick was that I would have to find the time to actually sit down and watch it in order to have a piece written up for the required slot. Complicating matters was the fact it arrived in the mail just as the craziness of Film Comment Selects, The New York International Children's Film Festival, Rondezvous WithFrench Cinema and a few other things hit all at the same time. When was I going to have time to watch it?

Somehow I did.

One of the joys of watching a Sabu film is that many times you start to watch a film and wonder what you are watching or why only to suddenly find you're in the middle of things and hooked in the middle of a bunch of characters you care about.

The plot follows a young man, Shuji, from boyhood onward as he tries to find a place in the world and deal with the craziness of life. From the differences between those on real land and those on landfill (off shore), to the crazy yakuza man and his girl (The early scene with Shuji and the bike is marvelous), to his pursuit of a long haired girl who shares his passion for running, and search for some form of the meaning of life. The film is very much the arc of a life.

As with several of Sabu's later films (post Monday) it's very hard to really tell you what the film is about since he has so much going on that you have the choice to be overly wordy or overly brief. Things don't fall into place until the very end.

To me this is one of Sabu's best films. In a weird way his working from someone else's material, this film is based on a novel, frees him up to show how good a filmmaker he really is. Gone are repetitions that fill his salary man movies and he soars in directions that you wouldn't think he was capable of. Yes I love Monday, Drive, Postman Blues, but here as in the film that he made next, Kanikosen, Sabu truly goes beyond any notion of being a one trick pony and shows just how complex he can be. The complexity is almost always there (I think Hard Luck Hero being an exception) but it's often hidden in the rote of some of filmic patterns. Here Sabu is balancing the stories of multiple characters and ultimately story lines and doing so with an ease that one wouldn't think he was capable of based upon some of his earlier films.

I'm not saying that his films prior to this are bad, I'm not, all I'm saying is that like Drive this is the point at which Sabu grew as a director into one of the best one's working in the world today.

This film is must see for anyone who loves great story telling.

Currently out on import DVD

Hard Luck Hero (2003)

A trifle of a film from director Sabu starring the group V6.

The film begins when a bus boy at an underground club is forced to pretend to be a kickboxer in an underground bout. Its a fixed fight so there should be no danger, but a lucky blow causes chaos...and the bus boy and his friend are off and running with the mob in pursuit.

The film then flashes back to the story of two business men who were in the club when it went down. Sitting at a table close to the ring they are joined by the Yakuza who make them uncomfortable. And through circumstance we see how they end up on the run.

The film then picks up two more characters, who we see were also at the fight, and they steal the business men's brief case ....

Extremely light weight, but containing some big laughs the film is kind of like Sabu light. I suspect that this was a pay check job for the director and he took his well worn motif's and strung them together in a compact package. It's every Sabu cliche brought together for comedic effect, and for a little darkness as well (the thieves tale is dark).

This was not run as part of the Japan Society's Sabu retrospective of Sabu films and it's kind of easy to understand why. Running a scant 77 minutes the film is barely what we would think of as a feature film. There are also more than a few bits that feel like filler. Too many others reference his earlier works.

It's not a bad film but it's the sort of thing that is a great director coasting. I've seen the film once and I think that is probably enough, especially in light of my recent submersion in the films of the director. I don't hate the film, but it's nothing memorable. It's certainly not the worst Sabu film I've seen...and even if it was bad Sabu is better than many directors best work.

The film Drive was described at the Japan Society as the film that marked the dividing line of Sabu's works, with that film being a summing up of all that went before. that maybe the case on some levels, on others this is the final film of early Sabu period since after this he would go off in other more interesting, or at least experimental directions.

Blessing Bell (2003)

You could consider the Blessing Bell to be the first film in the second stage of Sabu’s directing career. Moving away from some of the manic craziness of the lives of salary men, the focus shifts to the meditative contemplation of a blue collar Joe who has lost his job.

The plot of the film concerns an unnamed man who walks off from this place of employment on a journey of contemplation.

Along the way he meets various people who are at differing points of their lives and they impart observations to our hero who remains completely mute until the final moments of the film.

A very deliberately paced film, it’s a film that can’t be called anything other than slow. I don’t mean this a slap to the film, what I mean is that this is a film that shows us some things then gives us time to contemplate what we’ve seen, then shows us some more. It’s a film that uses Sabu’s typical quirkiness but it’s turned on it’s head in a very real portrait of life. In order to compress the journey down to 88 minutes things had to be that way and it makes sense.

In reading on the film everyone talks about how the film covers a 24 hour period after the factory closes, but I don’t think that’s right. If you pay attention to what happens the film actually takes place over several days…or not, the final scene blurs things further and ultimately makes you wonder if any of it happened.

It’s a film that forces you to engage with it and figure out it’s mysteries. I would guess that had Sabu appeared at the Japan Society screening he would have been tight lipped about some of what happens, which I think is fitting since the film is like life, the sort of thing you have to work out for yourself.

I really like the film a great deal, though I suspect that I admire it more than I like it. I’m curious how a second viewing will effect me.

If you do see the film, which I recommend without reservation, I do ask one thing; watch it from start to finish before you decide how you feel about it. The film is very much a journey and like any journey or like life what you experience on the way is not the destination. I know my feelings bounced all over the place while watching the film and it wasn’t until I got to the very end that I had an AH HA moment. While all Sabu films are like this, this is one film that really really requires you go all the way through it since this is a film of building ideas and emotion. When you get to the end the pay off is, or was for me anyway, worth the uncertain journey.

Out on import DVD

Dangan Runner (aka Dangan Runna aka Non-Stop) (1996)

DB here- It's day two of our week long look at the work of the director Sabu. Today, we've got Mondocurry looking at the directors first film, which he saw at The Japan Society's restropsective of Sabu films.

Dangan Runner is Sabu’s first film, although it was the second I saw during his retrospective at Japan Society. Watching this movie after seeing Monday, I noticed that many of the ideas and visual themes the director is known for were already starting to take shape in a cruder yet often entertaining form.

The film starts out by depicting the powerlessness and frustration of mild mannered Yasuda, played by Tomoro Taguchi of Tetsuo: Iron Man infamy. This sets the tone for the robbery he will try to commit, which, in no time, goes exceedingly wrong. When this happens in a Sabu film, the results can be hilarious or tragic, and often a little bit of both. This time things go humorously, and lead quickly into setting up the nonstop foot chase involving Yasuda, the cashier at the convenience store he tried to hold up (who has issues of addiction and relative powerlessness of his own), and a yakuza enforcer played by Tsutumi Shinichi (in quite a role reversal from the unimposing salaryman he portrays at the beginning of Monday). This goes on for the bulk of the film, while every so often, there are cutaways to two institutions that Sabu seems to take pleasure in poking fun at: The police and the Yakuza. Compared to the three runners, they are not moving very much at all.

It is a simple concept, yet through it, Sabu explores some interesting ideas. At first, running brings to mind the bustling, unrelenting pace of life in metropolitan Tokyo, inescapable if you are on a lower rung of society’s ladder. The three runners play out their roles as the chased, the chaser, or both, constantly running from or after something, with seemingly no alternative. Later, running takes on a different representation. It blurs the boundaries that separate each character. Rather than running from and after each other, they move together, their similarities more significant than their differences.

Shortcomings of the movie come down to one simple factor: budget. While the final spectacle in Monday is an action-filled frenzy, Dangan Runner’s climax looks murky and the action is rather static. Similar issues affected the film Unlucky Monkey, which was released during the 2 years between Dangan Runner and Monday. Perhaps finances had yet to catch up with Sabu’s elaborate visions.

On the other hand, instances of Sabu’s clever humor do not suffer from the lack of funding to his early films. Take for instance, the scene where the runners three pass by a beautiful lady poised to pick something up off the ground. All of them glance back at her, emphasizing their similarities. We are given a glimpse at each one’s sexual fantasies: one is gentle and frilly, another overbearing and threatening, while yet another clings to an artificially slick sense of style. The sequence is hilariously put together, but also speaks to how deeply rooted one’s position in society is, shaping even one’s unconscious desires.

It is the ability to make this kind of idea work on the audience’s brain at so many different levels that makes all of Sabu’s work worthwhile viewing. I’m hopeful that sooner than later, his earlier and upcoming films will enter the realm of accessible on these shores.

Monday (2000)

DB Here- This week it's a good number of films from the director Sabu. Many of the film appeared at the retrospective that the Japan Society ran at the end of January and the beginning of February. The reviews are being split between Mondocurry and myself, and it's to his assured hand that I turn for the first film of both our series and that of the Japan Society retrospective, Monday.

Over the years, I’ve encountered many Japanese indie films that made me wonder why someone or ‘ones’ deemed them worthy of foreign distribution in the face of other possibilities. I’ll refer to just a few. There’s the film that jumps back and forth between scenes of senseless murder and hopeless drug addiction, while everyone is too bored to care about any of it. Another that comes to mind ends up being a pretty pointless sexploitation flick with a plot that makes no sense, whose big selling point is the fact that someone was wearing a rubber George Bush mask. I’m too polite to kiss and tell, but if you want to seek those movies out, they aren’t that hard to find.

All the while, within the same time frame of those movies’ releases, a little director named Sabu had been building an impressive resume of films that are visually interesting, excitingly paced, and not at all shy of taking on important themes. It’s fitting then that when Sabu gets his turn at some North American exposure, it’s nothing less than a full blown retrospective. The organizer at Japan Society (who would appear to be the man filling the role of their Senior Film Program Officer, Samuel Jamier) went all out, bringing the understated director onstage for q & a’s after half of the six films being screened, and giving the series a nifty trailer (edited by Yasu Inoue, who also made the galvanizing trailers for the 2010 NYAFF and Japan Cuts festivals.)

So, what surprises did the first of the series, Monday, have in store? It starts off with the archetypal Japanese ‘salaryman’ (re: white collar worker, middle management level at most, and highly prone to job dissatisfaction and binge drinking) waking up in a drab hotel room on a Monday morning, trying to account for how the last 48 hours of his lost weekend were spent. The first incident comes into focus and shows a funeral ceremony in progress. For a few long moments it is eerily quiet, so much so that I wondered if there was a glitch in the screening booth with the audio. Then, as dialogue gradually trickles into the scene, things get instantly hilarious. The odd verbal exchange is the sort of uneasy conversational humor that early Tarantino films were made famous for, except here, the absence of catch phrases and posturing celebrities makes it come off far more naturally. The grave ceremony ends up being mischievously intertwined with a time worn action movie trope that has played out the ending of countless shoot ‘em up movies. And we realize we are in the hands of a master storyteller.

What follows is a back and forth shift between the sordid events of the protagonist’s weekend and groggily bewildered hotel scenes (which at first, might not seem to matter, but later prove to be crucial to the story). The flashbacks become increasingly edgy as Sabu turns up the danger, as well as the weird. It probably wouldn’t be a Sabu movie if the Yakuza weren’t somehow involved, and here we get the very funny outcome of our salaryman stumbling into a Yakuza gathering and unwittingly disrupting their world. The humor reaches a fever pitch thanks to Shinichi Tsutumi’s (an actor who plays the lead in many of Sabu’s works) sensational knack for physical comedy. He imparts a hysterical, self-mocking dance routine oozing with over-confidence and goofiness. The music playing in the background is a wildly energizing dance track by Tokyo techno artist Captain Funk, and here I give credit to Sabu for using music by a fellow Japanese artist while still making it a priority to put together an excellent-rather-than-just-adequate soundtrack.

And then, things become sharply, radically, unexpectedly different. At this point, for the benefit of those of you that like their film viewing experiences to be a full-on surprise, with no warning of any bumps, twists, or turns along the way, and are convinced that this is a movie worth checking out, I encourage you to stop reading and make it a goal to see this movie. Fair warning, though, it may entail a trip to Japan and a Tsutaya membership card, or at least, a generous pen pal and a region free dvd player.

Even with events taking a violent turn, Sabu could have easily kept them in the realm of slick, stylish, and overall inconsequential (which is where most of Tarantino’s works tended to stay). But he doesn’t. All that had transpired takes on an unsettling reality for the main character and the audience watching. The weight of it all sends the protagonist into a panic, not only about his future fate, but the moral implications of his actions. It was interesting to note how, in the theater, the uproarious laughter at all of the gallows humor was later reduced to a few nervous titters. You could imagine the thinking running through people’s minds: “we’re supposed to be laughing, aren’t we?” Sabu leads on, though, uncompromisingly, and with no promises of what is to come.

The changeup is more than a little jarring. It’s the sort of thing that sends conventional moviegoers and I suppose overseas distributors running for the hills, but Sabu has too much on mind to be concerned about that. One thing Sabu is not is subtle, and serious issues, such as unchecked authority, glorified perceptions of violence, and the questionable right to take justice into one’s own hands, come to the forefront, even debated openly by the main character and those he confronts.

Despite the mood change, Sabu, who is perhaps just too darned gifted a showman to bum us out completely, continues to interject moments that are funny and also fantastical; a few times the main character is literally chased by demons that hiss and claw their way across the screen. The action convalesces into nothing less than a frantic, full on spectacle, which seems to be a trademark of his films. The scene makes us aware of the film’s complete transformation: What started as a trifle of a comedy has wound its way into becoming a media frenzy of heavily armed riot police, reporters, numerous onlookers, and our once bumbling salaryman protagonist.

The film ends with less an answer than a question posed to the audience: what would you do? What will you do? And Monday, with all of its unanticipated turns, has proven to be a thrilling ride.

DB once again- Chris Bourne has posted the Q&A that followed the screenings of Monday and Dagan Runna (aka Non Stop) at the Japan Society. They both can be found here.

Run Salary Man Run: Troubleman

DB here.

Saturday Mondocurry attended the final night of Sabu directed films at New York Japan's Society which screened Sabu's latest film Troubleman. Last night he sent me a brief piece on what transpired which I now present to you.

As I've mentioned with regard to the previous three films we saw at the series a full review will be coming- as of right now the Sabu week will begin on March 14th and we will look at all of the films that ran at the Japan Society Retrospective (except Postman Blues which we did last year) and maybe some others.

So with that I turn you over to our fair correspondent and his report:

Last night saw the end of the 6-movie Sabu retrospective at Japan Society, with somewhat mixed results. Film retrospectives tend to be organized in such a way that they end up concluding with a bang. I’m not so sure that was the case this time.

Even though Sabu’s newest work, Troubleman, was being screened, it was not so much a feature film as a 12 part drama he directed for Japanese television, and only the second half of it, at that. This may have kept some people away, who would’ve preferred watching a film, and I can’t say I would blame them. Movies are geared for viewing in one sitting, while a television series, no matter how great, is better suited to watching over a longer span of time. Add to this the fact that this portion of the series was said to be a cohesive forward-moving story that was not dependent on the earlier episodes for a full understanding. I respectfully disagree and found myself often frustrated in the gaps left by missing earlier episodes.

The audience was pretty small, in fact the numbers seemed to dwindle in general from the first few screenings, where Sabu was around for Q & A’s, until now. Amongst the audience members in the less than half-filled theater were a few regulars whom I’d seen at the other two screenings I made it to, and chances are, viewed all six of the movies. A significant percent, however, consisted of a group of teenage girls who reportedly travelled to New York from Virginia just to see the screening because the main role was played by Shigeaki Katou, a pop star represented by Japanese talent agency, Johnny’s, which deals solely in young male 'talent.' Indeed, the world of television production is a different playing field from that of film...

On the flip side, the screening provided a great 3-hour escape from some miserably damp New York City weather. It could also be considered an opportunity to see something truly rare, as there is virtually no chance of the source material receiving any official US DVD or theater release. And, perhaps most importantly, Sabu’s unique vision, complete with bursts of humor at the most unlikely moments, was still very much present. In fact, it was interesting seeing themes and visual motifs appear in a television medium, which had been explored in his film work. Considering that, I guess there was some merit to showing Troubleman after other films in the program; just not sure it worked as a fitting conclusion.

DB again- I've managed to obtain the full 12 part series on DVD. If time allows before the Sabu week, I'll be taking a look at the full series and work with Mondocurry to compare it to the shortened version that was screened at the Japan Society.

Run Salary Man Run: Drive

The fourth film in the series of Sabu films at the Japan Society was Drive. This is possibly the most accessible and straightforward of any Sabu film I've seen so far. It's also one of the best.

The plot of the film has a salary man, who is a stickler for doing things the right way and prone to headaches, getting carjacked/kidnapped by three bank robbers who have been double crossed by one their own. Insisting our hero speed after their turncoat comrade, the salary man heads off after him at the speed limit, stopping at every red light... The crooks are not pleased. This being a Sabu film that's only the set up for a ride that is actually not so much about getting the money back but fate, karma and doing the right thing.

I have a great deal to say about the film and I will when I write up a full review.

Before I do that you should know that the film contains one of my most favorite scenes in all of film involving a punk rock concert. I won't say more, other than its perfect and basically sets up the rest of the film wonderfully.

As for the screening, it was very low key. There was only about 30 people in the place until about ten minutes before the start then it became about half full. Its very sad since as many people have said its one of the best but least seen retrospectives in New York for the last few years. I can't really blame the weather, perhaps it was that it was a Wednesday night or perhaps it was simply that no one knows Sabu. Perhaps its all of that and that the Japan Society is a bit of a hike to get to, it's not bad, it just takes some effort.

If you have any interest go see either the film Friday or Saturday because once they screen you'll be hard pressed to find them.(I have both coming on DVD but I had to search)

One quick thing before bed- I was amused by a comment by a man who was seeing the whole series, who was disappointed that the series didn't give insight into the life of a salary man. He was loving the movies but had gone into the films looking for insight into everyday life.