PRISONERS OF THE GHOSTLAND is hitting Shudder

 

Nic Cage plays a bad ass bank robber in a post apocalyptic world forced to go get the "granddaughter" of a war lord.

Sion Sono makes his first English Language film and it is completely batshit crazy and then some. Mannered, over the top and completely crazy PRISONERS is set in another place and another time part old Japan, part old spaghetti west and part post apocalyptic toyland. Its as if every idea anyone ever had was thrown into a blender and this was what survived when it was poured out.

No one acts, they over act. Everyone is deadly serious and not.

The script looks like it was made up on the spot with sequences often playing like it was a rehearsal instead of a take.

Its all over the place and a complete and total mess.

It's a horrible film and not.

Its a one of a kind nightmare that Sundance did a disservice by running streaming since this film needs an audience. This is a movie that MUST screen  in a theater (or living room) with audience as big as possible. It need to be talked to, talked at and cajoled. It needs to be made fun of and embraced.

How you see this film will determine you love or hate of it.

Red Post on Escher Street (2021) North Bend Film Festival

 Red Post on Escher Street is going delight many of Sion Son’s fans and annoy others.  This skewed love letter to the movies and the extras that fill the backgrounds is a film that you have  go with before it pays off. It is a film that asks us to juggle a lot of pieces before they are put together at the end.

The plot of the film is nominally the story of a filmmaker trying to make a retirn independent film after shifting toward the mainstream (much like Sono himself). He hands out fliers for an open casting call.  As everyone comes in to audition we get the stories of the extras, the filmmaker as he tries to put the film together and various related people to all the stories. How they interact and come together is the film.

The reason I say you have to work with this film is that the focus of the film shifts every ten or fifteen minutes. New characters come in to replace ones we were following. While we will run across people we’ve met before Sono is constantly introducing us to more and more people. The result is that we feel the films’ almost 150 minute run time because the film never builds momentum, even as it builds to a climax.

It is a grand party of sorts for anyone who ever wanted to be part of a movie

And if you are wondering why I am not saying more it’s because I am still processing the film.  It’s a film I need another pass through because it didn’t come together for me until I got to the end and then it snapped into place for me. Once it came together did  I realized that I needed to watch it a second time so I could properly reference all the connections- but I realized that in order to make the deadline for the festival I was going to have to wing this review since I didn’t have another two and a half hour block.

My desire to see the film a second time aside, this is a really good film and is recommended when it plays at the North Bend Film Festival

Tokyo Vampire Hotel (2018) Fantasia 2018

Sion Sono's bat shot crazy vampire TV series (see it on Amazon) has been cut down to 140 minutes losing roughly five hours in the process. I don't know how they compare but this film is just bonkers.

The plot basically has a young woman surviving mass murder only to end up forcibly brought to the title location in order to help the good vampires, Draculas, battle the bad vampires, the Corvins. Bloody mayhem results.

Actually this is all mayhem, and not always for the better. The minimal plot comes and goes as all sorts of nastiness happens and I was left to wonder "what in the holy hell was I watching"?

While every sequence is clearly the work of Sono working near the top of his game the over all film doesn't hang together. I kept feeling lost and all connection except that of admiration for the sequences faded.

While the film is worth seeing for Sono completeists, I think most people probably should go for the full on series- I'm going to head over myself once the festival is done.

ANTIPORNO (2017) Japan Cuts 2017

Sion Sono's destruction and subversion of the Roman Porno genre was made by Nikkatsu as part of it's reboot project (other entries played at the New York Asian Film Festival this year). It is a destruction of the sex films and Japanese porn films in general.

Beginning as a twisted tale of a rich artist who abuses her secretary while spouting high minded ideas, the film flips about a third of the way through as it's all revealed to be a pretentious sex film where leering men call the shots. Its a move that makes the film incredibly uncomfortable (as if what went before wasn't already) and plants it firmly in Sono's world of cinema.

As a straight on film it, like most Roman Porno films, doesn't work. The plot isn't the point here since Sono is too busy pushing buttons and getting you to reconsider everything including like just how bad the plots of sex films really are.

To be honest when I first saw the film several weeks ago I really wasn't thrilled with the film. It didn't hang together for me. However as time went on and the more I thought about the film it grew in my estimation. Frankly Sono's intellectual destruction of sex films in general is one of the best films at this years Japan Cuts.

Worth a look for Sono fans- and anyone wanting to have their minds shaken and their views challenged

The film plays July 22 with SUMMER'S PUKE IS WINTER'S DELIGHT. Its a three minute endurance test as we listen to some one throw up while we watch trippy images.  It is an endurance test and nothing more and easily the worst film at Japan Cuts.

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.

Ariela looks at love as shown in MADLY (2016) Tribeca 2016

I was looking forward to seeing MADLY. It was described as several stories made by different directors that explore love in different parts of the world. I thought this would be romantic,sweet and heartwarming, but it was anything but.

MADLY was six short stories;

Clean Shaven which took place in India and showed the end of a marriage after a woman shaved her public hair. This one was good but was also intense and depressing.

Afterbirth  If you want to hear a baby crying for 10 minutes or however long this short is, then see this. It made me cringe and made my ears bleed. Didn’t like this one at all.

Dance Dance Dance was my favorite of the bunch. It was very sad though. About a teenage boy who tells his family that he’s gay and they kick him out. Very relevant for this day in age and was well done. I would recommend this one. Very sad, intense too.

Love of Love took place in Japan and was about a family going to underground sex clubs. It was entertaining, but was very bizarre and twisted.

Love of My Life is directed by Gael Garcia Bernal and tells the story of a couple and how their relationship is affected by her pregnancy. Snoozefest. I think I dozed off during this one.

I Do which was about a girl who was about to get married..this one was just odd too.

I’d say skip this series, but if you can see Dance Dance Dance on its own, I’d recommend it.

In brief: LOVE AND PEACE (2015) Ithaca International Fantastic Film Festival 2015

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.

TAG or Sono Sion Razes a Culture of Oppression with the Real Onigokko

Sion Sono, not one to rest on any laurels, seems to have achieved an astonishing feat with his latest meta-tation on his craft. He has made an entry into one of Japan’s famous pop fiction franchises, possibly being called on to revitalize it, which goes so far as to produce a work that slices the source material and movies of its ilk to the bone with a razor sharp criticism.  Imagine a Trojan Horse, if you will, that entertains as it attacks, in a balancing act that few directors are deft enough to pull off.

So many questions arise while watching this film, which holds some notable stylistic departures, even for a director whose oeuvre is already as diverse as Sono. Like the 2004 novel and subsequent movie and television adaptations on which it is based, the native Japanese title for the film is ‘Riaru Onigokko’ (riaru is just a phonetic interpretation of the English ‘real’ and onigokko means tag, though it’s a much cooler way to say it than in the US, referring to the game as ‘being chased by a devil.’) Whether the original story shared any of Sono’s critical subtext or if its author Yamada Yusuke felt any enthusiasm for the director’s radical reinterpretation are questions I’d love to see answered. All I can do for now is speculate, especially considering this is the first version to be translated into English. That in itself may serve as an eyebrow raiser considering the seemingly insatiable international appetites for Japanese pop culture that welcomes imports of this nature.

From what I could gather the onigokko that came before were fairly derivative exercises. There is a Japan that exists in a distant future setting run by a ruthless dictatorship that sets upon its people by eliminating those that bear the common surname, sato. And it dispenses with them by way of killer robots that wear cheerful expressions on their faces. If this premise, which must have sounded less tired 10 years ago, was an inspired one, less generosity can be granted toward its first motion picture incarnations, which include numerous sequels and a television special.

Sono approaches the premise with a radical paintbrush, redacting the complexities of prior versions until we are left with a hypnagogic chase parred down to its simplest elements, composed as a weightless feathery dream sequence.

It is experienced through the starry eyed perspective of a junior high school student, Mitsuko, careening along on a placid bus ride bound for a school trip before being suddenly caught in the midst of a deadly and inexplicable chase. The pursuit moves across worlds, leaving Mitsuko to attempt to make sense of what is happening as all the while, she is thrust stormily from one logic-defying scenario to the next. 

The weighty aspirations of TAG’s commentary is revealed as the significance of its predominantly female cast becomes apparent.  Sono has always had as much concern as enthrallment with his female subjects, even if he is more often associated with the latter. It is most readily apparent in NORIKO’S DINNER TABLE, or perhaps his most archetypically horror production EXTE, at least until TAG has come along. As the director skewers genre tropes of works along the lines of the movie’s namesake, it begins to cast into light the way women are positioned in them, and the surrounding culture that fosters this oppressive relationship. Moments of outlandish humor peppered throughout the onset become far less amusing as the fantastical struggle of the movie is supplanted to a far more real one.

Boldly, Sono appears go so far as to include himself in TAG’s larger indictments. Depictions of school girls’ skirts conveniently lifting as the wearers revel or run from danger recall the similar imagery as a source of humor in the director’s earlier films. And one can’t help but be reminded of the gruesome act of annihilation that initially brought the director heaps of international attention some 15 years ago as they watch the startling instances of mass evisceration that take place here. If Sono isn’t exactly apologizing, he is surely reflecting and including himself in the conversation about phenomena that is too complex to give way to easy answers. 

If WHY DON’T YOU PLAY IN HELL?, Sono’s warmly received recent feature was a love letter to bygone 16 mm filmmaking, then TAG could be a reconciliatory embrace of digital technology,. Though make no bones about it, Sono is going to have his way with it. Modern technological filmmaking tools render both mundane interactions between Mitsuko and her peers, and turbulent action sequences alike, in magnificently intensely detail; but it also underscores the drawbacks of the quickly amassing works of entertainment that are common byproducts of the latest tools of the medium.  As Mitsuko moves between realms, it is too seamless, pointing to a lack of affect in the world of green screens and quick digital edits. 

In addition to Sono digging more overtly into bag of digital tricks for TAG, other pleasant departures from his norm are on hand. Not the least of which, at 85 minutes, it marks a radical departure from his usual long form leanings. There is a big changeup in the palette of music he works with the time around. While the director’s choice of music, always informed and always excellent, has ranged from frenetic free jazz to stoic classical scores and even funk inspired indie rock, for the first time the director builds a mood around massive swells of noise rock. The most pronounced contribution to the film’s soundtrack is from the band MONO. Amidst the film’s largely cynical outlook, the shimmering emotive instrumental track offers a counterbalance, conveying a sense of hopefulness around the young female protagonists as they band together. Then again, perhaps there is a double edged bit of slyness to the track’s use too, as it lulls viewers into a sense of calm and tranquility; we arguably should know it is too ideal to be real and lasting.  

With a poignant ending that cuts through the film’s deceptive barrage of noise to show something both rebellious and tragic, TAG perhaps surprisingly does what all of the best of Sono’s films have: raise questions and provoke thought while delivering an unshakeable visual statement.   

TAG plays the Fantasia International Film Festival tonight for its North American premiere. For more information and tickets, visit its page on the Fantasia website. 

mondocurry corner: TOKYO TRIBE @ New York Asian Film Festival 2015

 Tokyo Tribe is nothing short of a sensory overload futuristic hip hop wonderland theme park attraction. Never mind the fact that your seats aren’t moving. Cinematic agitator number 1 Sono Siono navigates the way through the post-apocalyptic landscape of Inoue Santa’s manga sparing no attention to incredibly lavish detail. Incredibly the music by which the tale is told never stops, except for an occasional moment here or there. Even Riki Takeuchi, longtime actor who has played many a yakuza heavy, delivers his dialogue by way of stuttering rancorous rhymes as the film's main antagonist.

The story is as simple as it is old: gangs spread throughout a feudalistic modern Tokyo are suddenly under threat of a kingpin, Buppa, and his plan to sow seeds of dissension among them, when a force of divine intervention, embodied by a deadly kick wielding femme fatale Erika,carries the message that uniting and fighting against the most powerful forces at the top could lead to a brighter future than taking one another out.

It is an exercise in opulence on the same level as Baz Luhrmann’s take on The Great Gatsby, even as it shows an impoverished Tokyo cityscape overrun by crime, and especially inside the lavish headquarters of overlord Buppa. The visuals are as varied in their influences and reference points as they are absorbing. A walk through a brothel in the city’s red light district reveals corridors lined by endlessly repeating patterns of pink and red balloons, like something straight out of a Yayoi Kusama exhibition.   Then, there are moments of weird excess, like the room belonging to Buppa‘s son, populated by naked human statues. Did someone order armored tanks rumbling through the city? Check. There is a seemingly limitless roll out of visual treats.

The last time I was this excited by set piece after set piece throughout a single movie was while watching the Japanese film Helter Skelter, screened during a previous New York Asian Film Festival. In fact at that time, I suggested how wonderful it would be for Sono and that film’s photographer turned director Mika Ninagawa to direct a film together. The fantasy still stands. It’s surely no coincidence, though, that the director of photography credited for both films, as well Sabu’s stark but visually arresting Miss Zombie, is Daisuke Soma, making his a name to pay attention to.

As much fun as Tokyo Tribe is, Sono’s usual knack for gleefully convoluting seemingly simple tales of revenge and longing by weaving together characters’ personal stories and incredulous coincidences is not on display here. After a solid 2 hours spent in this world, I couldn’t tell you much of a difference between a saru or a nerimuthfucka or a Shinjuku Hand, or the plethora of other gangs populating the neon-tinged terrain, save for the uniform-like apparel making them not unlike the characters straight out of The Warriors. Even as Kai, the oft name checked leader of the Saru gang, battles against the nihilistic Merra, whose shades, bling, buff physique, and shock of blonde hair merges Terminator era Schwarzenneger with current pro wrestling hero Kazuchika Okada, there is not much distinguishing him from the rest of the movie’s extensive cast. It’s nice to see that women still play aggressive and imposing roles in this latest if Sono’s celluloid visions, as is very much the case with Erika, even if their characters are not very nuanced.

While the concept of storytelling through song still earns novelty points, and is impressive in its execution, it doesn’t make the story all that much more intriguing. There is a lot of repetition and posturing that doesn't move the narrative forward. Or sideways or backwards. Still the constant refrains of ‘Tokyo  Tribe, never ever die’ and ‘Nerimothafuckahhh’  amidst the other retorts become battle cries that are lodged in your brain instantly.  This isn’t an altogether haphazard use of sonic repetition either, a tool that Sono has wrought in all of his films.  Yet, the brief appearance of refrains from classical scores and bursts of frenzied jazz drumming familiar from his other films stand out, becoming instantly more compelling than the somewhat generic hip hop production.

Structurally the film is not unlike the director’s much acclaimed and also recently created Why Don’t You Play In Hell, despite that film’s far greater complexity and sense of personal importance. There is a slowly building buzz of activity among various players in different locales that eventually explodes into a large scale grand guignol battle extraordinaire. One can imagine the execution on one of the film’s battle scenes being a dry run of what would be attempted in the other. Those on the look out for call-backs will even find a similar, albeit short lived reference to Bruce Lee worship. The pay off is a dizzying mix of spattering blood and flashing neon that is awesome to behold, a reminder that Hollywood has nothing on the wildest imaginations in the independent cinema, when they are let loose.

My friend Mark insisted I mention the fact that Japanese pro wrestler Yoshihiro Takayama is in the movie with his distinctive long blonde hair, as one of Buppa’s soldiers, and that alone is reason to check out the movie.

For those New Yorkers who prefer their fireworks indoors on a screen to in the open air, and set to hip-hop rather than ‘America The Beautiful,’ The New York Asian Film Festival is showing TOKYO TRIBE at 10 pm on July 4 at the Walter Reade theater of Lincoln Center. It also plays a week later on July 11 at NYAFF’s new part time headquarters, the SVA Theater. Visit the Subway Cinema website for details and tickets.

WHY DON'T YOU PLAY IN HELL (2013) opens Friday

The absolutely awesome film Sion Sono is a must see.  If you like over the top craziness this film can't be beat. The film has been kicking a round festivals for a while now, limiting who could see it, but now the film is opening in theaters Friday and you have a chance to see one of your new favorite films.

Here's Mondo's look at the film from this years New York Asian Film Festival:


The real attraction of the evening is Sono’s WHY DON’T YOU PLAY IN HELL. The director’s most self-referential film to date, it channels the notorious provocateur’s passion for no holds barred cinematic transgressions through a group of movie-obsessed guerilla filmmakers called the Fuck Bombers. After stumbling upon a real youth gang fight and racing to capture it on camera, they meet their very own ‘Bruce Lee’ who joins them in their pursuits. We jump through time to find the club becoming very comfortable in their auteur yet insignificant conquests, and also very visibly aged. An opportunity lands in their lap that gives them a once a chance to direct a dangerously lifelike film for a Yazkua group with a limitless budget…and in 35 mm! Rationality is trumped by their charismatic leader’s grandiose vision and an insane gambit is launched.

Viewed from another vantage point, we have the story of Mitsuko, daughter of the same powerful Yakuza clan who has been given a taste of stardom as a child by singing the jingle in a beloved toothpaste commercial. Used to getting her way as long as she doesn’t cross the boss, AKA her dad, Mitsuko is the embodiment of a tough as nails femme fatale who can turn instantly into a crooning charmer. It’s a balancing act played electrifyingly by Fumi Nikaido (who will introduce the screening in person!) The young adult Mitsuko wants a leading role once again. Her father is happy to oblige since putting her in a movie would please her mother after her loyal service to the clan. When Mitsuko rebels against the production company her father hired, paths end up crossing with the Fuck Bombers leading to bombastic conclusions, in which geysers of blood explode with feel good fervor. An impossibility outside of the realm of film, which Sono never forgets no matter how wild the proceedings get.

Throughout PLAY IN HELL there are numerous callbacks to Sono’s filmography. Mitsuko is the sort of troubled yet strong-willed female lead familiar to many of his standout films; HIMIZU (which also features Nikaido), LOVE EXPOSURE, and NORIKO’S DINNER TABLE come immediately to mind. A diverse score touches on the gravity of classical music used in HIMIZU, brings back Yura Yura Teikoku’s slinky psychedelic grooves once featured in LOVE EXPOSURE, and the explosive drum rhythms signifying impending madness as heard in COLD FISH. Sono also pays tribute to the notoriously Japanese power of the pop jingle. In SUICIDE CIRCLE, themes and storylines were advanced through catchy girl pop group anthems and here everyone in the cast is seduced by the child Mitsuko's snappy commercial. You will be too and with any luck, Miss Nikaido will feel compelled to treat the audience to a live rendition.


With WHY DON’T YOU PLAY IN HELL, Sono delivers a missive on the liberating power of being able to make unwieldy and confrontational assaults on the common sense of decency through film. Who better to speak on this than the director who once shocked international audiences with a scene of 54 schoolgirls jumping in front of a fast moving subway train. Sono might’ve possibly outdone himself here, and had a blast doing it.

The Japanese release poster

The New York Asian Film Festival & Japan Cuts Carve Out a Crucial Cross Section of Cinema PART 1

The New York Asian Film Festival and Japan Cuts have been co-owning New York City’s fantastic summer film scene for a few years now, with the former kicking things off and bleeding into the latter’s outro. Somewhere in the middle, the two stand side by side to co-present an extended weekend of Japanese selections – this year it’s Thursday July 9 through Sunday July 12 – and every year it contains many of the festivals’ highlights.

While I won’t be around to experience the mayhem directly, I’ve gotten access to a bit of a preview, which I humbly share with you as the theater in the Japan Society is getting set for your arrival.

Thursday July 9, 2014

The opening salvo promises to be nothing short of a showdown between renowned Japanese bad boy directors Takashi Miike and Sono Sion. The former’s REIJI, SONG OF THE MOLE (MOGURA NO UTA) is a not at all subtle kicking and screaming sendup of cop vs. yakuza crime dramas, adapted from a serialized manga. It introduces Reiji, an incompetent beat cop who blunders his way to the top, which ends being at the bottom of a deep undercover mole’s path toward the inner circle of a dangerous organized crime group. The film makes outlandish light out of the genre’s tropes, such as endless batteries of police tests and stomach churning Yakuza initiation rights. There are humorous musical numbers sprinkled in and a plot involving drug smuggling and a feud between gangs that escalates to such farfetched proportions it’s like Miike taking the piss out of Miike (those familiar with his DOA films may notice a few similar ideas). Yet while the volume is dialed up to 100, it never really digs below the surface of a silly comedy, making for a fairly by the numbers affair when you consider the mind-bending proportions that many of Miike’s films have achieved.

The real attraction of the evening is Sono’s WHY DON’T YOU PLAY IN HELL. The director’s most self-referential film to date, it channels the notorious provocateur’s passion for no holds barred cinematic transgressions through a group of movie-obsessed guerilla filmmakers called the Fuck Bombers. After stumbling upon a real youth gang fight and racing to capture it on camera, they meet their very own ‘Bruce Lee’ who joins them in their pursuits. We jump through time to find the club becoming very comfortable in their auteur yet insignificant conquests, and also very visibly aged. An opportunity lands in their lap that gives them a once a chance to direct a dangerously lifelike film for a Yazkua group with a limitless budget…and in 35 mm! Rationality is trumped by their charismatic leader’s grandiose vision and an insane gambit is launched.

Viewed from another vantage point, we have the story of Mitsuko, daughter of the same powerful Yakuza clan who has been given a taste of stardom as a child by singing the jingle in a beloved toothpaste commercial. Used to getting her way as long as she doesn’t cross the boss, AKA her dad, Mitsuko is the embodiment of a tough as nails femme fatale who can turn instantly into a crooning charmer. It’s a balancing act played electrifyingly by Fumi Nikaido (who will introduce the screening in person!) The young adult Mitsuko wants a leading role once again. Her father is happy to oblige since putting her in a movie would please her mother after her loyal service to the clan.  When Mitsuko rebels against the production company her father hired, paths end up crossing with the Fuck Bombers leading to bombastic conclusions, in which geysers of blood explode with feel good fervor. An impossibility outside of the realm of film, which Sono never forgets no matter how wild the proceedings get.

Throughout PLAY IN HELL there are numerous callbacks to Sono’s filmography. Mitsuko is the sort of troubled yet strong-willed female lead familiar to many of his standout films; HIMIZU (which also features Nikaido), LOVE EXPOSURE, and NORIKO’S DINNER TABLE come immediately to mind. A diverse score touches on the gravity of classical music used in HIMIZU, brings back Yura Yura Teikoku’s slinky psychedelic grooves once featured in LOVE EXPOSURE, and the explosive drum rhythms signifying impending madness as heard in COLD FISH.  Sono also pays tribute to the notoriously Japanese power of the pop jingle. In SUICIDE CIRCLE, themes and storylines were advanced through catchy girl pop group anthems and here everyone in the cast is seduced by the child  Mitsuko's snappy commercial. You will be too and with any luck, Miss Nikaido will feel compelled to treat the audience to a live rendition.

With WHY DON’T YOU PLAY IN HELL, Sono delivers a missive on the liberating power of being able to make unwieldy and confrontational assaults on the common sense of decency through film.  Who better to speak on this than the director who once shocked international audiences with a scene of 54 schoolgirls jumping in front of a fast moving subway train. Sono might’ve possibly outdone himself here, and had a blast doing it.  

Click on the links for more information on the New York Asian Film Festival and Japan Cuts and check back here for PART 2 and more reports from Steve.

Me on twitter = @mondocurry.