Technically,
they are not zombies in the Walking Dead sense.
They are zombies like the “She’s Not There” British invasion rock band. Of
course, they are a kiddie band, but they have grown up awfully fast. Death has
brought them together and death might just be what breaks them apart in Makoto
Nagahisa’s We Are Little Zombies,
which screens during the 2019 Sundance Film Festival.
Death will be their constant companion. As fate dictates, the four youngsters meet at the crematorium hosting their parents’ funerals—that’s right, all eight of them. Yet, strangely, they feel little emotion, which even they find somewhat odd. Instead, they band together, trashing their apartments and taking refuge on the streets. They have contempt for the future, living only in the now.
Of
course, their stories are uniquely awful. Hikari Takami’s parents died when their
tour bus had a fatal collision. They had been hoping to save their marriage by
taking a strawberry lovers’ tour (at least they managed to avoid a divorce). Yuki
Takemura’s parents committed suicide to escape their creditors. Shinpachi Ishi’s
parents were killed in a gas fire at their greasy wok restaurant. Ikuko Ibu’s ‘rents
were murdered by her stalker music teacher, because he thought she wanted him
to do it—and maybe she did. Ibu is the oldest of the four, so naturally the
boys all develop a crush on her.
Yet,
it will be Takami who leads their band, “The Little Zombies,” filtering his Gameboy
soundtracks through old school synthesizer modulators. Their street
performances go viral, launching them to pop idol status, but you can guess the
path of their career trajectory.
Little Zombies is not a horror
movie, but it is definitely a massive cult film. With its intrusive 8-bit soundtrack
and seizure-inducing rapid-editing, it is like an all-out assault on the
senses. It is an exhausting film, but you have to respect Nagahisa’s ability to
maintain the breakneck lunacy. Even if it makes your eye-sockets bleed, it is a
heck of an accomplishment. As an added bonus, Nagahisa’s screenplay is riddled
with clever, postmodern breakings of the fourth wall and self-referential
wackiness.
Frankly,
it is pretty amazing how deadpan Keita Ninomiya, Satoshi Mizuno, Mondo Okumura,
and Sena Nakajima remain, despite the maelstrom of insanity swirling around
them. It is a different sort of performance, maintaining stoic discipline rather
than emoting, but they fulfill their duties faithfully. Recommended for fans of
Sion Sono at his most out-there, We Are Little
Zombies screens again tonight (1/28), Thursday (1/31), and Saturday (2/2)
in Park City and Friday (2/1) in Salt Lake, as part of this year’s Sundance.
