Japan Cuts ’13: The Samurai that Night

Japan gave the world one of the greatest revenge stories of all time.  Sadly, Hollywood is reportedly returning the favor by butchering Keanu’s 47 Ronin into some kind of cheesy Frankenstein’s Monster.  It turns out vengeance-taking is trickier proposition than people realize.  A grieving husband understands this only too well in Masaaki Akahori’s The Samurai that Night (trailer here), which screens tonight as part of the 2013 Japan Cuts: The New York Festival of Contemporary Japanese Cinema.

Kenichi Nakamura was always socially awkward, but the hit-and-run death of his wife Hisako reduces him to a scant shell of a man.  Nearly five years later, Hiroshi Kijima, the violent petty thug responsible for her death, has been released from jail.  He is neither reformed nor remorseful, but he is a little unnerved by the daily death threats he receives from Nakamura promising to kill him on the fast approaching anniversary of Hisako’s death.  Yet, he still has the presence of mind to use the poison pen letters to extort money from Nakamura’s earnest brother-in-law.

A moodier, slower burner than even the original misunderstood Death Wish, Samurai hardly gives viewers any consolation whatsoever.  Nakamura is a profoundly damaged soul, Kijima is absolutely rotten to the core, and neither is likely to change.  Still, agonizingly touching moments spring up in the most surprising places, such as when the rough hewn employees of Nakamura’s metal works express affection for their disintegrating boss.

Far from a genre crowd-pleaser, Samurai vividly depicts the ugly, awkward, and messy realities of violence.  Viewers are not likely to forget the climatic showdown, precisely because of the ways it undercuts expectations and payback genre conventions.

As the sweat-drenched tighty-whitey wearing Nakamura, Masato Sakai fearlessly put himself out there.  At times, he is absolutely painful to watch, like a huge open sore picking itself apart on-screen.  In contrast, Takayuki Yamada’s Kijima is a study in fiercely controlled aggression. Mercifully, Kinuwo Yamada and Tsutomu Takahashi add a deeply humane dimension to the film as bystanders sympathetic to Nakamura.

You have to admire the integrity of writer-director Akahori’s vision.  His unforgiving depiction of human nature never gives his characters anyplace to hide.  It is a world of drab colors and humdrum homes that looses nothing in the translation.  This is a writer’s film much more than a director’s film, matter-of-factly presenting the angst and cruelty of his characters.  Powerfully brought to life by an accomplished cast, The Samurai that Night is highly recommended for those not intimidated by everyday tragedy when it screens tomorrow night (7/21), as this year’s Japan Cuts concludes at the Japan Society.

Japan Cuts ’13: I Have to Buy New Shoes

A young photographer finds romance where he least expects it: Paris.  Sure, it is the City of Lights, but he assumed his short sight-seeing trip would only entail some brotherly chaperoning.  Instead, he spends some ambiguous quality time with an attractive older Japanese woman in Eriko Kitagawa’s I Have to Buy New Shoes (trailer here), which screens tonight as part of the 2013 Japan Cuts: The New York Festival of Contemporary Japanese Cinema.

Sen Yagami only came to Paris at the insistence of his younger sister, Suzume.  However, she contrives a way to ditch her indulgent brother along the bank of the Seine before they even reach their hotel.  She has plans of her own, involving her long-distance artist boyfriend.  This is rather inconvenient for Yagami, since he does not even have their hotel information.  Fortunately, a broken heel precipitates a meet-cute with expat magazine editor Aoi Teshigahara, at the expense of his ground-up passport.

Initially, Teshigahara helps him navigate Paris as a friendly fellow countryman abroad, but a mutual attraction slowly grows between them.  Surprised and confused by their feelings, Teshigahra and Yagami engage in a halting courtship dance that is refreshingly chaste compared to most films.  Nonetheless, Yagami will not see much of his hotel, wherever it might be.

Following in the tradition of Brief Encounter, Shoes has already been widely compared to Linklater’s Before trilogy as well as the 1990’s Japanese television work of Kitagawa and producer Shunji Iwai.  Yet, this is a much quieter film, saying more with a look than a page self-consciously clever dialogue.  The title may sound like chic lit, but Kitagawa maintains a vibe of mature sadness that is anything but.

It is impossible to overstate what Miho Nakayama brings to the film as Teshigahara.  A long time Paris resident herself, she is a smart, sophisticated, and beautiful presence throughout the film.  Yet, when she lowers the dramatic boom, it is simply devastating.  Poor Osamu Mukai’s Yagami is just no match for her, even though he has some nice moments expressing the younger man’s very real disappointments in life.  He is no boy toy, not by any stretch.  Mirei Kiritani also brings unexpected depth to seemingly coquettish Suzume late in the third act.

Just about every scene of Shoes has a subtle surprise, yet invariably rings true.  It is a classy package, capitalizing on the Parisian backdrops and sparingly incorporating Ryûichi Sakamoto’s evocative piano themes in just the right moments.  Above all else, it is a stunning showcase for Nakayama that would elevate her to the absolute top tier of international stardom in a more just world.  Very highly recommended for those who appreciate intelligent, grown-up relationship films, I Have To Buy New Shows screens tonight (7/18) as this year’s Japan Cuts continues at the Japan Society.

Japan Cuts’ 13: A Woman and War

Convinced the anticipated American occupation will descend into an orgy of atrocities, a dissolute author and a jaded lover resolve to while away the final days of WWII in a state of abject hedonism.   They are right to be concerned about rape and murder, but it will be a returning Japanese veteran who will indulge his new found sadism in Junichi Inoue’s A Woman and War (trailer here), which screens tonight as part of the 2013 Japan Cuts: The New York Festival of Contemporary Japanese Cinema.

Sold into prostitution at an early age, the woman has always worked in close proximity to men and booze.  No longer able to obtain sake rations, she is forced to shutter her tavern.  On closing night, she pledges to shack-up with any customer man enough to step up.  Nomura accepts, more or less out of boredom.  Once talented writer-of-his-generation, he avoided military service by churning out propaganda tracts for the government.  He probably saved his life that way, but he now hates himself to the core of his being.

Meanwhile, Ohira has been discharged from the army, but his homecoming is not exactly happy.  Most of the old-timers loudly suspect his amputated arm was the result of a self-inflected wound.  He has not been able to resume traditional marital relations either.  It seems Ohira has been so warped by the Nanjing-like war crimes he committed in China he can now only perform when engaging in forms of deadly sexual assault.

Make no mistake, this can be a very hard film to watch.  Inoue explicitly establishes a “war = sex = death = the Emperor” equation, leaving no question as to the cruel nature of Ohira’s crimes.  This is not for the squeamish.  There will be only survivor of Ohira’s attack’s: Nomura’s lover.  However, she will search out her assailant, in hopes of repeating their past encounter.

Although it was produced in a state of pitched outrage against the imperial, war-mongering mindset, defending Woman and War against charges of misogyny would be a tricky business.  Clearly, Inoue argues you cannot leave Nanjing in Nanjing, but his depiction of his female protagonist is decidedly problematic.  It is not just the nature of her arousal.  She is also attracted to the death spectacle of war, like fireworks that kill.  Still, you cannot say Inoue isn’t provocative.

Noriko Eguchi deserves all the credit in the world just for accepting the lead role.  It is a quiet, reserved performance, but over time she reveals the layers of scar tissue surrounding her soul.  As the writer, Nagase Masatoshi seems to be basing his portrayal on equal parts Charles Bukowski and post-Paris Rick Blaine.  It sort of works in the moment, but it is hard to fix him in your mind after the screening.  However, Jun Murakami is so cold, clammy, and banally evil as Ohira, he will leave viewers feeling profoundly uneasy about the nature of humanity.

Inoue set out to make a bold statement with A Woman and War and he succeeds on that level.  The film acts as a defiant corrective to Japan’s growing revisionist movement.  It is not academic in its approach, nor does it water anything down, bearing close to comparison to the equally sexually charged Caterpillar, from Inoue’s late mentor, Kōji Wakamatsu.  

If ever there was a serious film for mature audiences, this would be it.  Yet, despite its ragged edges and in-your-face indulgences, audiences will know they have seen something bold when it is over. Recommended for those who appreciate fervent and feverish filmmaking, A Woman and War screens tonight (7/17) at the Japan Society as part of this year’s Japan Cuts.

Japan Cuts ’13 & NYAFF ’13: The Kirishima Thing

Is he a teenaged John Galt or is something more sinister afoot?  Either way, the mysterious absence of a high school’s top BMOC leaves a void his peers will struggle to fill in Daihachi Yoshida’s The Kirishima Thing (trailer here), which screens tonight as a co-presentation of this year’s Japan Cuts and the New York Asian Film Festival.

Even though he was selected to the state squad, Kirishima has reportedly quit the volleyball team.  His friends and teammates have yet to hear it from him directly, because he has not been to class lately. He has not even contacted his bombshell girlfriend Risa, whose insecurity mounts when everyone turns to her for answers. 

She is still at the top of the social pyramid, but the interregnum loosens her hold on Kasumi Higashihara, a geek-turned-hottie.  Temporarily falling back into old habits, she even attends a Tetsuo screening where she runs into Ryoya Maeda, the socially awkward leader of the school’s film club.  Picking up on the spirit of anarchy, Maeda convinces the club to defy their faculty advisor by shooting the sort of zombie film they always wanted to make.

As Maeda starts to get ideas about everything, including Higashihara, prize-winning band saxophonist Aya Samashima considers acting on her attraction to Kirishima’s elitist crony, Hiroki Kikuchi.  However, these are not pleasant times for the bench-warmer taking Kirishima’s place on the team, thanks to Kubo, the punishing team captain.

Will the established social order breakdown or will knuckle-draggers like Kubo maintain it the hard way?  Just how irreplaceable is Kirishima to the school’s social ecosystem anyway?  It is hard to say for certain, because K Thing presents so many conflicting viewpoints. Kirishima and his absence mean many things to many people.  He is probably a better chap than Kubo, but viewers never have the chance to see for themselves.  Instead, he serves as a giant Rohrschach to evaluate his peers.

Frequently doubling-back, K Thing excessively analyzes relatively mundane encounters from just about every POV.  At times, it really is overkill, but in the process, Yoshida fully develops his large cast of characters and their intricate relationship dynamics.  When the film is over, alert audience members will be able to produce flow charts of who likes who.  Despite the mysterious vibe lurking over the proceedings (and an occasional zombie flight of fantasy), these kids and their school feel really real.

Evidently, some things about high school are universal, but this student body is unusually good looking.  Nevertheless, Ai Hashimoto is fantastic as the chameleon-like Higashihara.  Who she is largely depends on who she is with, but Yoshida never condemns her for that. Arguably, it is a reflection of human nature. Suzuka Ohgo is compellingly intense as Sawashima, even though she hardly looks like a band-geek. Appropriately ambiguous, Ryunosuke Kamiki’s Maeda comes across as a half-victim and half-provocateur, which suits the film nicely.

K Thing will not shake viewers to their souls like Tetsuya Nakashima’s thematically related Confessions, but it will still get under their skin.  One could argue it is also more genre than it initially appears. Yoshida skillfully balances his large ensemble, getting brutally honest performances out of the young but accomplished cast-members. Recommended for those who appreciate dark teen dramas, The Kirishima Thing screens tonight (7/14) at the Japan Society, as a co-programmed selection of Japan Cuts and the New York Asian Film Festival.

Japan Cuts ’13 & NYAFF ’13: Thermae Romae

When in Rome, do as the Japanese do.  Time-travelling Roman Architect Lucius Quintus Modestus unwittingly adopts this strategy.  Sure, you might think he looks more Japanese than Roman, but there is no need for pedantry when Hideki Takeuchi’s Thermae Romae (trailer here) screens tonight as a co-presentation of this year’s Japan Cuts and the New York Asian Film Festival.

Nursing his wounded pride at a Roman civic bath, the recently fired Modestus is inexplicably pulled through the drainage system into modern day Japan.  Initially contemptuous of the old-timers soaking in the neighborhood bath, the man has to admit their facilities beat anything Rome has to offer.  It all rather overwhelms his Roman pride, while his chiseled looks overwhelm aspiring manga artist Mami Yamakoshi.  After causing a great deal of naked commotion, Modestus quickly returns to his era, just as mysteriously as he left.  Soon, he is the toast of Rome, applying the innovations he observed in Japan.

His new found fame earns Modestus the ear of the stern but wise Emperor Hadrian and his thoughtful counselor Antoninus.  Of course, the Emperor’s hedonistic adopted son Ceionius is a different story.  Each time Modestus needs inspiration for a major commission, he somehow finds his way back to Japan and Yamakoshi, whether it be the upscale bathroom showroom where she works part-time or her mother’s rustic mountain spa.  Eventually, she will pulled back to classical Rome with him, just in time for a major imperial power struggle.

Based on a popular manga series that also spawned a short-lived anime incarnation, Thermae Romae has plenty of pratfalls and fish-out-of-water humor, but the cast plays it surprisingly straight. In fact, Masachika Ichimura and Kai Shishido play Hadrian and Antoninus as if they thought Sir Derek Jacobi might be popping round the set in his I, Claudius costume.

Hilariously stone-faced Kore-eda regular Hiroshi Abe does not really have that option, given how much time Modestus must run about in his altogether.  Still, he conveys a sense of the architect’s principled rectitude, even when embroiled in truly outrageous situations.  In a role original to the film, Aya Ueto is likable enough as Yamakoshi, but she is saddled with a problematically passive character.  There are plenty of Euro-looking Romans as well, dubbed into perfect Japanese to keep the madness chugging along at full steam.

Partly filmed in Italy’s celebrated Cinecitta studio, Thermae’s period production scenes frankly look better than they needed to.  It also observes the conventions of time travel movies, without getting bogged down in them.  Lightweight but entertaining, it is a goofy romp that avoids all the cheap excesses of recent “Blank Movie” spoofs.  Recommended for fans of time travel and manga-inspired films, Therma Romae screens tonight (7/14) at the Japan Society, as a co-programmed selection of Japan Cuts and the New York Asian Film Festival.

Japan Cuts ’13 & NYAFF ’13: A Story of Yonosuke

He was the sort of guy who would always help a friend move.  He would also loan them money without grumbling.  Yonosuke Yokomichi was a mop-topped tool, but he had a good heart.  The impact he had on his college friends is slowly but surely revealed in Shuichi Okita’s massively bittersweet A Story of Yonosuke (trailer here), which screens today as a co-presentation of the 2013 Japan Cuts and this year’s NewYork Asian Film Festival.

In the 1980’s, Japan’s booming economy had our opportunistic politicians worked up into a protectionist fury.  As a freshman business administration student, Yokomichi would seem well placed to join the economic elite, even if he is a naïve kid fresh off the bus from the coast.  However, our protagonist’s college years will be more defined by his involvement in the samba club than his course work.

Actually, the samba club looks like a blast.  Characteristically, it was something he just fell into.  Joining on freshman orientation day with two recent acquaintances, he would stay, even after an unplanned pregnancy forced Kuramochi and Akutsu to drop-out.  Yet years later as a happily married couple they reflect on how Yokomichi brought them together.

Yusuke Kato also has found memories of the title character, even though it took him a while to warm up to the earnest doofus.  Nonetheless, it would be Yokomichi’s tolerance that the jaded Kato remembers so fondly.  Ironically, it is Kato who introduces Yokomichi to Shoko Yosano, the great love of his life and perhaps vice versa.  It takes a while for them to realize it though and given the film’s elegiac tone, it is probably safe to assume they never really get in synch.

There are no big known-down drag-out melodramatic episodes in Story.  The film is too smart for that kind of acting-out.  Instead, Okita focuses on the sort of small telling moments that become indelibly etched in memory.  When he finally delivers the film’s Rosebud moment, it is devastatingly effective because of its casual simplicity.

Somewhat resembling a Japanese Louis Garrel, Kengo Kora is gangly and weirdly fidgety, but he plays Yokomichi with a fresh-faced charisma that grows over the long haul.  The on-screen chemistry he forges with Yoriko Yoshitaka’s Shoko Yosano is mature, complicated, and highly credible.  Likewise, her work as the one who got away (or let him get away) is remarkably honest and multifaceted. As her character evolves day-by-day and year-to-year, it is hard to say just what their relationship truly meant to her, but it was definitely something. Yet, Ayumi Ito is the film’s secret weapon, giving it unexpected bite as Chiharu Katase, a scandalous older woman with whom Yokomichi develops a long-term flirtation.

Deceptively simple sounding, Yonosuke is an epic film about the sort of people and events that are typically not portrayed in a grand manner.  Combining good humor and an elegant sensitivity, A Story of Yonosuke is an excellent film that is likely to be sadly overlooked by arthouse distributors because it lacks a sexy hook.  However, those who see the film will remember it warmly just like the title character’s friends.  Highly recommended, it screens this afternoon (7/13) at the Japan Society, as a joint presentation of this year’s Japan Cuts and New York Asian Film Festival.

Japan Cuts ’13 & NYAFF ’13: It’s Me, It’s Me

The expression “delete bad copies” sounds like relatively benign office work, until you start encountering your own personal doppelgangers.  Much to his surprise, Hitoshi Nagano gets along rather well with his first other “me.”  He is okay with the next one too.  Then things start getting complicated in Satoshi Miki’s It’s Me, It’s Me (trailer here), which screens tonight as a co-presentation of the 2013 Japan Cuts and this year’s New York Asian Film Festival.

Nagano does not have a lot going on in his life.  Having thrown in the towel on his photography ambitions, he limps through each day as a clerk in a big box appliance store.  One fateful day at a fast food restaurant, a loud mouth young wheeler-dealer named Daiki inadvertently leaves his smart phone on Nagano’s tray.  Acting on a perverse impulse, he uses the phone to con Daiki’s mother into depositing a few hundred thousand yen into his account.  Feeling remorseful, Nagano tries to return the money.  However, Daiki’s mother will not take it back.  She also seems to think he is her son, Daiki. 

As it happens, they could indeed be twins.  Yet, when Nagano visits his own mother, she does not recognize him.  Instead, she insists Daiki the Doppelganger is actually Hitoshi Nagano.  Later, the man who admits he kind of, sort of is Daiki explains to Nagano his mother was particularly upset because a third doppelganger had been coming round, making scenes.  That would be Nao, the hipster student.

When the three get together, they are like three peas in a pod—different but the same.  They start calling their bolt-hole “Me Island” and cover for Nagano when he needs to bail on work.  As if meeting his second selves were not eventful enough, he also starts cautiously pursuing Sayaka, an attractive older customer, who is married to a gangster. The mood darkens drastically though when Nao starts bringing round even more doppelgangers.

Based on the novel by Hoshino Tomoyuki, IMIM is one of the most original takes on the doppelganger archetype since Capt. Kirk battled his evil twin in the late Richard Matheson’s “The Enemy Within.”  Part urban fantasy, part dark thriller, and part surreal head-trip, it is devilishly difficult to classify.  In a way, IMIM has a vibe similar to Sion Sono’s Love Exposure, in which strange and bizarre circumstances take on nationwide significance that everyone accepts with matter-of-fact nonchalance.  Indeed, the straight-faced media reports on the mushrooming “copy deletion” phenomenon serve as a sly social commentary, but they are deadly serious for the original Nagano.

J-pop star Kazuya Kamenashi nicely steps into the postmodern Alec Guinness role of Nagano et al, creating intriguingly distinct personas for each “me.” Yuki Uchida adds some grace and sophistication as Sayaka, while Ryo Kase is all kinds of creepy clamminess as Nagano’s abusive store manager, Tajima.

It’s Me, It’s Me is a very clever film that patiently establishes its character(s) and premise.  As a result, the payoff is subtle but satisfying.  A smart genre hybrid, It’s Me, It’s Me is recommended quite highly when it screens tonight (7/13) at the Japan Society, as a joint presentation of this year’s Japan Cuts and New York Asian Film Festival.

Japan Cuts ’13 & NYAAF ’13: I’m Flash

Rui Yoshino’s family heeded the advice of a certain science fiction novelist.  They started their own religion.  Perhaps cult would be a more accurate term.  Regardless, his telegenic looks have served the church well during his tenure as “Guru.”  Unfortunately, scandal threatens to disrupt the family business in Toshiaki Toyoda’s I’m Flash (trailer here), which screens tonight as a co-presentation of this year’s Japan Cuts: the New York Festival of Contemporary Japanese Cinema and the New York Asian Film Festival.

The Guru has not been himself lately.  Physically, he is fine.  He walked away from the car crash that killed a motorcyclist and left his single young lady passenger in a coma.  However, the incident has left its mark in other ways, as viewers will learn over time.  To protect their frontman and their interests, the family sequesters the Guru in his tropical compound, recruiting three unnamed underworld types to serve as his bodyguards.  Their services will indeed be needed.

A controversial figure in his own right, Toyoda bounced back from his unplanned filmmaking hiatus with two wildly idiosyncratic films.  His hard-rocking period fantasy Blood of Rebirth is a redemption allegory of unusual power, which will reverberate in viewers’ heads, perhaps for all eternity.   His subsequent Monster’s Club, an austere invitation to sympathize with the devil, might have been more about exorcising some of his own tortured demons.  Happily, I’m Flash is an eerie return to form and arguably Toyoda’s most accessible film since his “troubles.”  In fact, I’m Flash often seems poised on the brink of a caustic noir portrait of corruption in the Chinatown tradition, yet it always remains slyly elusive.

Death Note’s Tatsuya Fujiwara nicely hints at the imp of perverse lurking inside the not-as-dumb-as-he-looks Guru and Ryuhei Matsuda sets off all the right alarms bells as the bodyguard who is not too young and impetuous or old and cantankerous, but just deadly right.  Kiko Mizuhara also keeps viewers thoroughly off balance in her flashback sequences as the mystery woman.  Still, everybody wilts when sharing the screen with Michiyo Ookusu as the Guru’s Machiavellian mother—have mercy.

Like everything about Toyoda, I’m Flash is bound to be divisive.   Those with a taste for intelligently challenging films will appreciate its genuine air of mystery.  It is also a surprisingly handsome production, capitalizing on the evocative locale and subtly creepy set design, most notably the Guru’s villa, which looks as if it could grace the cover of both Architectural Digest and Cult Living.  

Toyotarô Shigemori’s cinematography is also weirdly effective, in a way that is difficult to pin down.  Over-used as a form of critical shorthand, the term “fever dream” does not really apply here.  This is clearly our world, in broad daylight, but something still feels not quite right. Very highly recommended for the moderately adventurous, I’m Flash screens at the Japan Society, this evening (7/11), the opening night of this year’s Japan Cuts, in conjunction with the New York Asian Film Festival.

Japan Cuts ’13 & NYAFF ’13: The Warped Forest

Does directed dreaming lead to bad luck?  Anything is possible in Shunichiro Miki’s world.  Now who’s hungry for dumplings?  Viewers really should fortify themselves before tumbling into Miki’s The Warped Forest (trailer here), which screens today as a co-presentation of the 2013 Japan Cuts and New York Asian Film Festival.

Warped Forest is not really a sequel to the two-and-a-half hour psychedelic head trip, Funky Forest: The First Contact, Miki co-directed with two co-conspirators.  However, it shares a similar sensibility.  Three men are getting drunk while the oldest relates a story about his budding boy-band dancer students who mysterious materialized in the nearby forest one night. Next thing they know, the agitated innkeeper bursts in.  Evidently, they too had been missing for the last two days.  Warped now flashes back, ostensibly showing viewers those two eventful days, but in a very strange and different world.

There is a narrative thread to the film that follows, but it impossible to describe in rational terms.  The professor is now a baker, who periodically sneaks off to the local cat house, where an otherworldly anteater-like creature attaches itself to his nipple.  Humans live and work side-by-side with either giants or Lilliputians, depending on one’s perspective.  Apli hunts the snark-like Pinkie Pankie with a decidedly phallic rifle, while her sister Au Lait harvests fruit resembling certain organs from the naked nymph trees.  She quietly pines for the local self-help guru, whose wife obsessively sharpens his samurai sword.

Eventually, just about everyone considers dream-hacking, which can apparently be done with the help of the ominous black inverted pyramid spinning overhead, bringing to mind The Tripods or V.  Frankly, if this is a case of a corrupted Matrix program, it would explain a lot.

Of course, Miki is not interested in banal explanations.  He wholly funded Warped himself through ten years of commercial work.  His independent spirit is admirable and obviously necessary.  It would be worth the price of admission just to see him try to pitch this film to a studio.  A whole lot of inventiveness went into Warped and a lot less logic. There are some oddly touching scenes in which characters try to forge connections, but the film’s overriding mission is to lead us on a guided tour of its mature, drug-influenced Candyland.

Somehow, Miki still managed to attract some big name stars to Warped, including Rinko Kikuchi, the Oscar nominee for Babel soon to be seen in Pacific Rim.  Viewers interested in either of those films should definitely check out Warped too, because how different can they be?  Kill Bill co-star Yôji Tanaka seems to be on a mission to make his filmography weirder with the recent punk rock dystopian Shakespeare non-adaptation Sado Tempest and his rather fearless and sometimes shirtless turn here as the baker/professor.  To their credit, the entire ensemble takes each scene scrupulously seriously and gives it their all.

You should have concluded long ago whether or not Warped Forest is your cup of tea.  For cult film connoisseurs, the bright colors, up-tempo music, and optimistic vibe of Forest are a rather refreshing change of pace from the dour, fatalism that often characterizes the cinema of the surreal.  Recommended for mature adults who want to see something new and bizarre, The Warped Forest screens tonight (7/7) at the Walter Reade and next Sunday afternoon (7/14) at the Japan Society, as part of this year’s Japan Cuts and NYAFF.