Platicsco
Good story, Not enough for a whole film
Listonixio
Fresh and Exciting
XoWizIama
Excellent adaptation.
tedg
With a project like this, it is as likely that it is a random goof as something with some structure. It could be both. As this was sent to me by a fellow viewer, and because I am so inclined, I tend to see structure. And what I see I like — a lot. It is essentially a series of sketches, some broken up and scattered throughout. Others continue from or extend situations and characters we know. Perhaps these sketches need to be described a bit, as they are what most people will see.They are tiresome in their humor. Unless you are Japanese, the satire will be lost. But they are amazingly clever in terms of the imagery: striking, unexpected and sometimes disturbing. With all the mastery in the images, they are surprisingly uncinematic, as if this was made not by real filmmakers but by TeeVee or music video people. There are little dramas of teen angst and performance played out, as apt as any John Hughes movie. But when it comes to this sort of thing, my benchmark is "Lily Chow Chow."But it is the structure that matters here. The large arc here is the visit to Earth by an alien, we see at the very beginning. What we see is what he would experience of us if he encountered a Japanese high school. The main characters here are three girlfriends and three brothers. Their baseline skits are set in ordinary reality with exaggerated behavior. Layered on that are diverse performances, many of dance that they do that get as abstract as the rest I will describe. Layered on that are their numerous dreams and illustrated stories. And layered on that is the story of and references to making the movie. Any of these is likely to be less or more abstract. They are woven together by recurring characters (including strange parasitic creatures that can be played musically). At the higher level of the dreams and outer framing, we have the same actors playing multiple roles. I haven't taken the time to map them out as I think there is no special insight other than the quantum blurring.This is an adventure in exploring new cinema by structure. It is just an experiment, so we shouldn't expect it to change lives. But I can easily see how someone can refine and master these techniques to do so.Ted's Evaluation -- 3 of 3: Worth watching.
cj_haxholm
i went to see this film without having the slightest clue about it....and at first i was quite disappointed; some not very inspiring animations...but then,slowly it all grew, to be more and more crazy and unbelievable, and things accelerated a whole lot...then it appears to be commercials within each other, gags, comedy shows, circus, small short stories and in a way they have nothing to do with each other and yet they make this incredible organic of well-composed-complex movie!so a mix with low graphics (and high), fake commercials, beautiful scenes of landscapes and things like that...wow! so all in all the the best parts of Japanese experimental films + all the best from the(Japanese) pop culture...blend it, shake it...and voilà!I was very glad i saw this movie! really!
ronanbrother3
This film kicks against the mind numbing normality of everyday existence by utilising an inspired surreal and open ended narrative. It is broken up into a series of 'skits', which it jumps in an out of, and plays like a frenetic daydream. As it alternates between humour, horror, romance, pathos, existentialism and stand up routine it brings to mind the work of auteurs David Cronenberg and Matthew Barney and the British comic greats the goodies, the mighty boosh and perhaps even little Britain all melded in a postmodern pastiche.Exiting the cinema my brother and i heard a girl disputing the worth of the film to her friend stating 'but what is the point of it all'. Well, to paraphase talking heads, sometimes its nice to stop making sense.
Mab890
Funky Forest… I have waited 1 night to let this all sink in.First of all a little back story. One year ago, I went to the New York Asian Film Festival and saw the film, Taste of Tea. This was a delightful family story which I surprising loved, even though I am the kind of guy that will never turn down the cheesy Hollywood summer block buster.One year latter I have returned to the Film Festival. Although in New York this festival is packed with violent Korean films, Funky Forest remains the festival's logo for its T-Shirts. So the question you should be asking is, what is all the hype about? Strange foreign film at an underground festival that sells out every show it plays. The hype of course revolves around 1 man, Katsuhito Ishii, or perhaps that's one mans unique brain.Funky Forest as mentioned by the commenter before me is like watching a Cronenberg comedy. Nevertheless it goes farther then that, it is like if Cronenberg, Lynch, and M. Barney, all had their head infused with each other and then Adam Sandler hit them with a silly stick in till the being could not breath.If anyone is supposed to summarize what the film is about, then all commenter on this site will fail…miserably. One of my friends described it as watching youtube.com shorts for 3 hours. I would agree it's a whole bunch of shorts, like a pulp film in a way. The stories are kind of connected but you are enjoying the show more then trying to figure out where it all hangs in the balance of the film.I am giving this film a 9/10 because it did get a little long and tedious, but nevertheless the film had so many memorable moments that it is well worth anybodies time.All that I am left to say is that as I left the theater I had an urge to buy the DVD, or a soundtrack, but instead all that was on the counter for me was a T-Shirt, and so of course, I bought it.SEE THE FILM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!, Enjoy guitar brothers, mole brothers, little Asian girls, planet pico, dreamscapes, 3 babbling girls, and of course Homeroom!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
