Survive Style 5+

I'm now going to tell you about the most awesome movie ever made--according to me, at least.

Title: Survive Style 5+
Year: 2004
Land of Origin: Japan
Director: Gen Sekiguchi
Writer: Taku Tada

Sometimes there are things in life which were obviously tailored to you, and were just waiting for you to come along and discover them. Perhaps that's how people feel about their soulmate--it's certainly how I feel about this movie.
How much do I love it, you ask? The tricky thing about Survive Style 5+ is that it's still for whatever reason unlicensed. Over the last couple of years I've purchased it twice off Ebay on DVDs that never end up playing well. I've also actually purchased the legal, from Japan copy of the CD--because not only do I love this movie....I love this soundtrack.

What is Survive Style 5+? It's a story about 5 different people, for one--A guy in a trenchcoat who the film opens upon as he's burying his wife who he's just killed. You don't know why...you won't know why. That's not the point. If you can't get past that, this movie will be totally beyond you.
The next people you meet include a normal-seeming Japanese businessman, a hitman from Britain who speaks no Japanese but has a translator with him who very much enjoys translating from angry angry british, a trio of small-time thieves including a NO TOTALLY NOT GAY AT ALL guy...and the guy he has a crush on. The song they play for the passion-filled looks the two exchange must be heard to be believed.
That's three....there's also a girl who writes commercial jingles (If I recall the writer and director of the film are also into commercial-writing)......I'm not actually sure if the final person is the hypnotist or the wife. One stays dead, one doesn't. I'll let you guess which.

Actually, I lie. The wife totally comes back and the guy--Amon--keeps having to kill her. You'd think the solution to this would be to sever her head and bury it at the crossroads, right? (Maybe that's just me. It's for vampires though, so maybe?) But no. Getting dismembered just means she now has rocket arms. Guess that getting cremated does!

The costumes in this movie are AMAZING. Each outfit the wife goes through becomes increasingly intricate and batshit nuts. The final one involves a birdcage attached to her head, or something, and it's awesome.

It is a hard movie to talk about without giving everything away. But only kind of, because even if I tell you what happens, understanding why is a totally different deal. (Why does she make him the breakfast to end all breakfasts? To a polka song?) But it is safe to say that everyone's stories are ultimately connected, even is totally not in the way any sane person would envision.
Maybe that's what life's all about.

If it is, my life has been sadly bereft of karate, japanese businessman thinking they're birds, and commercials about guys who get off way too fast.
Well, maybe I could leave that last one be.

Survive Style 5+ is utter madness....but you never totally lose track of what's happening--or at least, you can pick it up again later. It's hilarious, ass gets kicked, people triumph over their shortcomings, and implausible dreams are realized. Oh, and broccoli (and a lot of other people) gets its existence questioned by Vinnie Jones.

~~~~~~~~~~~
Personally, Survive Style 5+ get s "10" in my heart.
For the general public, I give it a solid 8.5 and NO needles to the eye. (This rating will make sense later.)

It can be purchased from Japanese websites (but you'll need a region 2 DVD player) or from the lovely people on Ebay (And it will probably run on your computer, but not your DVD player.) I await the day this movie is licensed with baited breath.

~Holly
Next Time- Stacy: Attack of the Schoolgirl Zombies

Technical Difficulties....

Natually, the same week I start this blog is the same week my tendonitis reminds me that it still cares. And by 'cares' I mean 'manifests as a lingering and painful sensation in my fingers, wrist, and elbow of my right(dominant) hand.

I have watched movies, I have movies to review and notes to work from---but am currently unable to type for more than....about this much.

Many apologies, I do hope to be up and running in a week.

~Holly

Two Questions: Like 20 questions, for the attention span-impaired

Q) How often will I update?
A) About once a week, maybe more while I do short interim snippets about movies I've seen too long ago to give long reviews on.....but maybe don't want to watch again.


Q) What is MY definition of a "good" movie?
A) My definition of a good movie is one with distinct character development, witty dialogue, well-plotted action, and a moving climax. That in mind, I'm not really looking for "good" movies on this blog--although I'll tell you if I find them! I'm looking for AWESOME movies--possibly even Awesomely Bad movies--ones with terrible but funny acting, badly translated dialogue, frantic action I may not understand, and hopefully a lot of things will explode. Witty dialogue and an interesting plot AND absolutely explodey chaotic pace will make a movie I absolutely LOVE.....like the one I'll be reviewing first. It has a good soundtrack too.

~Holly

Nande yo ne?! Introduction

Hi, new person! My name is Holly and I have a secret vice.

I love watching batshit crazy Japanese movies.
(Or other foreign films which are similarly insane, but I actually studied Japanese so it's a bit more meaningful to me.)

Now, I understand that there are lots of people out there who also like batshit crazy Japanese films, but are afraid to watch or rent them (nevermind buy, foreign films are an expensive hobby!) because some of them are scratch-out-your-eyes terrible.

You are right to be afraid.

Thus, I have decided to make use of my secret vice to take a bullet for you all--maybe many bullets, depending on if this goes well or people actually give a damn. I'm going to watch weird, crazy, and possibly really horrible Japanese movies and then tell you about them.
(Also Indian, Thai, Korean, Chinese movies...whatever catches my eye and/or Netflix queue)

I will answer important questions, like:
Should you watch this?
Should you watch this while drunk?
How drunk should you be?
Is this a child or parent friendly movie?
On a scale of one to ten needles to the eye, where does this movie fit in?

And maybe--if this film is worth watching or buying--I can tell you how to find it.

Finally, "Nande yo ne?!" is stolen from Osakan(Japanese) slang and means "What the hell?!"
It seemed fitting.

~Holly