964 Pinocchio

Having watched "Death Powder" earlier in the day, I found this little ditty refreshingly straightforward.

I don't know if there's some kind of Japanese cultural touchstone for people contorting their faces in agony and screaming for extended periods, but there's a lot of that in this movie.

Anyway, I enjoyed the movie despite all the screaming. I can't say I got a huge ton or artistic satisfaction out of it, but the visuals were pretty crazy to say the least.

I thought the idea was promising - a discarded sex cyborg who can't function anymore. It could lead any number of places. You could make ten movies from that idea. But the idea never really gains traction. It falls by the wayside for some strange thing wherein he fuses himself with his captor/rescuer.

Maybe it means something if you're Japanese or steeped in Japanese culture. It seems to me that I've seen anime with similar kinds of body horror elements. But to me it feels like it would have been more satisfying to actually explore the theme in a thoughtful way.

I hesitate to judge the movie too harshly given my suspicion that there's culture resonance that I'm not getting. I've seen Tetsuo the Iron Man, so I get that this is part of a distinct "school" of filmmaking. It was interesting eye candy (if you can call a five minute vomit sequence "candy") and I was entertained by the sheer lunacy of it, but ultimately, it's a big WTF for me.

Five stars for novelty and over-the-top-ness.

This is one of my favorite films. It seems to deal with a society in which people have been made into commodities, and it focuses on principal characters who have become discarded.

Rather than take a heavy handed or moralistic stance, Shozin Fukui brings a strangely restrained humor and an extreme, hysterical weirdness to the story. Along with Shinya Tsukamoto's 'Tetsuo' it is one of the classics of Japanese mutation film. (It is said that Fukui actually worked on 'Tetsuo.')

The cinematography is amazing, ranging from ponderous and Tarkovsky-like to accelerated stop-motion.

The performers are wonderful and likeable. Hage Suzuki is like a spastic butoh performer having a constant seizure. Onn-Chan's amazing face seems to have been genetically grown for the specific purpose of being viewed by wide-angle lenses. (Where did these people come from and why is it hard to find any information on them?!)

As an added bonus, this film has what has been touted as the most prolonged vomiting sequence in cinema history.

Wow this was one weird movie. I have never in my life seen anything like this. This is not the Disney Pinocchio we all grew up watching. This movie is so messed up you won't believe it. Pinocchio is a lobotomized cyborg sex slave, and is thrown out onto the street by his owners. Pinocchio meets up with this homeless girl named Himiko. Then Pinocchio's creator sends out his men to get rid of Pinocchio. This is one really strange movie though. It's pretty low budget, but in a good way. I liked all the weird camera angles too. I think the best part was when Pinocchio ran down the streets screaming. That was just weird and freaky! I bet all those people were freaked out when they saw this thing running. Did I mention the ending is also weird as heck. If you're looking for a weird movie to watch, then you'll enjoy Pinocchio 964. There's nothing out there quite like this. 9/10 from me.

I saw this movie at Best Buy, and remembered it being an unearthed films release. I still wasn't going to buy it until I flipped it over and saw a picture of a white faced, bleeding from the mouth, freak running down the streets with a few thousand confused people looking on. Knowing that those people weren't extras, I had to buy this movie.

This movie is pure insanity. At first It looks like it might be somewhat normal, everything makes sense, it seems almost cute...almost...Suddenly the whole movie takes a turn for the "worst" and all that wholesomeness we just witnessed turns into something completely opposite. A lot of people compare this movie to Tetsuo for some reason, which is like comparing apples to oranges, but that being said, 964 Pinocchio will make you appreciate Tetsuos coherent storyline. As insane as that may sound.

I don't want to mention, nor could I fully explain the plot, because that would ruin most of this movie. if your sick of your everyday Hollywood remakes and want a totally new experience, and like a bit of wackiness mixed in with your bizarre freak out films, than you will love this unique movie.

Firstly, we must address that this film is an art film. It thrives on visuals to tell the story. The explicitness of the visual effects are well executed for the sake of uncomfortableness and serves as a catalyst to keep the viewer interested, although it does not necessarily rely completely on visuals. The story itself holds a certain theme which comments on humans being just commodities. Sexual slavery does exist, however, in this particular film, the idea of sexual slavery has been taken to the extreme. Secondly, some underlying philosophy that this film holds, is that in order to experience peace with oneself, one must go through unbearable physical change. In a way, Kafka had his hand in this, think Metamorphosis, except incredibly painful and agonizing. Being a Japanese, underground, cult film, it is not appreciated everywhere, and is not expected to be. Director Shojin Fukui should proud of himself to have done such a controversial yet appealing film.