964 Pinocchio

I'm a big fan of weird, bizarre, underground films and when I heard about 964 Pinocchio I watched it immediately. The theme of robots used for sex isn't often used in movies, or even books or comics. So I was quite excited about the film.

As I said, the plot is original and keeps you hooked. For the first 30 minutes. Then it gets too strange and bizarre. Don't get me wrong, I like weird, when it has a point. This is weird just for the sake of being weird, without any purpose. And the vomiting and the gore is there just to shock and disgust you.

The cinematography is very good and original with a variety of different styles and excellent shots. The acting is good, although it's Japanese with their classical overacting. This could be a problem to some viewers but I didn't mind it. It gave the movie a goofy, but also a very disturbing feel. There isn't much dialogue, but there is a lot of screaming. So much screaming that it gets annoying after a while. The environment is beautifully disgusting, though I wouldn't say it's cyberpunky. The special effects and the stop-motion are very good and add to the dark atmosphere.

The biggest problem of the film is that it has an original idea but it looks like the director didn't know how to deepen it, how to make it all come together. There isn't any connection between the characters motives and their actions and in the end, the movie seems quite pointless. It starts good, but later drifts into gory, weird and unnecessary nonsense. The theme offered a lot of space for social commentary and an interesting plot line. Also, the film could be shorter. The running scene is way too long and is a rip-off of Tetsuo(which is way better in my opinion).

Despite it's major flaws it still is an original and fascinating movie, got me interested into another of Fukui's works: Rubber's Lover. If you want weird and experimental, I'd recommend Tetsuo: Iron Man or Eraserhead. Those two are waaaaaaaaaaay better then this.

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.

I feel like half the runtime of 964 Pinocchio is made up of people charging at the camera or screaming, often both at the same time. It's not an easy movie to rate out of 10, but it is a little easier to talk about in general.

To keep the synopsis as PG as possible, there's a "cyborg" on the loose that's malfunctioned for "reasons," but it wasn't properly gotten rid of. So when it's taken in by a strange young woman, it starts to learn how to function again, regaining something of what it seemed to have before. I guess that's broadly where the Pinocchio link comes into play (twisted/unusual journey of beoming a "real" being), but anyone expecting something with more similarities might be unpleasantly surprised by the directions 964 Pinocchio goes in.

It's a gross, dirty, repetitive movie. It has a certain beyond-grimy aesthetic and simply chooses to wallow in it for 97 minutes, and I admire it for that. Sometimes, I liked how dirty the film felt, to the point where maybe it was a mistake to pause it at one point and take a shower (something I genuinely did; not related to the movie necessarily). Sometimes, I felt worn down by it all, but that's perhaps more a feature than a bug.

I will say, at about the halfway point, 964 Pinocchio did become a bit boring, and I thought it had run out of steam after a fairly engaging first half. Thankfully, it saved a bunch of bonkers things for the last 20-ish minutes, so it ends on a high... or low, depending on your definition.

Probably don't watch this, if you're most people. Those wanting something different and gross should sign up, though.

Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaarghaaaaaahhhhhaaaaaatttttaaaaaaaabbbbaaannnaaaa - Weird - Aaaaaafffffaaaaaaaggggaaaahhaaaggaaaggggggggaaaaaaaaafffffaaaggg - Vomit - Aaaaaagggaaaafffffaaahhhhhaayyyaaaaabbbaaaabbbbbnnnnaaaahhhaaq - Japan - Aaaaaggggaahhhaahhhajjajjajajaaaahhhhhhhhhaaagggggggggggggggggg - Cyberpunk - Aaaaaaggggaahhhaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhttttttttttaaaaaaagggggaaaafffffaaa - Crazy Japan -

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.