Survive Style 5+

I'm not sure how to even begin a critique of this film. The best analogy that I can think of is a bit like the first time I ever went into a sushi bar. - It wasn't just that the food that I ate was completely different to a palate more used to hamburgers or fish & chips, but that the rules were different too. Instead of having a waitress write down the order, I picked out colourful dishes off a conveyor belt, and ate some wonderfully exotic food. All of this wrapped up in a culture that was decidedly Japanese....and I loved it!!

Exactly the same is true of Survive Style 5. It was completely different from the usual movies I watch, the rules were broken, the experience was extremely colourful, wonderfully exotic, it was decidedly Japanese...and I loved it too!!

The film focuses on several story lines, from the fairly tame (the sexual confusion of a group of young friends), to the surreal (the murdered wife who keeps returning to beat up her husband in ever more bizarre ways), to the absurd (the man stuck in a trance thinking he's a bird after the hypnotist is killed)...and beyond.

The first thing that struck me was the brightness & colour of the film. The words 'kitsch' do not do the sets justice, with big pink fluffy 'Hello Kitty' cuteness or neon manga-esquire style. The movie is not drab in the slightest! Also the film wears its 'Japaneseness' on its sleeve, which is further highlighted by the inclusion of the very un-Japanese Vinnie Jones (playing a hit-man who asks the question "What is your purpose in life?" indiscriminately to air stewardesses and pieces of broccoli).

Amongst all this mish-mash of colour, lunacy, absurdity, and surrealism lies a a big heart. While almost completely disparate in some places, the movie ends in a surprisingly satisfying manner (In fact, it's one of the best endings I could imagine for a movie so off-the-wall).

Maybe the film won't be to everybody's taste, especially those who really do not want to try something different, but what can I say? I like to try something new once in a while, and if you're like me, this might be a tasty plate of Futomaki for you!

How to describe the experience of watching SURVIVE STYLE 5+?! The look of the movie alone was enough to blow me away: it features fanciful costumes that look nothing like any clothes I've ever seen before, sets crammed with all manner of curios, and a use of color which is simply outrageous. Imagine WOMEN ON THE VERGE OF A NERVOUS BREAKDOWN's aesthetic mixed with the texture of a Dali painting as filtered through a commercial for bubblegum. Then put it on overdrive and string it with Christmas lights...and you will only have begun to envision the glorious assault of brightness and fashion that is SURVIVE STYLE 5+.

Fortunately, the movie's abundance of style is matched by its substance. The plot concerns 5 different main characters whose stories become intertwined in a variety of improbable, violent, and hilarious ways. We meet a song-and-dance hypnotist, a businessman who thinks he's a bird, a zombie wife who fires her arm off like a cannon, and a British hit-man who shows up periodically to ask "WOT IS YOUR FUNCTION IN LOIF?" before going nuts and stabbing people. All that, and I'm only describing the first half hour or so...

Despite its absurd and surreal tone, SURVIVE STYLE 5+ makes complete logical sense. Never once does it veer into the no man's land of "weirdness for the sake of weirdness." The plot meanders all over the place, but there IS a method to its madness: a POINT to it all, a moral to figure out and mull over. In this regard, SURVIVE STYLE 5+ outclasses just about every movie of its type, by which I mean the recent rash of movies with multiple narratives that come together coincidentally. SURVIVE STYLE 5+ is definitely better than HAPPINESS. It may be better than PULP FICTION. MAGNOLIA shouldn't even be mentioned in the same sentence with it. Really, there is no movie I can adequately compare with SURVIVE STYLE 5+ because it seems like the first film of an entirely new genre.

It's hilarious, too. Several days after viewing the movie, I still find myself walking down the street, remembering a funny scene or line, and laughing wildly to myself about it.

So do what you can to see it on the big screen, then pray for a decent DVD release. You will NOT be disappointed.

There are 5 stories that somehow connect but not really intertwine (this is the deceptive part), however, I liked all of them, the movie puts a especial emphasis in bizarreness, but it doesn't go too far.

Wife and Husband- This is in fact the fantastic part of the movie, the silentness of the wife is the main tool for getting you into that sweet vacillation of whether things are real or not, but there are lot more, as the costumes she wears every time (Which reminds me to a movie knows as "héroe" by this latitudes) and the phase-shifts. Here we also have the sweet dose of violence.

Killers - I got pretty surprised when I ran into "Big Chris"! The contrast between Jones and the translator was way bizarre. There's not much going on here, since both of them are like a lone functional character.

Birdman- The "strange" vector of the film, yet the cutest, Keiichi's perspective keeps the frankness of children accurately. I LOVED the teacher scene.

Yoko the Creative- Oh god, Yoko's ideas for commercials are so unfunny they become funny, and Yoko is funny herself. Really laugh with the way she laughs and with the wild winking when she's having her "afflati". Here I may mark two characters I would had LOVED to see a little bit more of = The café girls. The accident girl was so funnily pathetic, and that were really strengthened by the uncaring friend. I wonder what would have happened to her if she'd got a third scene!!

The Housebreakers = And again we find a bizarre contrast, this time between the "ugly" and the "sexy" burglars. This story takes little of the film's length and it is also the most disconnected one, but adds a funky "sexuality" note.

And to finish, I liked the music.

Hey, let's just get back these IMDb reviews under control.

This is an enjoyable, multi-levelled film that will particularly appeal to a European and American audience - just because it is so different.

However, in view of the whole range of current Japanese/Chinese/Tiawanese film output, anyone giving this a ten star rating should get out more. Especially those people (and you know who you are) have written a "review" which is a word for word quote from the DVD cover.

Having watched it twice, I enjoyed it. It's got style, and originality. It's really watchable. But, it's a bit like candy-floss - it appears more substantial than it is. In some circumstances, it would acquire a cult following of those wishing to explain each and every scene, in infinite depth.

There are some great performances. Unfortunately, Vinne Jones does not provide one of these. In his previous, and more honourable career, as a soccer player, he achieved a certain degree of fame as a last stop, hatchett man defender.

In his retirement, he was superb in his cameo role in "Lock, Stock, and Two Smoking Barrels" However, his role in this film is just a joke. Now, I quite understand if he was cast as a joke - this would lend a degree of irony to his role. But, I just don't think that was the intention.

So, in conclusion, watching this will not be a wasted 2 hours of your life - but if you haven't already seen 3-Iron, Oldboy, Immortal, Sympathy for Mr Vengeance or Casshern, why not do yourself a favour, and leave this as the light - but substantial - piece of fluff it is?

Definitely one of my favorites!

There are so many creative and innovative ideas and genuine rip-off's of clichés. A real fun to watch. And the stunning art style ... never seen a so detailed and thought-out flick like this one. Even when you watching this film a second time you still might get lost in figuring out all these details.

Music was also perfectly used; a 100% match with the art style (something like Rock/Pop ...(?).. well, you'll get it when you see it) Even the slower and moderate background music (simple piano chords), which was used in the middle of the film for quite a long time, was also a consummate choice.

The highlight, alongside the art style, of this movie was definitely characters and acting. Every one of them really stand out. Some of the reviews complained about a cliché-kind of presentation of Vinnie Jones. You know, this was intentionally; hinting at the cliché image of Gaikokujin (foreigners) in japan. It is just an amazing performance of the entire cast.

If i happen to see this movie presented in an art exhibition, i wouldn't be surprised at all. A real masterpiece, though some might only like it, but not love it, as i do ... well, too bad! ;)