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.

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.

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.

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.

Having loved Rubber's Lover, I felt psyched to see this. It starts off strong with some stunning graphics and the same over-the-top performances I loved from Rubber's Lover. The respect I have for the actors' dedication and focus goes well beyond enormous. I loved the slow, lyrical pace of the first third where Himako finds Pinocchio. The chemistry and trust between the two actors brought it unexpected depth.

And then the vomiting started.

And went on pointlessly for at least five minutes.

I accept this in Hershel Gordon Lewis films since he needed to pad them out to a certain length and contained endless tracking shots of a woman walking or someone's band playing a cheesy song. But with a running time of 1:37 extended scenes of vomiting or running or just general strobe-lit screaming makes me cranky. All the camera work and editing in the world can't make me say "WOW! That's the best 10 minute running sequence I've ever seen!".

Given the gravitas it began with, I felt cheated at the end. I suffered thought the last 30min hoping for a redemption that never came. Given the choice between Places in the Heart or a Marvel franchise film, I'd choose this every time. But I wouldn't be happy about it.