Executive Koala

This movie is so very special. One minute I was thinking it was the worst movie I'd seen and a minute later think it was one of the funniest. Its a strange one, that is for sure.

I've not seen much, if any, Japanese movies so how much of the bad acting is just bad acting or cultural or deliberate, I can't say. Either way, it amused me. As did the pure absurdity of the whole story and where it went. I wouldn't call it a thriller cause I wasn't on the edge of my seat but I definitely wondered where we were going. And when we got there it wasn't what I expected, but isn't that what you want in a movie? I'd like to give a better description of this thing but it is so absurd and so random that I don't know where to begin. If you are wondering if you should watch it, let me put it this way. If you are a fairly mainstream movie going type person the answer is no. If you are a fan of the weird, the funny, the absurd, the surreal, or the slightly off kilter then i say go for it. Was it a good story? eh. Was I entertained? Absolutely.

Minoru Kawasaki is a director who has made a career out of making insanely awful films. Now I am not talking about awful like an Ed Wood film, but awful because the plot ideas are completely insane to begin with and cannot be anything other than awful. But there are many of us who LOVE insanely awful films because they can be absolutely hilarious and that's why the film Executive Koala is another addition to my"you ain't seen nothing' yet" series.

The film is about a hardworking and dedicated executive in Japan named Keiichi. He's an important man in his company, the envy of his co-workers and women think he's incredibly sexy. There's only one problem....he's a giant koala!!! Throughout this entire movie Keiichi is played by some guy in a big koala suit...but he's not all. There also are, for no reason whatsoever, a boss who's a giant white bunny and a guy who works in the local convenience store who is a frog...and all the rest of the characters are humans. And, I should point out, this is NOT a cartoon!! Does it sound 100% insane? Yep...because it is!!

Unfortunately for nice-guy Keiichi, soon his girlfriend is found dead--stabbed to death by some maniac! And, with Keiichi's old wife missing for three years!! The police naturally think this marsupial is responsible and after a while Keiichi himself starts to wonder if perhaps he is as well. Is he a serial killing maniac or is this some elaborate plot being organized by forces of evil?! See the film and find out for yourself....if you dare!!

If you think that this could be a good film or makes any sense. you are wrong. The film simply never tries to be coherent. The story is punctuated with bizarre and bloody dream sequences, there is also a hand puppet (Momo, the flying squirrel) and an ending that only would make sense if you are under the influence of LSD or have had a recent severe head injury. But, oddly, I liked it. The film has a wonderfully silly and wicked sense of humor and is also a lot of fun. However, people who like conventional films need not bother-- you really have to have a willingness to just turn off your brain and enjoy!

For lovers of weirdness, I'd give this one a 9. For 'normals', I'd say a 1...at best.

Just one year after the superb and absurd Calamari Wrestler, Minoru Kawasaki knocked it out of the park again with the equally gonzo Executive Koala. The former I watched about this time last week, and I've found both films to be two of the funniest I've watched all year. Kawasaki may be some kind of genius, and I very much want to dig into his filmography more.

Executive Koala follows a businessman who's also a koala, and he's worried he might be a serial killer... or possibly having vivid dreams that he's a serial killer. Honestly, the first 2/3s feels like American Psycho if it was set in Japan and Patrick Bateman was a koala. It becomes something else entirely in its final third, but I'm not sure I could explain how it gets there, even if I was okay with spoiling things.

There were a couple of points where Executive Koala almost lost me, but whenever that came close to happening, it would find a way to top the absurdity that came before, leading to continual hilarity throughout. Lots of this is genuinely hilarious, laugh out loud stuff, and it's the kind of comedy that's simultaneously genius and also very, very stupid. I just love most of what this and Calamari Wrestler offer, but both feel like acquired tastes for sure.

OK this is probably not a movie everybody will enjoy. But I did. I loved Calamari Wrestler and I loved Excecutive Koala even more. The simple idea of having an animal in the lead role (and a few supporting roles) works sooo good. I won't reveal the plot here, but what I really loved about this movie, apart for the animal costumes, is all it different settings and themes - mixed with lame humor and animal suits. This is a comedy. But it also a prison movie, a slasher-flick, a musical, a love story, a drama and a Kung-Fu movie. It seems like the director wanted to incorporate as many different genres and settings in this movie in case he never gets to make another movie again (I hope he does). The result is that you never get bored when watching Executive Koala. It's a low-budget flick with ambitions like a Spielberg movie - The end product is hilarious and awesome. Sure the movie is lame - very lame, but in a good way, which can only make you love it!!

The idea of putting an actor in a furry koala suit in a movie and giving him the lead role does sound appealing. However, the lack of serious direction really ruins the idea. This is a mystery/ psychological thriller themes movie. But is also tried to include elements like martial arts/ kung fu, humor and light hearted musical, etc. It made the movie loses it's focus and audience like me will be more confused than entertained. Some of the elements like the killer traveling on off screen were too repetitive. It might be a cool effect for the first and second time but doing the same thing a couple of scenes and repeats at least 2 times per scene really worn out the effect. I always won't understand why Japanese movies often lack the seriousness. It's like the writer can't come up with a complete story for a good idea he had. There's interested characters (actors in animal suits)like the Koala, the bunny , the convenient store frog, etc. None of them were able to stand out because the lack of energy the scripts has for the characters.

I don't really like the movie and I can't think of a reason to recommend it to anyone. I see it as a failed attempt for making a horror/comedy movie.