Last night I had a chance to see Shion Sono's hilarious, blood-splattery, lollypoploveletter to celluloid, Why Don't You Play in Hell? playing in a late night slot at MIFF. I was even more tired. I didn't pike. No regrets.
Why Don't You Play in Hell? may not be as batshit as my favourite of Sono's films, Suicide Club, but it's getting pretty close. Sono's rapid fire creation draws together two warring Yakuza clans (one which has curiously taken to wearing kimonos), an ex-child star with an irritating toothpaste jingle and her besotted fan/boyfriend, and a crew of guerrilla film-makers and their hammy, Bruce Lee-styled superstar-in-the-making. Add swords, guns, nunchucks, roller-skates and a liberal serving of cocaine and you get what will surely be the most whacked out gore fest at this year's festival.
Sono is in lighthearted form here; a pleasant change from 2011's Himizu. With whiplash inducing rapidity he jumps from scene to scene, riffing on cinema's high points at every turn. The tongue in cheek take on teenage adventures (complete with a wise old mentor), samurai classics and Japan's stalwart gangster films is stirred into some murderously obsessive devotion to 35mm, wonderfully encapsulated by crazy-eyed Director Hirata (Hiroki Hasegawa).
Why Don't You Play in Hell? is all over the shop through its extended build up (after an early sanguine slip-n-slide, you don't see much blood till the last half hour or so) but the pay-off is as hilarious as it is violently sublime. It's a shame Sono's budget didn't extend to real fake blood (I always find the CGI variety a bit of a let down) but there are enough limbs flying around to compensate.
A great end to the first day of films.
★★★☆
Trailer:
Disclaimer: Due to excessive work and excessive film going, MIFF posts are going to be pretty sketchy this year. I'll come back to some of the better ones and write them up proper-like if the mood takes.
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