There are just too many freshman film experiments already out there. At this point you really do need something special under your belt to make another one work. And story DOES count when trying to tell a story, experimental or not. I'm a firm believer that you actually need to know what the rules are before you can go out break them with anything approaching creativity. This film has none of the above. Consequently it's about as interesting as watching random traffic pass through an intersection. Hey, if that's your poison, certainly watch the film. I guarantee that you WILL get what you're looking for. For the rest, I recommend that you just read the cover blurb and move on. Quickly.
10 Reviews
mishmash plus gratuitous penises
gstrum15 August 2010
Warning: Spoilers
there's no plot or integration of themes or anything, it's just nothing. not even "about" nothing - rather, it is just nothing. perhaps the producers and all knew that so they decided to call a character gay and have him watch a very explicit clip from a Japanese video on the internet depicting what is known as bukake, essentially guys ejaculating on someone's face. but sexuality has nothing to do with this film - penises and semen, though often very nice, do not a movie make. without penises and semen no one would have mentioned this movie but because of them perhaps the film benefits by supposed "gay interest" appeal. however, regardless, this movie sucked. if you want to see the sex scenes do what the protagonist did, find them on-line.
A new, fresh, high standard in sucking
architecturalmind1 October 2007
This is by far one of the worst movies I have ever seen in my entire life. The only reason I saw it was because I knew nothing about it except that it was called "Japan, Japan" and it was supposed to be about a guy who dreamed of going to Japan. How can you possibly go wrong with such a plot, I thought to myself. Well.. Someone managed to. First of all, if you're fan of Japan and its offerings like myself then don't think you'll be doing yourself any favors by watching this film. It has absolutely nothing to do with Japan. The only Japan related stuff you get to see is clips of Japanese homosexuals showering in each other's liquids... That's right. See, that's the thing. This "shock value" that so many directors are focusing on nowadays is painfully unoriginal and boring.. Please stop it, all of you! It didn't add anything to this movie and it never does! And FYI it wasn't rated as a movie for adults! I could have brought my cousin with me!
I'm so furious for having wasted 65 minutes of my life, watching this piece of crap, that I created a user account on here simply to warn people about it. It has no plot whatsoever, the storyline is.. Well there is no storyline. It's mostly about a depressed homosexual who doesn't know where his life is going (and I guess the director's not knowing where the story was going is reflected through that scenario somehow). The characters of this film are everything but interesting.. In fact I just sat there thinking to myself that I either wanted to recommend this film to people I hate or blow my brains out so I didn't have to endure this agony anymore. It seems to have been recorded on a cheap camcorder, the sound was awful, the picture quality awful... I don't know who shot it and I honestly don't care because that wasn't done properly either. And don't try telling me it was the director's wish for it to be raw like that. There's raw and then there's trash. 1/6th of the audience walked out. Me and my friend (who've never walked out on a film) thought we'd endure it for each other's sake, not knowing that we were both thinking the exact same thing.
You know.. If you like painful boredom that will suck the living soul out of your body, then this movie is for you. And furthermore, if you need a reason to convince yourself suicide is a good idea, then again, this is the film! I am genuinely MAD! However, I do see the positive side of having watched it. If someone close to me were to, I don't know, for example DIE then I can always think "Ugh, this sucks but at least not as much as that time I watched Japan Japan". Ahm yeah.. Not a very good film.
*ADDED* -> Just wanted to say that the other review on here is ridiculous. In no way was this film original.. What it was trying to do in order to be different ended up being what every other film maker is doing these days. It's a truly pathetic movie! Spare yourself the agony!
I'm so furious for having wasted 65 minutes of my life, watching this piece of crap, that I created a user account on here simply to warn people about it. It has no plot whatsoever, the storyline is.. Well there is no storyline. It's mostly about a depressed homosexual who doesn't know where his life is going (and I guess the director's not knowing where the story was going is reflected through that scenario somehow). The characters of this film are everything but interesting.. In fact I just sat there thinking to myself that I either wanted to recommend this film to people I hate or blow my brains out so I didn't have to endure this agony anymore. It seems to have been recorded on a cheap camcorder, the sound was awful, the picture quality awful... I don't know who shot it and I honestly don't care because that wasn't done properly either. And don't try telling me it was the director's wish for it to be raw like that. There's raw and then there's trash. 1/6th of the audience walked out. Me and my friend (who've never walked out on a film) thought we'd endure it for each other's sake, not knowing that we were both thinking the exact same thing.
You know.. If you like painful boredom that will suck the living soul out of your body, then this movie is for you. And furthermore, if you need a reason to convince yourself suicide is a good idea, then again, this is the film! I am genuinely MAD! However, I do see the positive side of having watched it. If someone close to me were to, I don't know, for example DIE then I can always think "Ugh, this sucks but at least not as much as that time I watched Japan Japan". Ahm yeah.. Not a very good film.
*ADDED* -> Just wanted to say that the other review on here is ridiculous. In no way was this film original.. What it was trying to do in order to be different ended up being what every other film maker is doing these days. It's a truly pathetic movie! Spare yourself the agony!
Tel Aviv Tel Aviv
Suradit26 June 2015
I imagine we were expected to believe that this incoherent, self-indulgent, self-absorbed youthful serving of angst and confusion is somehow more significant than the oceans of other incoherent, self- indulgent, self-absorbed youthful servings of angst and confusion.
It isn't. If anything, it's worse.
Throwing in a bit of pornography and some silly people singing nonsense verses and then a couple of paragraphs of supposed deep thoughts printed for us to read does nothing to elevate this above a sophomoric and mediocre student video project.
Really not worth the time wasted watching this.
It isn't. If anything, it's worse.
Throwing in a bit of pornography and some silly people singing nonsense verses and then a couple of paragraphs of supposed deep thoughts printed for us to read does nothing to elevate this above a sophomoric and mediocre student video project.
Really not worth the time wasted watching this.
Vaporous, gratuitous, unfocused, worthless mishmash
rasecz31 March 2008
I can't think of anything positive to say about this bomb. Well, maybe the camera work is not too bad. This incompetent mishmash of styles -- occasional split screens, some MTV-like segments, cheesy travelogue, graphic XXX porno flick, gratuitous breaking of conventions (e.g., film credits spread out through the film), introduction of irrelevant scenes for the sake of in-your-face product placement (hum, the whole film is irrelevant) -- coupled with uninteresting characters spewing out unsubstantial dialogues make this a film to avoid at all cost.
I recently read a saying attributed to Italians that I now adapt and paraphrase: where there no bad films, we would not appreciate the good ones. Case in point.
I recently read a saying attributed to Italians that I now adapt and paraphrase: where there no bad films, we would not appreciate the good ones. Case in point.
you Have to see it! very refreshing and original.
jv_rules_116 October 2007
OK. first of all. i ask people to ignore the other comment since the person who wrote it said that he knew nothing about the movie before going to see it. beware. the film is very "unique". it is not for everyone. im not really surprised that people can really REALLY hate this movie. i saw it at a film festival in montréal and i felt kinda bad for the old couple sitting right next to me. it's very upfront (i.e. you can see excerpts of gay porn).
anyways, i don't wanna say much about it but i really liked how the film was made. its like a mash-up of all sorts of different styles. (i.e. at one point, you only see quoted white text on a black background.)(another part of the movie feels like a music video)(another part uses Google Earth and synchronizes the zoom-ins and zoom-outs to a song playing in the background).
it doesn't really respect any "structure". it goes from one medium to another. it's kinda amateur. it kinda looks like something you can do with iMovie. (it sometimes looks and feels like the movie Tarnation...minus the "real" drama).
all of these factors usually end up making a kinda hard-to-follow and "unfluid" movie. but in this case, it doesn't. all of the little effects the director uses in the movie aren't useless. instead of making it look like some sort of student-exercise, the effects end up helping the movie by making it better, fresher and funnier.
the aesthetics and the ambiance of the movie also reminds me of the music and the artwork of the sri-lankan singer/artist, M.I.A. (especially her Kala album): a mix of different styles and recycled bits that kinda look like it was made from scrap but ends up sounding/looking so refreshing/original/contemporary.
anyways, i don't wanna say much about it but i really liked how the film was made. its like a mash-up of all sorts of different styles. (i.e. at one point, you only see quoted white text on a black background.)(another part of the movie feels like a music video)(another part uses Google Earth and synchronizes the zoom-ins and zoom-outs to a song playing in the background).
it doesn't really respect any "structure". it goes from one medium to another. it's kinda amateur. it kinda looks like something you can do with iMovie. (it sometimes looks and feels like the movie Tarnation...minus the "real" drama).
all of these factors usually end up making a kinda hard-to-follow and "unfluid" movie. but in this case, it doesn't. all of the little effects the director uses in the movie aren't useless. instead of making it look like some sort of student-exercise, the effects end up helping the movie by making it better, fresher and funnier.
the aesthetics and the ambiance of the movie also reminds me of the music and the artwork of the sri-lankan singer/artist, M.I.A. (especially her Kala album): a mix of different styles and recycled bits that kinda look like it was made from scrap but ends up sounding/looking so refreshing/original/contemporary.
interesting and enjoyable
Siel_O27 June 2008
the movie is fun, fresh and sweet. the main character is absolutely adorable (i think i'm in love, gotta learn more about him), the photography and editing is great, the story is interesting (and convinces that a movie does not have to be in a dramatic structure). i loved the visual freedom the creators allowed themselves, i don't think it had any of a shock value, but only to portray the main character's world. i'd love to see the movie again, i'd be very pleased had it been longer (there were moments where we're lead to believe the film is over and i was always glad it didn't). i'd also love had they shown more porn, anime and yaoi. the movie inspired me, usually i escape from anything titled "documentary", i might just be a little more open minded next time after a film like that. :)
amazing!
allrisk-113 March 2009
I can't believe this film! I loved it so much when I saw it in Toronto.
I must admit, I was a bit lost and depressed at the time, asking myself big questions like where I am going, and who I belong to, who thinks I belong to him etc. And then came this film, and it's not that it solved anything, but for me I was happy to find someone closer to my language than most of what I see and hear around me. The film does not fall to cheesy psychological or dramatic clichés, and still the viewing experience is very reach with clips and picture-in-picture techniques, very modern but still completely not "MTV" or Commercial-TV "Fashion" fake-teen-spirit-in-order-to-sell, but something deep and intelligent.
This crappy conservative world does not deserve this amazing film!
So much style. Handsome young men and women. Personal and social troubles of the 21st century. God. It even predicts the financial crisis.
Such a rebellious punk film, and still so deeper and smarter than all the old-fashion pretentious art-house crap that usually comes from the big film festivals.
Viva la revolution!
I must admit, I was a bit lost and depressed at the time, asking myself big questions like where I am going, and who I belong to, who thinks I belong to him etc. And then came this film, and it's not that it solved anything, but for me I was happy to find someone closer to my language than most of what I see and hear around me. The film does not fall to cheesy psychological or dramatic clichés, and still the viewing experience is very reach with clips and picture-in-picture techniques, very modern but still completely not "MTV" or Commercial-TV "Fashion" fake-teen-spirit-in-order-to-sell, but something deep and intelligent.
This crappy conservative world does not deserve this amazing film!
So much style. Handsome young men and women. Personal and social troubles of the 21st century. God. It even predicts the financial crisis.
Such a rebellious punk film, and still so deeper and smarter than all the old-fashion pretentious art-house crap that usually comes from the big film festivals.
Viva la revolution!
An interesting time capsule
Robert-198418 September 2020
This is definitely not a film for everyone and surely it is meant for people who like the more experimental, essayistic ironic approach to the medium. It's naughty and funny and sad in how it depicts the alienation of the hero from his surroundings but also from his dreamed-of culture. His "Japan" is not really Japan. It's mixed with other places, and it is shallow, like someone who is trying to draw a face he sees from the other side of a valley.
Really Great film
HumanoidAK17 February 2013
Warning: Spoilers
A Really Great film Its very rare to be exposed to an artwork that changes the way you see the limits of the medium.
This was one of them... It is one of the rare instances where you think you've seen a lot of whats out there, and come to re-realize, that you've only scratched the surface. I could try to say something about this film, but I would not be able to do it justice.
The film is shot in a variety of creative and avant-garde ways, exploiting techniques in non-standard cinema. It seems to be a sort of anti-cinema, as the narrator mentions "Cinema is dead". The whole film break cinematographic barriers, social norms and models of what we expect to experience in a film.
Thank you Lior Shamriz and Cast
This was one of them... It is one of the rare instances where you think you've seen a lot of whats out there, and come to re-realize, that you've only scratched the surface. I could try to say something about this film, but I would not be able to do it justice.
The film is shot in a variety of creative and avant-garde ways, exploiting techniques in non-standard cinema. It seems to be a sort of anti-cinema, as the narrator mentions "Cinema is dead". The whole film break cinematographic barriers, social norms and models of what we expect to experience in a film.
Thank you Lior Shamriz and Cast
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