Survive Style 5+ What is your function? Studio: Tohokushinsha Film Corp Format: Movie Released: 8/07/2004 Written by: Face Survive Style 5+ is an out-of-this-world ensemble film from up-and-coming commercial directors Gen Sekiguchi (Director) and Taku Tada (Writer). For their feature debut, they pulled out all the stops, and dear Lord it's quite a trip! Survive plays out like a chemical reaction on acid, pulling together five stories that are more or less connected with energized bits of avant-garde neurosis, and while it doesn't always make much sense, in the end it doesn't really matter. A man (Tadanobu Asano) is in the middle of a crisis with his wife (Reika Hashimoto). Everytime he kills her, she comes back to life as good as new, waiting to deliver Asano one hell of an all-night ass-kicking. A salaryman, Kobayashi (Ittoku Kishibe), also seems to have quite a problem on his hands. After taking his family to see the national hypnotist sensation, Tiger Aoyama (Hiroshi Abe), he finds himself turned into a bird, forever! Three young male friends are equally as troubled. After robbing suburban households it seems homosexual tensions are starting to interfere with their relationships. J (Jai West) and Tsuda (Kanji Tsuda) are in it for the gold and glory, but Morishita (Yoshiyuki Morishita) has his sights set only on J. A commercial director, Yoko (Kyoko Koizumi), is at a crossroads in her life both professionally and romantically. Her wacky CM ideas don't even humor her hypnotist lover; it appears she will never meet her lovers' or clients' expectations. And of course there's the imported British Assassin (Vinnie Jones) and his translator Katagiri (Yoshiyoshi Arakawa), proprietor of his own Killer-for-hire service. Together, they ask everyone they encounter, "What is your function?" Stewardesses and targets alike better watch out because that question could mean imminent death! Survive exists in a surreal world of its own, where vengeful spouses spit fire, birdmen bounce around attempting to fly, T.V icons wear tiger-headed underwear, and foreign assassins verbally assault flight attendants aboard pink airplanes. None of it really makes any sense, and it's not supposed to. Once you witness a woman catapulting her limbs like rockets, it's pretty clear this movie is more concerned with eccentricity than reality. Some stories are more interesting and effective than others, so screen time is not divided up equally amongst them--which makes the film come off as a bit unbalanced but it still works. Sekiguchi and Tada worked together in the editing room, alotting time to the stories based on their capacity to expand. Most of the time is spent on Asano's story, which is without a doubt the most enjoyable and hilarious. Time and time again Reika is brutally murdered, driven to the woods, buried, and returns for more. As time goes on, she begins to acquire supernatural abilities based on the method of death. The most memorable of all is the sequence of rocket-propelled body parts crashing into walls. Each time she was murdered, I sat there wondering if this time she would spit fire, shoot body parts, or cook breakfast (you'll get it if you see the movie). The British assassin storyline is also wonderfully entertaining. Vinnie Jones plays a madman (although less convincing than in his previous Guy Ritchie films) intent on asking people his existential questions while his slightly timid translator struggles to keep up. Their communication is rather unique as well. Katagiri whispers translations into Vinnie's ear, so we never actually hear him speak any Engrish whatsoever, which isn't exactly a bad thing. Watching Katagiri screaming Japanese over Vinnie's English is perhaps some of the funniest material in this movie. Gen Sekiguchi and Taku Tada have come quite a ways from their ad-filming, Supercar music-video-making days, and their first go at feature filmmaking is damn admirable. The art direction is MTV inspired and beautiful to regard; the cinematography is visually compelling, and the audio track is filled with pop-culture crowd pleasers--listening to Kobayashi's family singing along to the Go! Go! Go! lyrics, dropping more F-bombs than a Guy Ritchie flick, is one of the most oddly satisfying moments I've seen in recent memory. However, Survive is considerably too ambitious for its own sake. While each individual storyline is compelling in its own right, the way in which they intersect at times feels forced and inappropriate. It would have been nice to see a more congruous resolution to the Three young males storyline. Regrettably, the sum of its parts is greater than its whole. Complications aside, Survive is one of the most enjoyable, hilarious, and gratifying films I've had the pleasure of seeing in a long time. Taku Tada creates a continous sense of order amidst a world of improbability, and Survive is more than happy to thrive in its own disorders. * * * * (Very Good) Posted: Monday, October 16, 2006 Please Visit our Affiliates Anime UK News