Survive Style 5+ (2004)

Five bizarre stories, with no apparently connections, get intertwined resulting in a surreal situation.

Director:

Gen Sekiguchi

Writer:

Taku Tada

Stars:

Tadanobu Asano, Reika Hashimoto, Kyôko Koizumi

3 wins & 1 nomination.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Tadanobu Asano	...	Aman
Reika Hashimoto	...	Mimi - Ishigaki's wife
Kyôko Koizumi	...	Yoko, Commercial Executive
Hiroshi Abe	...	Aoyama, the Hypnotist
Ittoku Kishibe	...	Tatsuya Kobayashi
Yumi Asô	...	Misa, Kobayashi's wife
Kanji Tsuda	...	Tsuda - Burglar
Yoshiyuki Morishita	...	Morishita - Burglar
Jai West	...	J - Burglar
YosiYosi Arakawa	...	Katagiri - Interpreter (as Yoshiyoshi Arakawa)
Vinnie Jones	...	Hired Killer
Sonny Chiba	...	Kazama - Advertising Company President (as Shinichi Chiba)
Shihori Kanjiya	...	Kaho Kobayashi
Tomokazu Miura	...	Doctor Yamauchi
Ryûnosuke Kamiki	...	Seiichi Kobayashi

Storyline

A man continually trying and failing to get his wife to stay dead; a self-absorbed ad agency creative director who comes up with one unworkable inane idea after another; a British hitman who only wants to know everyone's function in life; and an unfortunate office worker and father whose brain is left scrambled after a stage hypnotist is murdered in mid-performance. Starting off as unrelated plot lines, they intertwine with each other as they continue on their respective ways.

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Plot Keywords:

hitman | grave | homophobia | station wagon | burglar | 

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Genres:

Fantasy | Mystery | Romance | Thriller

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Details

Official Sites:

Official site [jp]

Country:

Japan

Language:

Japanese English

Release Date:

19 April 2005 (USA)

Also Known As:

Survive Style

Company Credits

Production Co:

Tohokushinsha Film

Technical Specs

Runtime:

120 min

Color:

Black and White Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Quotes

Hitman: What is your function in life?

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Connections

References The Shining (1980)

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Soundtracks

"I Will Survive"
Cake

User Reviews

More like this one!

Someone keeps asking me, "What's this movie about?" SS5+ is one of those that defies to be labeled...just the way I like it.

Tadanobu Asano, a literal jack of all trades, is the main reason I wanted to see this. From an infamous masochist king known as Kakihara to low-key Kenji in the visually stunning Last Life in the Universe, Asano always manages to display, not only a wide range, but he performs on several different levels. In this one, you can't help feel anticipation for his scenes and trust me: they're worth the wait!!!You are then presented to an elegant buffet of avid brights, darks and color schemes which makes his home seem like Lewis Carroll's summer house. Reika Hashimoto and Asano (phenom chem!) had me mind scrapingly perplexed as to what would unfold next.

The rest of the cast all play their roles well (and with fun) and the intertwining events keep the ball rolling with an occasional rest stop for character development and goodfeel. There's a dark humor in this film which gives it it an odd, adderol driven, yet refreshingly original style. Also, a high bpm soundtrack gives it some additional high octane for the trip. I will have to keep an eye out for Gen Sekiguchi's future films or other works by Taku Tada 'cause Survive Style 5+ has warped my way of thinking – in a good way!