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21 out of 23 people found the following review useful: Maybe the strangest film I've seen, 9 February 2006 Author: Simon Booth from UK
NAISU NO MORI - FIRST CONTACT may well be the strangest film I've ever seen... a 2.5 hour head-scratcher combining the efforts of three director/writers into a whole with no discernible plot! the film is essentially a number of short stories or vignettes, mixed together and occasionally crossing over (Tadanobu Asano and Susumu Terajima appear in a large number of the scenes). The content of these pieces is extremely varied, and beyond unpredictable. There's bits of stand-up comedy, animation, music, dance and other moments that are entirely inexplicable. We spend quite a bit of time inside character's daydreams, and we make first contact with some very odd little aliens. The film even has its own commercials and (thankfully) a 3 minute intermission.This is undoubtedly an avante-garde film, I don't know if calling it "arthouse' is appropriate because it's so silly and funny (not like the kind of austere beard-strokers that one usually calls "arthouse"). There is some truly mad stuff going on, but there doesn't appear to be any deeper meaning or message to any of it... in fact I'm not sure what the "purpose" of the film is at all, except for the film-makers to go nuts.At 150 minutes it must be admitted that the film outstays its welcome a little... sitting in a theatre for that long it's nice to have *some* sort of narrative to get carried away on (it's enough time to spin quite an epic). NAISU NO MORI feels almost like it should be an ambient film - on at a club or something. I can't think of any more eclectic film in cinematic history. Think SURVIVE STYLE 5+ meets Kitano's GETTING ANY meets NAKED LUNCH meets Alejandro Jodorowsky meets Aphex Twin, and you're getting somewhere near where the film is at!
15 out of 17 people found the following review useful: As strange as it gets, 18 January 2006 Author: pb104-1 from United States
How to describe this film? It's a group of related inter-cut stories by three talented Japanese directors, but that's not really it...It's a surrealist fantasy of a bizarre reality with grotesque body parts, freaky sex and...no, wait, it's a David Cronenberg comedy where a fellow with enormous nipples pulls bloodsucking creatures out of his pants at a high school after school club. One of the most peculiar films I've ever seen, it defies categories. There are two parts, Side A and Side B, with a three minute on-screen intermission. There are wisecracking TV hosts babbling in fractured languages. And there are icky creatures that alternately make you laugh and make you sick. It's definitely not for everyone, but fans of extreme comedy and very alternative cinema will be thrilled and delighted. I thought it was awesome. 8.5/10
2 out of 2 people found the following review useful: "Pull me", 14 December 2008 Author: TheatreX from Louisville, KY
"Funky Forest" is kind of a stream-of-consciousness pastiche of skits and strange (and sometimes mundane) little stories. It goes on for about two and a half hours with an intermission, too, which consists of a nearly-blank screen and background music.We have two comedians (of sorts) who aren't very funny, one of whom has an Emo Philips hairstyle, and their bits zip in and out of the proceedings, sometimes for only seconds at a time. Also we have The Guitar Brothers, one of whom is Tadanobu Asano, and a tubby little kid, Masao, who looks like Pugsley from the Addams Family. And there are references throughout the film to aliens from Piko-Rico (spelling?). At some times you feel there ARE aliens involved with this, because there isn't any better explanation.My favorite scenes involve a young school girl who seems what seems to be the tail of a furry creature who has gone around the corner, but when her curiosity leads her to follow, she finds it's not the tail, for it's on the wrong side, and the creature (which appears to be a man in a furry suit) begs her to "pull me". And then, another man in a school kid's uniform appears & they proceed to have the girl insert some kind of tube into her navel which powers some kind of machine that eventually yields a miniature sushi chef.I also like these rather odd and creepy creatures that are treated like they're nothing unusual by the people who handle them, which apparently turn out to be organic band instruments? They look like something right out of David Cronenberg's mind, back when he made real horror films. Also reminiscent of Cronenberg is the "After School Club" where a young girl with something like a badminton racket proceeds to swing at milk squirted from the extended nipples of a middle-aged man, which is apparently generated by squeezing a bulbous sac that extends out of his anus. And then the girl is attacked by a blood-sucker that has a little man inside. VERY weird stuff, although not presented in way in which it's made to be creepy.This will not be for everyone, especially those who think that things need to make sense and films need to be linear, for this is definitely neither of those things. It is, however, a jaw-dropping festival of weirdness & WTF film making, and is well worth seeing for the adventurous. 8 out of 10.
3 out of 4 people found the following review useful: It's true - this movie is insane, 18 February 2007 Author: Tatiana Polyaska from United States
Funky Forest: The First Contact is a movie that defies description. It is so uncategorizable, so jaw-droppingly strange, so unlike anything you've ever seen before that you can't help but either laugh and/or shake your head in disbelief for most of its 2 and a half hour running time. The movie has no plot. Instead there are a series of loosely interconnected scenes involving various characters who say and do the strangest things. I was particularly fond of the three female co-workers who visit a spa and take turns telling each other hilariously inane stories. On top of that there is uber-hottie Tadanobu Asano, bursts of animation, unexpected song and dance numbers and some truly disturbing sci-fi elements. For the sheer weirdness factor alone, this is essential viewing.
6 out of 10 people found the following review useful: stop making sense, 2 August 2006 Author: ronanbrother3 from Australia
This film kicks against the mind numbing normality of everyday existence by utilising an inspired surreal and open ended narrative. It is broken up into a series of 'skits', which it jumps in an out of, and plays like a frenetic daydream. As it alternates between humour, horror, romance, pathos, existentialism and stand up routine it brings to mind the work of auteurs David Cronenberg and Matthew Barney and the British comic greats the goodies, the mighty boosh and perhaps even little Britain all melded in a postmodern pastiche.Exiting the cinema my brother and i heard a girl disputing the worth of the film to her friend stating 'but what is the point of it all'. Well, to paraphase talking heads, sometimes its nice to stop making sense.
9 out of 16 people found the following review useful: More fun that Nacho Libre...and Nacho was much better then i expected, 25 June 2006 Author: Mab890 from United States
Funky Forest… I have waited 1 night to let this all sink in.First of all a little back story. One year ago, I went to the New York Asian Film Festival and saw the film, Taste of Tea. This was a delightful family story which I surprising loved, even though I am the kind of guy that will never turn down the cheesy Hollywood summer block buster.One year latter I have returned to the Film Festival. Although in New York this festival is packed with violent Korean films, Funky Forest remains the festival's logo for its T-Shirts. So the question you should be asking is, what is all the hype about? Strange foreign film at an underground festival that sells out every show it plays. The hype of course revolves around 1 man, Katsuhito Ishii, or perhaps that's one mans unique brain.Funky Forest as mentioned by the commenter before me is like watching a Cronenberg comedy. Nevertheless it goes farther then that, it is like if Cronenberg, Lynch, and M. Barney, all had their head infused with each other and then Adam Sandler hit them with a silly stick in till the being could not breath.If anyone is supposed to summarize what the film is about, then all commenter on this site will fail…miserably. One of my friends described it as watching youtube.com shorts for 3 hours. I would agree it's a whole bunch of shorts, like a pulp film in a way. The stories are kind of connected but you are enjoying the show more then trying to figure out where it all hangs in the balance of the film.I am giving this film a 9/10 because it did get a little long and tedious, but nevertheless the film had so many memorable moments that it is well worth anybodies time.All that I am left to say is that as I left the theater I had an urge to buy the DVD, or a soundtrack, but instead all that was on the counter for me was a T-Shirt, and so of course, I bought it.SEE THE FILM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!, Enjoy guitar brothers, mole brothers, little Asian girls, planet pico, dreamscapes, 3 babbling girls, and of course Homeroom!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
3 out of 5 people found the following review useful: Really strange, really weird, really pleasant something, 8 November 2006 Author: Chung Mo from NYC
Nothing can prepare you even if you get a description. Very bizarre set pieces with little or no connection that was apparent to this viewer. The segments sometimes have weird grotesque imagery and sometimes are extremely commonplace. The stories follow no conventional narrative form and end in unexpected ways.While the film doesn't have the drive of an equally strange film, "Survive Style +5", it does have a pleasant tone despite the repeated scenes with fleshy deformities, men with cow-like nipples, giant orifices and excrement like excretions. A lot of people will be turned off but the film holds a number of unexpected delights. I, for one, was delighted to hear Asano sing the Captain Harlock theme song.Overlong, perhaps better seen in pieces, but a good film.
1 out of 2 people found the following review useful: Great film! Funny and arty at the same time!, 18 June 2007 Author: cj_haxholm from Denmark
i went to see this film without having the slightest clue about it....and at first i was quite disappointed; some not very inspiring animations...but then,slowly it all grew, to be more and more crazy and unbelievable, and things accelerated a whole lot...then it appears to be commercials within each other, gags, comedy shows, circus, small short stories and in a way they have nothing to do with each other and yet they make this incredible organic of well-composed-complex movie!so a mix with low graphics (and high), fake commercials, beautiful scenes of landscapes and things like that...wow! so all in all the the best parts of Japanese experimental films + all the best from the(Japanese) pop culture...blend it, shake it...and voilà!I was very glad i saw this movie! really!
4 out of 8 people found the following review useful: Movie Rocks!, 17 August 2006 Author: Gerard Elmore from United States
I saw this film at the world premiere at the Hawaii International Film Festival.I can honestly say it was the best cinematic experience I have ever had. It is so wild, so creative, and filled to the brim with amazing goofiness. Two of the directors were on hand and all I could do was praise them. Before the movie they said the movie isn't suppose to have a point. It's meant to be an experience and to put a goofy grin on your face. That's exactly what happened, I had an experience. Laughed and grinned through the whole thing.I was a little confused when there was a intermission, thought it was another joke, but when I saw the directors leave for a quick bathroom break, I knew it was real.Most of the audiences I watched it with (I saw it twice) absolutely loved the film...although there were a few who could not handle it and had to leave...But personally, I thought it was brilliant!
2 out of 5 people found the following review useful: It's as if someone jacked a cable wire into a person's head while they were sleeping and watched the dreams on TV., 16 May 2007 Author: sadated_sphincter from the moon
Anyone who dare says that Survive Style 5+ is great and calls this visual masterpiece of nonsensical surrealism a mess, is a few sparks short of a well lit bulb. This film ,without a doubt, puts some strange alien footprints in an unbeaten path. It can't be said where the inspiration comes from. Wait, I got it. THE MIND.The influences are sparse to be noticed (other than Cronenberg at the High School). Why? Because you've honestly never seen a film like this. It's as if someone jacked a cable wire into a person's head while they were sleeping and watched the dreams on TV. There's not enough hyperboles to describe this musical/surreal comedy's POWER OF IMAGINATION. Just watch it, and watch it without all of the pretensions of what film is "suppose" to be. This is the new flesh of cinema and I like how it suits my need for unique visions.
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