Mayonaka no Yaji-san Kita-san (2005)

Director:

Kankurô Kudô

Writers:

Kotobuki Shiriagari (comic)
Kankurô Kudô (screenplay)

Release Date:

2 April 2005 (Japan)

Genre:

Comedy | Fantasy

Plot Keywords:

Musical Duet | Surrealism | Wife Killed | Gay Interest | Edo

Cast

Tomoya Nagase	...	Yajirobei
Shichinosuke Nakamura	...	Kitahachi
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Sadao Abe	...	Kin-kin
Aja
YosiYosi Arakawa	...	Spirit of the Dead
Arata	...	The Bartender
Kumiko Asô	...	The Wife of the Bartender
Tasuku Emoto	...	Non-non
Arata Furuta	...	Shimizu no Jirocho
Itsuji Itao	...	Naniwa Hotto
Ryo Iwamatsu	...	The Foreman
Naoko Ken	...	Datsueba
Eiko Koike	...	O-Hatsu
Kazuma Kuwabata	...	Naniwa Sando
Ayaka Maeda	...	Komachi
Suzuki Matsuo	...	Bearded Oiran
Sarutoki Minagawa	...	Vendor
Aiko Morishita	...	Landlady
Kanzaburo Nakamura	...	King Arthur (as Kankuro Nakamura)
Katsuhisa Namase	...	The Newsdealer
Hiroaki Ogi	...	The Tourist
Nao Omori	...	Tortured Samurai
Akiko Saito		(as Akiko Saitô)
Yumi Shimizu	...	O-Yuki
Kotobuki Shiriagari	...	Owner of the CD Store
Riki Takeuchi	...	Shonoshin Kimura
Susumu Terajima	...	The Policeman
Satoshi Tsumabuki	...	The Phantom Yaijrobei
Kazuo Umezu	...	The old man drinking tea
Asami Usuda
Ken Yahagi	...	The Tourist
Tomomitsu Yamaguchi	...	O-Chin

Also Known As:

Yaji and Kita: The Midnight Pilgrims (International: English title)

Runtime:

124 min

Country:

Japan

Language:

Japanese

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Certification:

South Korea:18

Filming Locations:

Japan

Company:

Asmik Ace Entertainment

Destined to become a cult film, this film is NOT for all tastes but for those open to its insanity its unique walk on a wild and wacky side

This is the story of two samurai in Edo period Japan who are in love. One is married, the other is a drug addict. They decide that in order to make things better they will go on a trip to Ise Sanctuary, where its presumed, everything will be made right. What happens once they get on the road is the movie and its as wild and wacky as anything your likely to see. There are numerous puns, both visual and verbal; we get bodily function jokes; gender bending characters; gay jokes;romance; spoofs of films and music (and musical numbers); trips through time and space; a search for "my reality"; drug induced hallucinations and other things I was laughing to hard, or too shocked to noticed. Its a movie made for the film makers and whom ever will click into their strange mind set. Frankly its hard to describe what happens since much of it is so out there that to hear about it out of context will not make any sense (office girls on parade? Zombie Bartender? Born to be Gay?).Its probably more fun to discover the weirdness on your own, besides its too hard to describe simply.

The film is not perfect. Its over two hours and probably could be trimmed by twenty minutes. The film also gets rather bizarrely surreal and it becomes almost too much to take. There is only so much one can take in before one hits the over load button. You probably won't like or get every joke or reference, I didn't, but I have to give it points for keeping at the craziness at all costs.

Still for those are open to crazed, silly/clever films that the term "off beat" is too weak a word. Actually this film is so crazy that there is a good chance it will never even find its well deserved cult.

9 out of 10 for sheer originality and audaciousness. Actually it would probably be something about an 8.5 but I have to round up or down to whole numbers. If you you're into off beat films and original visions look no farther this is the real deal. If you can't handle anything even slightly off center stay away, far away.

A unique cinema experience.