Shinboru (2009)

A man wakes up in a white room empty other than buttons on the walls, he must find out which button to push to get what he wants.

Director:

Hitoshi Matsumoto

Writers:

Hitoshi Matsumoto (screenplay), Mitsuyoshi Takasu (screenplay)

Stars:

Hitoshi Matsumoto, David Quintero, Luis Accinelli

5 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Hitoshi Matsumoto	...	The Man
David Quintero	...	Escargot Man, Antonio's Father
Luis Accinelli	...	Antonio's Uncle
Lilian Tapia	...	Antonio's Mother (as Lillian Tapia)
Adriana Fricke	...	Karen
Carlos C. Torres	...	Antonio
Ivana Wong	...	Antonio's Sister
Arkangel De La Muerte	...	Aguila De Plata
Matcho Panpu	...	Tequila Joe (as Misuteru Kakao)
Dick Togo	...	El Super Demonio (as Dick Tôgô)
Salam Diagne	...	African Tribesman
Stuart-O.
Chris Gurundy
Nik Sliwerski
Jonathan Hicks

Storyline

A man wakes up alone in a brightly illuminated white room with no windows or doors. When he presses a mysteriously phallic protuberance that appears on one wall, a pink toothbrush materializes from nowhere, clattering to the floor and setting in motion a genuinely bizarre chain of events. Soon the imprisoned man is engaged in absurd and hilarious attempts to escape the gleaming room, releasing random objects from the walls, creating a life sized mouse trap game in which a rope, a toilet plunger and an earthenware jug full of sushi might just be the keys to his escape. Meanwhile, in a dusty town, a green masked Mexican wrestler known as Escargot Man prepares for an important match. His family gathers around him, worried about his seeming impassivity before battle.

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Plot Keywords:

lucha libre | room | escape | wrestler | sushi | 

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Genres:

Comedy | Fantasy | Mystery

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Did You Know?

Connections

References Nip/Tuck (2003)

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Soundtracks

Crow
Music by Hidekazu Sakamoto
Lyrics by Kensuke Shiga

User Reviews

A wonderful tale of the harsh reality of life along a man's quest to reach absolution and his trail through life.

Symbol is a wonderful tale of the harsh reality of life along a man's quest to reach absolution and his trail through life.

The director uses explicit visual aids to guide us through the materialistic needs of an everyday Japanese man and the things he must do to acquire them by forfeiting his freedom. Following the path of

maturity, he, whose name we will never learn reaches a point were mere material pleasure is not enough and needs to learn what it is like to be free. During this hard and long journey he will find himself doubting and forsaking everything. Only then will he be able to

slide open the door to real freedom and find himself as a new god. But still unable to shed his true human skin, he will influence the lives of people whose existence he is not even aware of.

Symbol is able to reach down and touch you in places that only religion was able to before. It is breathtaking up to the very last second.

Details

Official Sites:

Official site [Japan]

Country:

Japan

Language:

Russian Japanese Spanish English

Release Date:

12 September 2009 (Japan)

Also Known As:

Symbol

Box Office

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$5,033,714

Company Credits

Production Co:

Yoshimoto Kogyo Company, Phantom Film, Aoi Promotion

Technical Specs

Runtime:

93 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.78 : 1