Japanese director Lisa Takeba brings to us perhaps one of the quirkiest films you’re likely to see in recent years that’ll leave you laughing and scratching your head simultaneously.
Haruko’s Paranormal Laboratory centres around Haruko (Moeka Nozaki), a outsider who has always wanted something fantastically surreal and paranormal to happen to her, but it never did. One day, Haruko is sitting alone watching TV as she curses at it out of frustration and all of a sudden, when it reaches its curse limit (10,000 curses seems to be the number), the TV bursts into life in the shape of a rather handsome young chap (Aoi Nakamura), but still with a TV as a head – only his face showing. TV and Haruko engage in a strange relationship before TV gets spotted by a producer who works for television and puts TV on the TV (you’re starting to get the quirky picture, right?).
Haruko’s Paranormal Laboratory is insane. It’s insane on so many levels. The quirk is off the charts and when you spell out the premise it’s hard to actually justify why anyone should watch it, but you really should, as long as you can tolerate the sheer amount of ‘wow, wtf’-ness going on during the story.
It’s a bizarre showing full of sight-humour, slapstick craziness and all around good fun. It’s going to be hard for it to find a strong core audience as the sheer style might be too much for some, as well as the hit-and-miss elements of the gags, but this is one that’s sure to get a cult following as time goes on.
Recent Comments