My next Japanese review is another film that is being co-presented by the NYAFF and The NY Festival of Contemporary Japanese Cinema, it is entitled Milocrorze: A Love Story. Right off the back it’s important that I tell you that this review was incredibly difficult to write. Why? Because this movie is in a class of its own. It is so unique and defies any sort of logic yet somehow manages to maintain its theme throughout its story arc despite all the insanity that unfolds before your eyes.
The movie itself has three stories, all of which revolve around love. The first is the vivid and candy colored story about Ovreneli Vrenligare, a neon orange haired boy who falls in love with a much older woman named Milocrorze and then later has his heart destroyed because she prefers soda over drinkable yogurt…and also because she needs someone her age to satisfy her. This story has a Dr. Seuss/Tim Burton’s Alice in Wonderland feel to it and is cut off by another random story, but don’t worry, Ovreneli returns later in the film 30 years older while taking a vacation to a hot spring. Of the three stories, I found this one to be the saddest, but also the funniest because of the zaniness of the visuals.
What makes this entire story interesting is its pop art coloring and the comedic nature of the visuals complimented by the female storybook narration. This story is rather ridiculous to watch, despite its comedic tendencies, because we aren’t used to seeing little children “dating” 25 year olds. But the reason it works is because its shows what happens when a young kid has a crush on an adult and then finds out that there is another man in her life, one her age. His heart is broken and doesn’t understand how to react.
The second story follows a “he-man woman-hater relationship therapist” whose job is to try and help young men with their relationship problems. The problem with this guy is he is a complete dick. He is the Japanese version of Austin Powers but with a serious attitude problem. His methods may be a tad unorthodox but comical nonetheless. For example, one teenage guy’s girlfriend never called him even when he called her. The Dr.’s solution, “a tweak of the nipples with confidence will solve your problems.” It must be with confidence otherwise you’ll just get laid out by her. Ridiculous, I know. To top it all off, in between each client, the guy breaks out into a wild disco musical dance. Was there any logic to this? Probably not, but it did have an upside besides being able to laugh at his dancing. The upside is that in all the dance scenes he was surrounded by some of the hottest Japanese women I have ever seen in one place. Even if Asians aren’t your thing, you will be so content with life when you watch them parade on and off the screen in this one.
The final story, which is connected only with the love doctor’s story, is about a badass, one eyed samurai named Tamon, who is looking for his wife. Tamon was a respectable individual who had come across a beautiful florist 
and eventually won her heart. One day they were riding their motorcycle and he was shot with an arrow. She was then kidnapped by a bunch of guys who looked like the Tusken Raiders from Star Wars and as such, he went on a mission to find her. Along the way he grew angrier and angrier, becoming a samurai and killing all the scumbags who crossed him. Eventually, the information he gathered led him to a whorehouse where hell is soon unleashed and we get to see a crazy, 300 style fight scene where the death count continues to climb and blood continues to splatter. This scene was complimented by a crazy jungle inspired soundtrack that got my adrenaline flowing. His tale reminds me of Wolverine’s origin story in that when something happened to his wife, he went on a crazy rampage too.
The movie stars Takayuki Yamada (13 Assassins) as all three main characters, the elder Ovreneli Vrenligare, Tamon, and the relationship therapist. Personally, I think his best role was as Tamon, followed by the therapist and then Ovreneli. He is definitely someone to start paying attention to because I think he is going to have a rather successful career after performing well in the last two Miike films that he was featured in. The one person who I thought did really well was the kid who played the younger version of Ovreneli. It’s a good thing that he only appeared in the beginning of the film otherwise he would have stole the show.
Yoshimasa Ishibashi held the directorial reigns on this project and I think he did, mostly, a solid job. Despite the insanity and occasional lack of comprehension, I still felt that, for what this film was trying to accomplish, he showed how inventive a director can be when working with a chaotic story like this (or maybe it was his fault the narrative was a bit off). The one aspect of the film that I was annoyed with was how unbalanced the stories were. There was a significant amount of time devoted to Tamon and Ovreneli compared to the relationship therapist and it bothered me that there didn’t seem to be a reason. I feel like he either should have had more time or just have not been in the film at all.
Like I said above, the movie is a bit discombobulated and, at times, incoherent if you aren’t paying attention but, personally, I enjoyed the hell out of it. This eclectic film features psychedelic colors, wild dance sequences, video game references, angry samurai, and everything else that you would associate with Japanese pop culture (it’s practically a hodgepodge of J-pop). It’s a visual feast coupled with silly dialogue that manages to expose cinephiles to something that most of them haven’t seen before, even if they don’t end up liking the end result. P.S. I’m pretty sure this will end up making the list of “must see movies when you’re stoned,” because it really is on a whole ‘nother level.
I think by now you understand that I really enjoyed this movie even though there was a significant lull about 75% of the way in. I left feeling refreshed because I hadn’t seen a film as wild as Milocrorze in a long time. I was able to appreciate the artistic nature of it while also realizing that this is what happens when you make Tim Burton Asian and strip away his gothic nature and replace it with a funny bone. I hope you all give this movie a shot just for the experience because, even if you don’t like it, it still strays away from the conventional norms that we have all become accustomed to.
Rating: A bit trippy, a bit insane but, honestly, it’s one hell of a good time for those with a candy coated twisted soul like mine! (7.5/10)
Recent Comments