Sion Sono

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Tenchu1998
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Re: Sion Sono

Post by Tenchu1998 »

HungFist wrote:This doesn't look too good...
Isn't this what the opinion have been of the last couple Sono movie teasers watched prior to the release of the movie. Then once the movie hits, it turns out better than expected. I don't think the teaser shows much except for it looking like Sono is continuing to make these pop-cultural Yakuza movies he's been doing for these past years now.

Damn, Sono-san is really working a lot. I guess he keeps at it now that he has gained some momentum.
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Re: Sion Sono

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Tenchu1998 wrote:
HungFist wrote:This doesn't look too good...
Isn't this what the opinion have been of the last couple Sono movie teasers watched prior to the release of the movie.
Yeah, but Tokyo Tribe was the only one that turned out better than the trailers :lol:

Speaking of which, my BD should be arriving tomorrow. I tried to resist the temptation to buy it, but I failed :D
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Re: Sion Sono

Post by Tenchu1998 »

Well, I thought 'Why Don't You Play In Hell' turned out better than its trailer, although that's just my personal opinion.
I don't think it was THAT bad of a movie - it was a fun, silly, action-filled piece of Japanese pop, even though it wasn't the best Sono movie.
I mean, it's all entertainment. And Nikkaido Fumi is really cute, and she swings a sword around and stuff.
It is what it is.

Well... Either way, this is what Sono is doing now.
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Re: Sion Sono

Post by HungFist »

Sono really is working hard right now. Two films coming in the summer, and it seems he is filming a new one at the moment if I understood correctly. Maki Mizui posted this photo today:

Image
- https://twitter.com/mmizui/status/562479065756495872

That's Sono on the left and Yoshihiro Nishimura on the right.
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Re: Sion Sono

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"Sony will release the picture [Shinjuku Swan] on 300 or more screens on May 30. That is double the scale of his last movie “Tokyo Tribe,” which had a 150 screen outing last year."

"The prolific Sono plans to release a total of six films in Japan in 2015. One is the monster movie parody “Love & Peace,” which is set for an early summer bow; another is “Hisohiso Boshi,” a Fukushima-nuclear-disaster-themed film without a firm opening date. Other titles have yet to be announced."

- http://variety.com/2015/film/news/sony- ... 201419367/
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Re: Sion Sono

Post by HungFist »

Real Onigokko (The Chasing Game) movie by Sono. Opens July 11.
- http://realonigokko.com/

No trailer or even pics available yet.

I've seen the first two films in the series. Both are quite alright, especially the second one (see trailer) (I have a soft spot for chase/running movies). The premise is kind fun: Sato wakes up in a parallel universe where everyone names Sato has been ordered to be captured an executed. And then he runs. A lot. Parts 3-5 were essentially direct-to-dvd stuff although they did have very brief theatrical run. They were all released back to back within a month or two.
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Re: Sion Sono

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Minna! Esper da yo! in September. Sono directed (6 out of the 12 episodes for) a TV show of the same title a few years ago, but I haven't seen it.

Website (pretty empty so far):
http://esper-movie.gaga.ne.jp/

Here's an ad for the TV show:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=caWboJs5Nzg

Wow, that's rather Love Exposure esque.

Both the movie and the TV show star Shota Sometani.
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Re: Sion Sono

Post by TonyTakitani »

So we will have 6 Sion Sono movies in 2015?

1º>Shinjuku Swan
2º>The Chasing World
3º>Love & Peace
4º>Minna! Esper Dayo! The Movie
5º>??
6º>??

Can't wait. Tokyo Tribe was amazingly fun.
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Re: Sion Sono

Post by HungFist »

Welcome to the forum, TonyTakitani!
TonyTakitani wrote:So we will have 6 Sion Sono movies in 2015?

1º>Shinjuku Swan
2º>The Chasing World
3º>Love & Peace
4º>Minna! Esper Dayo! The Movie
5º>??
6º>??
Yes. The last two haven't been announced yet.
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Re: Sion Sono

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Re: Sion Sono

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Full Love & Peace trailer:
http://youtu.be/VNOLGXJOuKc
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Re: Sion Sono

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HungFist wrote:Real Onigokko (The Chasing Game) movie by Sono. Opens July 11.
- http://realonigokko.com/

No trailer or even pics available yet.

I've seen the first two films in the series. Both are quite alright, especially the second one (see trailer) (I have a soft spot for chase/running movies). The premise is kind fun: Sato wakes up in a parallel universe where everyone names Sato has been ordered to be captured an executed. And then he runs. A lot. Parts 3-5 were essentially direct-to-dvd stuff although they did have very brief theatrical run. They were all released back to back within a month or two.
Trailer:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sKqEhli7-GU

That put a smile on my face! My only worry is that it's gonna be full of z-grade CGI blood again.
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Re: Sion Sono

Post by HungFist »

Oh, and the tagline for Real Onigokko:

全国のJKの皆さん、あなたたちはちょっとふてぶてしいので、数を減らすことにします。

Roughly* translated "All the high school girls in the country, you've become a little bit too shameless! We've decided the reduce your amount"

Love it!

* I had to check ふてぶてしい from dictionary. I guess "shameless" would be more or less correct.

The poster is pretty terrible, though:
https://sketchesofcinema.files.wordpres ... /realo.jpg
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Re: Sion Sono

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Re: Sion Sono

Post by Guro Taku »

Third Window Films will release Love and Peace in the UK. No date has been set.
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Re: Sion Sono

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Guro Taku wrote:Third Window Films will release Love and Peace in the UK. No date has been set.
I saw this a few days ago, and thought it was pretty good actually. It's a mixture of family movie, kaiju film and Batman Returns.

The plot in short: a bullied office worker (Hiroki Hasehawa from Why Don't You Play in Hell) is spotted by a music producer (Kyohiko Shibukawa) who turns him into a rock star. Meanwhile, his pet turtle whom he flushed down the toilet while being bullied by colleagues, swims down the sewer and is adopted by an underground community consisting of an old drunk and all kinds of talking toys, teddy bears and small animals that he has brought to life. And of course, towards the end the film proceeds to the kaiju territory as the turtle begins to grow...

You probably didn't expect this from Sono, this is a family friendly movie. It's clean and bloodless (unlike Nishimura's Torakage, which slips to semi-splatter from time to time despite its G-rating) and has a nice moral message about the importance of caring. It's also packed with all kinds of cute creatures, including the big (eventually giant) turtle who is just like a little child longing to his owner. The film is at its best with these fantasy characters. Think of Batman Returns but less dark/tragic. Should work just as well for kids and adults.

There's tons of lovely handicraft and practical effects, including miniatures, puppets, and men in rubber suit The special effects supervisor is the same guy who worked on Henge, btw. The kaiju stuff is pretty brief, though, so don't expect the film to get to that territory until the final reel. Thankfully, the use of computer graphics is kept to a minimum. Actually, the film's trailer contains about 40% of all the CGI, and about 0.4% of all the practical effects...

On the minus side, there's a frequent feeling that the film could be even better. As it stands, it's certainly good, but it doesn't have the mad energy of Tokyo Tribe, the depth of Noriko's Dinner Table, or the breeze of Love Exposure. Instead it's again recycling some music from better Sono films. So, it's kind of missing that final "something". And, well, the acting is pretty damn over-the-top, though oddly un-irritating.

That being said, this certainly turned out better than I expected. Quite a pleasing film. I could even imagine watching this again before it leaves the theaters if I can find time. Recommended.

Screencaps from the trailer:
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Re: Minna! Esper da yo! (Sion Sono, 2015)

Post by HungFist »

Minna! Esper da yo! Trailer:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MHQgYyzrxWQ
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Re: Sion Sono

Post by TonyTakitani »

The 5th movie :

The Virgin Psychics / Eiga: minna! Esupâ da yo!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JvudswXN8lk

It looks like a sequel to Minna Esper Dayo.
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Re: Sion Sono

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HungFist wrote:
HungFist wrote:Real Onigokko (The Chasing Game) movie by Sono. Opens July 11.
- http://realonigokko.com/

No trailer or even pics available yet.

I've seen the first two films in the series. Both are quite alright, especially the second one (see trailer) (I have a soft spot for chase/running movies). The premise is kind fun: Sato wakes up in a parallel universe where everyone names Sato has been ordered to be captured an executed. And then he runs. A lot. Parts 3-5 were essentially direct-to-dvd stuff although they did have very brief theatrical run. They were all released back to back within a month or two.
Trailer:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sKqEhli7-GU

That put a smile on my face! My only worry is that it's gonna be full of z-grade CGI blood again.
As I feared, this was pretty heavy on CGI crap. Not that most "cult film audiences" these days mind. You can feed them Asylum level shit and they'll swallow it as long as it's an Asian movie, as movies like Why Don't You Play in Hell prove. I just don't understand it...

It's such a shame, because we've got pretty outrageous little film here. So outrageous, that I hesitate to call it a bad one despite hating all the CGI blood and other CGI effects. Some the ultra violent scenarios are absolutely terrific. There's also tons of high school girls, loads of panty shots, some nice practical effects especially towards the end (courtesy of Yoshihiro Nishimura) and a damn twisted storyline that should not be spoiled.

It's very different from the earlier Real onigokko films, though. Sono went completely his own way.

Oh, and the camerawork is fantastic a lot of time. Loads of aerial tracking shots. I don't even know how they managed to do some of those. Reminded me about The Evil Dead more than once. And the film's first third is damn scary, too.

Oh, and I don't think I saw a single male in the film until around 70 minute mark. By that time we've seen about 200 actors and all of them are women.

It's just such a shame about all the CGI...
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Re: Sion Sono

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So, I finally saw Shinjuku Swan!

It sucked.

You'd think a film about a Shinjuku scout would be interesting. But no. This isn't really about sex industry and it's certainlu not about the girls working in Shinjuku. It's mostly about young guys yelling at each other and fighting ala Crows Zero but less gay and less stylish. I don't think there was a single interesting scene in the film. No boobs either. And it runs almost 2.5 hours. I was bored out of my head.

You'd never know this was directed by Sono if his name wasn't on it. It doesn't look or feel like a Sono film at all.

I think it was just a paycheck project for Sono. I doubt he did it for any other reason than money. I could imagine the film was pretty much planned out ready by the time he entered and they just needed someone to direct it for the screen. It's based on manga and the screenplay is by two guys who have never worked with Sono before, one of them being the film's producer (Mataichirô Yamamoto, who was also producer/writer on films like Azumi 2, Lupin III, and the Crows Zero films).

The irony is that this is Sono's most financially successful film. It actually opened no.1 at the box office. Normally you don't see Sono films on the list (because the distribution is too limited. This one, however, was a major release).
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Re: Sion Sono

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I went to Sion Sono exhibition in Koenji, Tokyo, which runs until July 26.
- http://chimpom.jp/artist-run-space.html

The photos pretty much explain everything you need to know.

The exhibition building
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Girls
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Tokyo GaGaGa
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Television screen
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Project Hachiko
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Hachiko replica
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Whispering Star
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The exhibition had three themes:

1. Tokyo GaGaGa. You're probably aware that Sono originally emerged as an angry poet back in the mid 1980s. Tokyo GaGaGa was a major guerilla poetry movement lead by Sono in the 1990s. It had a few hundred members who would roam the streets of Tokyo screaming and always giving the police trouble. They didn't really have a clear ideology or political agenda, it was more about punk, poetry and feeling all at the same time. The name is supposed to mean something like "the voice of the soul".

2. Project Hachiko. Back in the 1990s Sono and Yoshihiro Nishimura built a replica of the beloved Shibuya landmark dragged it around Shibuya, pretending they've stolen it. You could call it Tokyo GaGaGa spin off activity. There was a great video of a high school girl dragging Hachiko and normal people trying to stop her, and then she started screaming something about love.

3. Whispering Star. Sono's new ultra-minimalist black&white scifi film, shot in the now deserted areas of Fukushima. Looks like something comparable to his early films, e.g. The Room and Keiko desu kedo. Opens next year. The exhibition played several long scenes from the film.

And here's an old photo of young Sono with Tokyo GaGaGa
Image
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Re: Sion Sono

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ok, I think I should soften my initial criticism on Real onigokko (Tag) a little bit. I ended up seeing the film for the second time, this time with a friend, and a little bit drunk, and had quite a bit of good time.

I may have exaggerated the amount of CGI in my initial review. Yes, there are some really bad CGI effects which probably distracted me to the point that I missed some traditional effects that followed immediately after. And maybe I mistook a few quick cut practical effects for CGI because there was a rapid cut from CGI to a practical effect. My bad. Most of the blood and gore effects are actually old school Nishimura effects with no CGI in them, and some of them are just fantastic (e.g. some head explosions). Also, the second half of the film is essentially free of CGI.

Oh, and found out how the fantastic camerawork was done: with drones. It was actually written in the ending credits. That's how they managed to get all the difficult aerial tracking shots in difficult terrains. And did I mention some of the music is fantastic as well?

The film's also got some interesting criticism on the Japanese school girl culture, although this criticism pretty much comparable to the anti-violence message in Death Wish 3, and even the amount of panty shots in the film roughly equals to the number of punks killed by Charles Bronson.

So, if you manage to overlook the shitty CGI effects here and there, you've actually got a pretty outrageous movie to enjoy. I liked it quite a bit more on the second viewing when I was prepared for the bad parts.

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btw, the film opens with a Universal logo! Has Universal begun to produce schoolgirl splatter films? Not quite! The connection is via Universal Music: the "image song" for the film is by a band called Glim Spanky. The song is so poor that Sono didn't even use it for the end credits; in fact, I can't find it anywhere in the film. It's also used for a new VoD miniseries called Real Onigokko Rising. The three episodes were directed by Hajime Ohata (Henge), Eisuke Naito (Let's Make the Teacher Have a Miscarriage Club) and Kayoko Asakura (It's a Beautiful Day). That's a damn interesting selection of directors if you ask me, even though the trailer doesn't look super good.

Site:
http://realonigokko.com/rising/

Trailer:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wUvlHRwowsM
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Re: Sion Sono

Post by HungFist »

There's a very angry, and very spoiling Real onigokko (Tag) review at Twitch.
- http://twitchfilm.com/2015/08/fantasia- ... t-but.html

It's a fun opinion (which I don't agree with), but I really can't recommend reading it until after you've seen the film. It spoils some of the film's best surprises that the trailer didn't show.
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Re: Sion Sono

Post by HungFist »

Sono is one of the six directors who contributed an episode to Madly (2015?)

Trailer:
http://madlyfilm.com/about
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Re: Sion Sono

Post by HungFist »

Minna! Esper da yo!

Well, this features more panty shots than Love Exposure and Tag combined. Those poor souls who were offended by Tag will pretty much a have a seizure. A bad one! I'm not sure if I can blame them, though... if this movie was made by a western studio, we'd be sent straight back to the middle age with people lynching all the filmmakers on the street.

I think that's pretty awesome, although I feel sorry that no one is making such glorious stupid entertainment for women. I'm all for exploiting everyone, bring on the muscle guys in small pants. Well, maybe girls are too intelligent to get their kicks from that.

As for plot summary, let me just quote Anime Networks
The psychic comedy follows an ordinary (virgin) high school boy named Yoshirō "Yocchan" Kamogawa (Sometani). His life changes overnight when he wakes up with the ability to read other people's minds. Yoshirō is not the only one to gain powers in his town. Terumitsu Nagano (played by Mikata Sports), an (apparently virgin) worker at a café near Yoshirō's school, gains telekinesis — but he uses it for sex toys. Yōsuke Enomoto (played by Motoki Fukami), a (probably virgin) senior and former basketball player at Yoshirō's high school, gains teleportation — but only while naked.
- http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/news/20 ... ilm/.87537

So, the film. There's truckloads of hot girls, with every single one of them, I mean every single one of them, serving tons of cleavage and usually panty shots too. The trailer won't prepare you for it because they didn't dare to put 99% of that stuff into it. It's very understandable the film's hero suffers from erection problems throughout (not that he can't get it up... it's up way too often). It's quite funny for the first hour at least; the kind of stuff that's been done a lot in semi-naughty anime, especially in all the harem comedies, but I don't think anyone has done it in a live action film (except for a few straight to video flicks) with a decent budget before.

The film's main problem, aside from being incredibly silly, is that it outstays its welcome. It just seems to go on forever without a very good climax. It's still not a bad movie, and this is far better than Shinjuku Swan, but it's hardly a great one either. It would work much better 30 minutes shorter. But it's quite ok fun like this as well.

I haven't seen the original TV series, so I don't know how it compares.

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