Camera! Action! Start! This film is my first acquaintance with the work of director Sion Sono. I have to admit that this is very special.
It's a movie. Cinema is both repulsive and attractive. It is difficult even to attribute the film to a particular genre - a lot is mixed up. There are almost no smooth transitions: a calm scene easily turns into suspense, then into mysticism, and after a couple of minutes it is generally funny. The delicate shades of one scene are immediately replaced by a riot of colors of another. As for the characters, the type of them is very diverse: a quiet widow girl, girls from a funk club, majors, brisk grandparents from extras and this is only a small part. All of them are united by one goal - to get into the new film of the popular young director Kobayashi. The symbol of their union was a red mailbox. All participants sent their questionnaires to this single box on Escher Street. To the box, people brought not only their applications, but also shared to some extent something personal and painful. Everyone has their own motives and their own story; some stories are tragic and shocking. This is partly why these scenes are difficult to watch psychologically.
Now for the good. The external side of the film industry looks attractive: moments of filming, staging, working with actors. As for the interior kitchen, it is usually hot here: the producers want one – the director of another, the script is repeatedly rewritten, and the actors still can not be selected.
Separately, I want to note the extras, it is good. There is a very cool grandfather who starred in extras all his life. He likes to tell beginners about the technique of the game, show movies with his participation (albeit for a few seconds). You can see how this person is burning.
It is as if Zion Sono himself speaks through the mouth of this grandfather. He is in love with cinema and considers extras an integral part. Without extras, there is no movie - you can agree with that.
It is in the end that the spirit of cinema appears. Very interesting, but still very crazy.
This Japanese art house will definitely find its audience. Although the film is very much on the amateur. After watching my feelings are strange, but the film leaves some pleasant aftertaste.
If you want to see the making of a movie and not be afraid of strange and crazy characters and scenes, then this is just ' Red mailbox on Escher Street'.
7 out of 10
P.S. I will definitely continue to see Sion Sino’s films.