If only in my dreams

Funky Forest: The First Contact is my new favorite movie. After a long year and a half wait, I finally got to see it. I had wanted to order the Japanese DVD, but the cost was so exorbitant that I couldn't rationalize it. Thanks to the good folks over at Viz Media, there is now a reasonably priced Region 1 DVD of Funky Forest (the original title is Naisu No Mori:The First Contact) available to you for purchase or Netflixing.

I could write a million words on Funky Forest and still not capture the essence of the film and its contents. In brief, the film is a Japanese surrealist epic meditation on dream states. At a running time of 2 and a half hours (with a polite intermission included), the film requires patience and an open mind. There is no narrative to speak of, the film is a series of somewhat random dream sequences strung together to form a strange cinematic journey. It was directed by not one but three visionary avant-garde directors, Katushito Ishii, Hajime Ishimine and Shunichiro Miki. In this movie you will find elements that will confound and stimulate, intrigue and repulse. There are numerous dance sequences and there's no lack of humor. Characters weave in and out of the movie, disappearing and reappearing under different guises. Popular character actor Tadanobu Asano appears in several different sequences as one of the Unpopular with Women Guitar Brothers (there are three Guitar Brothers, one of whom is a fat white kid with a bad Japanese accent and a penchant for Snickers bars). Academy Award-nominated actress Rinko Kikuchi appears as a high school girl named...Ms. Kikuchi. There are so many interesting and wacky characters here that it would take a year to describe them all. Uneven elongated nipple guy is one of my personal faves. Yes, you read that correctly.

For some, Funky Forest will test your patience and leave you with nothing more than a feeling of confusion. For those who want a unique, surreal film experience unlike anything you have seen before, there is no comparison to what this movie can offer.