The suburbs of horror: slow, monotonous, and not a lot going on. If only the first 2 hours had been as deranged as the last 20 minutes.

Sion Sono gives us his rendition of Japanese Fargo, only this time it's much more nihilistic, bleak, erotic, bloody and dark. And I really do mean this film is essentially Fargo amped up to 11. Unfortunately as much as something like that should impress me, and I really wanted to love this, I just can't really get there with this. I adore what Sono does with color in this film, and a lot of his other films too. He seems to relish in making everything either grim and grey or colorful and popping. The performance from Yoshihiro “Denden” Ogata is delightfully twisted. He absolutely snares you like a fisherman, keeping you hooked on him and what he does. Sono’s camerawork is a mixed bag, he brings in some good moments, but I can't say much for the pacing. Dare I say the film felt rather average. Not mediocre, but rather, moreso overdone. The film tries to be so shocking to the point where the gore is practically cartoonish, this cartoonish nature doesn't blend well together with the picture's darker elements. It feels like too much all at once. You can't properly take it all in because so much is happening at once, which feels off because the film itself feels so slowly paced. Overindulgent? Maybe. Speaking of maybe overindulgent. Let's talk about that script. Can't say I'm terribly impressed. The plot throws so much at you that you're simply overwhelmed. The characters, especially the main characters don't feel all too fleshed out. No pun intended. They borderline on one dimensionality to where I couldn't really care less about what happens to our protagonist. This film is a lot of things, but I wouldn't call it pretentious. Not quite. It's all just rather average. Which is a shame since I really wanted to love this. 園子温監督は日本の『ファーゴ』を再現したが、今回はより虚無的で、殺伐として、エロティックで、血なまぐさく、暗い。この映画は『ファーゴ』を11倍したようなものだ。残念なことに、それこそが私を感動させるはずのものであり、私はこの映画を本当に愛したかったのだが、そこまでには至らなかった。園監督のこの映画における、そして他の多くの映画における色の使い方は称賛に値する。彼はすべてを重く灰色にするか、カラフルでポップにするかのどちらかにすることに喜びを感じているようだ。 緒方 「でんでん 」義博の演技はひねくれているが、漁師のように観客を魅了する。園監督のカメラワークは平均的で、いい場面もあるが、テンポが悪い。あえて言うなら、この映画は凡庸に感じた。凡庸どころか、むしろやりすぎだ。血糊の描写は、ほとんど漫画的なまでにショッキングであろうと試みているが、この漫画的な描写は映画のダークな要素とうまく調和していない。この漫画性は、映画のダークな要素とうまく調和しない。一度に多くのことが起こりすぎて、すべてをきちんと受け止めることができない。過剰？そうかもしれない。 脚本について話そう。ひどく感心したとは言えない。プロットが多すぎて圧倒される。登場人物、特に主要人物にあまり肉付けされている感じがしない。彼らはみだらではない。平板なキャラクターだ。

Brilliant film. I'd say I'm a fan of the first two hours; the last half hour felt a bit shocking, but I can't say it was unnecessary. I love the depth this director manages to convey in his work. All I can say is that it's a very interesting journey that, despite its two-and-a-half-hour runtime, feels very fast-paced—so much so that it can even seem short.

The old man pushes the intelligent weakling onto the Path of Alpha with disgusting methods. Simply disgusting. Once again. The kind that have no boundaries at all. Only a road to nowhere. There are plenty of manipulators around and in life. Perhaps today they were the ones asking you about the bus? The main thing here is not even to sense them from afar, but not to become them. Powerful. Maybe life is not always pain, but confidence in this will now be shaken

Peak degeneracy. You wouldn't miss anything, if you didn't watch this movie.