This DVD is Region-Free. Should play on all
machines, including
PS/2 game consoles.
(Synopsis)
Unlucky Monkey, the third feature by actor turned director Sabu, also has a comic spin, but more than snappy dialogue and clever situations, Sabu's forte is slapstick comedy reminiscent of Buster Keaton at his most manic. Like his deadpan master, Sabu builds narrative machinery into his film that, once set in motion by a goofy mistake or misunderstanding, develops a giddy, headlong momentum, according to a crazily logical design. Unlucky Monkey is his most ingeniously constructed cinematic contraption yet. It begins with a chase when a bank robber (Shinichi Tsutsumi) is followed out of the door by the bank's rent-a-cop. Meanwhile, on a parallel narrative plane, three yakuza find themselves in dutch when one of them accidentally kills a high honcho in a rival gang. Faced with a life-and-death dilemma, these characters find their lives becoming entangled in ways that are madly improbable, but the film's dynamism, inventiveness and goofball conviction carry us through. One wonders, though, if Sabu will ever make a movie in which the hero doesn't have to be a marathoner to survive.
Director
Hiroyuki Tanaka
Script
Hiroyuki Tanaka
Cast
Akira Yamamoto
Hiroshi Shimizu
Ikko Suzuki
Kanji Tsuda
Kimika Yoshino
Shinichi Tsutsumi
Susumu Terajima
Publisher: UWM
Audio: Japanese
Video: LetterBox
Subtitles: English
Running Time: 107mins
Release Year: 1998
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