Saturday, January 7, 2012

WTF Japan?!?: Negative Happy Chainsaw Edge

Confusing serious movie time.  Engrish always brings us interesting movie titles, that's for sure.  Is the actual movie interesting?  Well, to begin with, this is the live-action adaptation of a manga.  Given the kind of Japanese films I cover, it would probably save time to mention when the movies are not based on a manga and/or anime!  The story is a bit convoluted, so I'll try to explain it.  A man with a chainsaw constantly attacks a Japanese girl for no apparent reason.  That's mostly it, really.  I'll try to expand it a bit with, oh, the rest of the plot, but you get the idea for now.  To see how someone can be both negative and happy, read on...
After a confusing, In Media Res intro, we meet our two heroes.  One of them is a bad-ass girl, while the guy is shmuck.
This guy is Chainsaw Man- guess why he's called that- and he's a bad-ass.  He's also not real...or maybe not.
Unfortunately, so much of this film is centered around these two people and their interactions, even going so far as to skip action scenes.  Nice decision-making!
Can our hero make his way into this young lady's heart?  More importantly, why does he want to be around a girl who is constantly in danger?
Eventually, our hero learns the reason behind Chainsaw Man's appearances- the girl is sad about her family dying.  That doesn't actually explain anyth...you're not going to actually explain anything, are you?  Alright then...
After confessing his lover for the girl- and her for him- the pair manage to take out Chainsaw Man.  Despite their obvious mental problems, the couple go on to live happily ever after.  The End.
Confusing weird movie experience.  I'm not sure how to feel about this movie.  On one hand, I can't say that I've seen the tale of love between a man and woman constantly tormented by a man with a chainsaw who attacks all the time.  On the other hand, this is a really confusing movie.  As I mentioned, they never really explain the logic behind Chainsaw Man.  I thought it was going to turn into some sort of Cronenberg-style deal, but the thing has real-world consequences.  Even if you assume that he sees it and reacts to it because she does- a shared hallucination- a motorcycle is crashed and burned up during the battle with the Man.  You didn't think this thing through, did you?  I'm not sure that there really is a good way to explain anything in this movie, but they certainly picked the worst option out of the bunch.  The biggest problem here is the focus and pacing.  The battles represent a lot of the best stuff here...which is why many of them are glossed over for scenes of our hero moping or his friend making fun of him.  Hell, even his Landlord and Teacher- only one- have supporting roles here!  Negative Happy Chainsaw Edge is a movie that should be awesome and ridiculous.  As it is, it's too weighed down by melodrama and doesn't feature enough action.  Take us away, random music video put right before the climax...
Next up, I end with a bang.  It's the newest film (in America) by the Director of Tokyo Gore Police & this one makes it look like Annie!  Stay tuned...

1 comment:

  1. Yup they didnt explain why the monster appear and chasing her and killed her family. But still like the action and the song. I'm sorry I still like japanese movie handsome and awesome.

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