Showtimes: 6/17, 11:15pm and 6/22, 9:00pm at the Anthology [BUY TICKETS]

Adapted from a controversial novel by Ryu Murakami (the writer of AUDITION and director of TOKYO DECADENCE), and known in Japan by its other title, THE COMPLETE JAPANESE SHOWA SONGBOOK, this movie put the dead back in deadpan: it's a satire that starts with a pinprick and ends with the destruction of one of Japan's major metropolitan areas.

A group of middle-aged women called the Midori's get together to drink and hang out, whiling away their time. Divorced, widowed or unmarried, they've been put on the shelf by society, left to gather dust and eventually die. Their one passion? Karaoke. On the other side of town, a bunch of young college dudes get together to drink away their nights. They're just kids, and no one takes them seriously. They can't find good jobs, and they can't find any purpose in life. Their one passion? Elaborate karaoke recreations of their favorite Showa Era songs (1926 – 1989). Then, one day, one of the kids kills one of the housewives and it's on – the two groups are at war. Round one! Knives! Round two! Guns! Round Three! Ground to Ground missiles!

Director Tetsuo Shinohara orchestrates his outrageous flick with a matter-of-fact calm that challenges the adrenaline-pumping cheap tricks most directors use when portraying violence. The movie plays like SLACKER with maximum bloodshed, and underneath the calm surface of the film  you can feel something angry and lethal, twisting with barely-contained rage. As an audience member you won't know whether to burst out laughing or avert your eyes, so just keep saying to yourself: it's only a movie.