111 minutes, 35mm, in Japanese with English subtitles
Directed by: Takashi Miike
Starring: Sho Aikawa, Teruyoshi Uchimura, Yui Ichikawa
Watch [the trailer] on YouTube.
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| A Takashi Miike movie unreleased in America? Yep and it's a doozy. Yakuza
movie veteran, Sho Aikawa, gives his 100th performance as a loser elementary
school teacher whose son is bullied at school, whose wife is sleeping around
and whose teenage daughter is a hooker. The only bright spot in his miserable existence is his deep fanboy love for Zebraman, an obscure 1970's tokusatsu (special effects show like Power Rangers or Kamen Rider) that lasted for only 7 episodes before getting yanked, Sho watches the old episodes obsessively and has even made his own Zebraman costume.
It's while wearing his homemade costume out around town one night that he runs across Crabman, a costumed bad guy who is actually a man possessed by slimy alien invaders. The two battle (flying scissors!) and Sho discovers that he's actually developing real live Zebraman superpowers, which is a good thing because the aliens that have possessed Crabman are planning to destroy the planet. Possessed schoolchildren, a mass migration of seals, a battle at the local school gym and a tiny boy in a wheelchair who teaches him a lesson about bravery are just some of the elements that make up this hilarious, hyperactive goulash. But the film holds itself together because in the midst of all this chaos and noise is the simple lesson that there is no purer love than that between a fan and the object of their obsession. So the next time you want an easy laugh at the expense of a Trekkie, stop for a minute and remember Zebraman. That fan might just wind up saving the world. |
