Overview

No Japanese movie this year can kick off LA’s first Eiga Fest in Hollywood style better than our opening night film from visionary writer-director Yoshimasa Ishibashi (Vermillion Pleasure Nights), one of the most kinetic and visually innovative Japanese talents of the last several years. Less a meditation than a psychedelic romp on love, Milocrorze is a story containing three tales of romance: the first, a coming-of-age morsel about a young boy colorfully smitten with an older gal; the second, a pop musical featuring a television personality pick-up-artist who dispenses advice to his hapless clientele through song and dance; and the third, an extensive cyberpunk-tinged chambara (Sword-action) featuring a one-eyed samurai fighting to rescue his kidnapped lover.

All three protagonists are played by Takayuki Yamada, who connects the three stories, however loosely, through his humor, fun, and perfomative pyrotechnics. This is the Japanese film that people and festivals have been buzzing about all year: full of catchy dance sequences, scantily clad women, eye-popping colors, and quite possibly the greatest one-take, slow-motion swordfight ever filmed, Milocrorze is a wildly imaginative and inventive ride.