A renegade film crew becomes embroiled with a yakuza clan feud in this wild, perverse and blood-soaked orgy of outrageousness from cult director Sion Sono (Suicide Club).
A renegade film crew known as "The Fuck Bombers"! Yakuza gangsters hell-bent on revenge! Decapitated heads! A French kiss from a mouth full of broken glass! And a catchy toothpaste commercial jingle … ?!
Cult film director Sion Sono, known for his outlandish work including Suicide Club, Love Exposure and Cold Fish, is back with Why Don't You Play in Hell?, a wild, perverse, and bloody tale guaranteed to leave the audience slack-jawed in shock.
Hirata (Hiroki Hasegawa) dreams of being a movie director, and with his ragtag film crew, The Fuck Bombers, he intends to shoot a masterpiece. Meanwhile, a feud between yakuza clans heats up after big boss Muto's wife massacres rival boss Ikegami's gang, jeopardizing her daughter Michiko's acting career in the process. Ten years later, and days before his wife's release from jail, Muto must somehow prove to her that Michiko has become a big-screen star. And so, the ruthless criminal underground and the happy-go-lucky Fuck Bombers collide in an orgy of blood and B-roll.
Based on an early script by Sono, this extravaganza has autobiographical undercurrents in its tribute to the undying pursuit of one's cinematic dreams. It features a number of familiar Japanese character actors, including Jun Kunimura (Hard Boiled) and Shinichi Tsutsumi (Dangan Runner, Unlucky Monkey, Monday) as the feuding yakuza bosses, and Tak Sakaguchi (star of Ryûhei Kitamura's Versus, which premiered at Midnight Madness) in a role that mirrors the actor's own discovery by a director back when he was a back-alley brawler.
Why Don't You Play in Hell? is a riproaring tale of cinematic passions slashed and shredded into a bloody mess by yakuza swords.
COLIN GEDDES
Special thanks to The Japan Foundation, Toronto.
Screenings
Scotiabank 3
Scotiabank 8
Ryerson Theatre
Scotiabank 1