Funky Forest: The First Contact (2006)

I just finished the movie about 10 minutes ago and I will try to find some words to express my feelings about it (which is kind of hard).

At first, I want to make clear that this movie isn't for everyone. You need to have the right humor to like and understand it (Is there even something to understand behind the movie, I'm not sure).

There isn't any specific story, what you should already know after reading the summary, the movie has an overall little plot that follows trough it, but it's not needed.
It has 3 or 4 main "stories" which are put into these 21 short episodes. Between the episdes they play some short cuts from the opening speech and from some episodes.

The movie is divided into two parts named "Side A" and "Side B". After the first part of the movie you got a 3 minutes long "Intermisson", to prepare for the second part (Drink or eat something). When you thought the first part was wierd, the second one is much more wild and bizzare.
Also I want to add, some of the scenes are may inapporiate, kind of sexual and nasty for you, so be prepared for that.

The actors (in my opinion) did a good job. I personally totally buy their acting and I'm still not sure how you even can do such things and still being serious while doing it. Really, how?

There wasn't really any music to name, except some music for specific scenes to dance or relax (?) to.

In the end, I would watch the movie again, with friends who haven't watch it now and wait for their facial expressions and what they think about it. I'm already excited for it!

So it's a overall good movie, when you can deal with the given scenes and have the kind of humor the people behind the movie have. Give it a try, when you're interested in it.

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Watched 14 Apr, 2013

So the other day over lunch, my friend was telling me about these weird clips that him and his friends watch on youtube at work from this Japanese Movie called FUNKY FOREST. He tried to describe the show to me, stories of deformed humans with weird powers, etc, which sounds positively cartoony to me. I ask, “Is it Animated?” He says no. “Is it like a Super-Hero type?” He says, “Dude, I just gotta send you the clip. It’s too weird to explain.”

That evening he sends me a clip and it’s of an old guy with extended boobs shooting milk at a girl trying to hit it with a tennis racket, then he starts pulling these alien pod things out of his shorts and begins throwing them at her which stick to her like leeches which are revealed to have humanoid features under their hide…. My mouth DROPPED open in a kind of a "WHAAAAAA!???" as I rubbed my eyes in disbelief at what I’d just seen! What da HELL was I WATCHING??? My friend said that it would be weird. WEIRD!? This is the most BIZARRE freakin’ thing I’ve ever seen in my life! Eccentric Individuals, Electronics with Orifices, Placated Fetal Creatures, Slimy Living Instruments, Secret Space Agents AND First Contact with an Alien Race, this was Japan's Cinematic ZENITH of Nuttiness!!!

And MAN, If I thought I couldn’t be more surprised by the movie’s absolute KRAZEENESS, I was even MORE surprised when I began scrolling through some of the other clips and saw actors I RECOGNIZED in it! And these weren’t unknown b-list actors either- these were some of best-known actors out there, like Rinko Kikuchi, Kaho, Fukushii Kazue, Kase Ryo and adorable Chizuru Ikewaki! What in the HECK were they doing here? Gads, that meant I HAD TO ACTUALLY SIT DOWN AND WATCH THE WHOLE MOVIE, if only to see what exactly the HELL they were DOING here!

Well, in the end, I’m STILL not sure if I ever figured out what was going on, but WOW, WHAT A FLICK!! Not only Did I get to see these actors in the wackiest situations ever, this movie actually introduced me to a bunch of new BABES to lust after, among them beauties like Ono Machiko (whom I’d actually just seen in JOKER Yuzurenai Sasokan), Takahashi Mariko (as a breathy sultry class student named Yoshiko), the adorable Nana Shimoda and Aoi Miura as hapless victims, and ESPECIALLY stunningly gorgeous Erika Nishikado as Notti, the dreamy, nature-lovin’ muse of Ryo Kase’s Extra-Terrestrial obsessed Takafumi!

Girls like this (and the aforementioned Ikewaki et al) were the primary force that made me stick around watching the movie even as the situations got stranger and STRANGER!! Though in any other movie that got THIS wacky I would have bailed, I just HAD to stick around for these girls...And stick around I did- and I GOTTA SAY, in the end, it was a good thing because Funky Forest turned out to be one of the most FREAKIN' FUNNIEST, INNOVATIVE, IMAGINATIVE, and CRACKY MOVIES OUT THERE!!!

I’m not even kidding- though some parts of the movie veered off into long, spacey drawn out intermissions (some musical and some literal, yes, LITERAL intermissions), some of the stories were downright HILARIOUS, especially faves like the “Babbling Hot-Springs Vixens” stories with Chizuru Ikewaki, Kazue Fukiishi and Machiko Ono as non-stop chattering salesladies taking a break at an onsen, where a good story is the goal and a tale with no point gets you a beatin’…

…and the OTHER arc I just DUG was the super FUN “Home Room!!!!!!!” stories where the students are charismatic, energetic and outspoken, and their teacher (played by Terajima Susumu in what may be the only non-Yakuza role I’ve ever seen him in) is the coolest instructor any Hall of Education ever had! Every day a student is invited to tell his or her tale in front of the class and the room reaction is never anything short of explosive!

FUNKY FOREST~THE FIRST CONTACT, or, rather, it’s original Japanese Title Naisu No Mori is an abstract Alien + UFO Speculation Movie of sorts, and that’s about as coherent a synopsis as you’re likely to get- for whatever the bigger story here, it’s for SURE that the ride of GETTING THERE is far more integral to THIS ship than any silly thing like a COHERENT PLOT!! A fun, FUN Movie!!!

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What is the purpose of Funky Forest? Even if one were to somehow enter the minds of the producers, their intentions in creating this bizarre film may still remain unclear. It is therefore up to the viewer to bestow this film with a purpose. For instance, the film may be taken as a series of disconnected dreams, linked only by common elements such as story threads, aesthetics and characters, that comments on the unconscious and the bounds of human imagination. A particularly memorable theory states that the 'human' characters are in fact aliens that seek to infiltrate mankind by learning about human behaviours- this explains the schoolroom settings, the characters' abnormal behaviours and their unfazed reactions towards the eldritch alien-miscellaneous object hybrids that permeate through much of the film. One might call it a musical, what with the multitude of dance numbers and songs of all kind. Another might classify it as an experiment in blending genres and mediums- a memorable scene involves a dance off between a real person and a host of animated characters. Perhaps this is the power and purpose of Funky Forest- to transport the viewer to their own 'Funky Forest' where their imagination begins to run wild and the surreal becomes all too real. Unfortunately, everyone that I have introduced this movie to stopped watching within the first ten minutes. I wonder why.

The soundtrack to this film is undeniably fantastic by the way- finessing orchestral works, single voice and guitar, solo piano, jazz, enka, c-pop, reggae, EDM, didgeridoo, a choir of screaming children, and more. Listening to it on its own is quite an experience. Surprising for such an esoteric film, it boasts an all-star cast with names such as Asano Tadanobu, Kikuchi Rinko, Kase Ryo, Anno Hideaki, a school-age Kaho and Andrew Alfieri, a young caucasian 'non-pro' who clearly cannot speak Japanese and may or may not be the star of the show. It is currently on Youtube.

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