The craziness of our times is depicted through old television shows. Haruko is a girl who prefers to cuddle up to her old-fashioned TV set. In this wondrous story, a television can transform into a man, and this is by no means the end of the strange cheerfulness. A masterpiece of the imagination. Angry girl Haruko is in the habit of bitching at her television. It’s an old, analogue set, which one day breaks down - then starts talking back. The television set becomes a man, and Haruko falls in love with him. Absurd situations stack up in colourful images in a startling mix of pop absurdism, drawing on cult TV shows and romantic children’s television. Beneath all the craziness, however, a love story unfolds. Haruko can’t believe her TV man is real. She thinks he must be a Yokai (a Japanese poltergeist) and that she must have paranormal talents. Haruko would prefer to keep her lover at home, but one fine day, he goes out in search of work. It turns out he has a striking talent: he speaks twelve different languages. His manliness also proves to be more than satisfactory. He gets a role in a TV show and is then tricked into becoming a curiosity in a circus. Haruko loses him but finally gets him back. Then there is even a wedding, which culminates in a hilarious martial arts scene. Edit Translation
- English
- magyar / magyar nyelv
- dansk
- Norsk
- Native Title: 春子超常現象研究所
- Also Known As:
- Screenwriter & Director: Takeba Lisa
- Genres: Comedy, Sci-Fi, Fantasy
Where to Watch Haruko's Paranormal Laboratory
Cast & Credits
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![Nozaki Moeka in Haruko's Paranormal Laboratory Japanese Movie (2015)]( "Nozaki Moeka in Haruko's Paranormal Laboratory Japanese Movie (2015)")
Nozaki MoekaHarukoMain Role -
![Nakamura Aoi in Haruko's Paranormal Laboratory Japanese Movie (2015)]( "Nakamura Aoi in Haruko's Paranormal Laboratory Japanese Movie (2015)")
Nakamura Aoi Main Role -
![Aoki Sayaka in Haruko's Paranormal Laboratory Japanese Movie (2015)]( "Aoki Sayaka in Haruko's Paranormal Laboratory Japanese Movie (2015)")
Aoki Sayaka Main Role -
![Kohinata Fumiyo in Haruko's Paranormal Laboratory Japanese Movie (2015)]( "Kohinata Fumiyo in Haruko's Paranormal Laboratory Japanese Movie (2015)")
Kohinata Fumiyo[Haruko's father]Support Role -
![Ikeda Tetsuhiro in Haruko's Paranormal Laboratory Japanese Movie (2015)]( "Ikeda Tetsuhiro in Haruko's Paranormal Laboratory Japanese Movie (2015)")
Ikeda Tetsuhiro[Producer of language program]Support Role -
![Bro.TOM in Haruko's Paranormal Laboratory Japanese Movie (2015)]( "Bro.TOM in Haruko's Paranormal Laboratory Japanese Movie (2015)")
Bro.TOM[Police officer]Support Role
Photos
Reviews
"Do you have a warranty?"
If you are in the mood for something super quirky that looks like it was made on a shoestring budget, search no further, Haruko’s Paranormal Laboratory is here to serve your quirky needs. It felt like writer/director Lisa Takeba brainstormed as many strange things as she could and then strung them all together in a surreal story.Haruko is an odd little duck who has always desperately wanted to have a paranormal adventure. She’s been begging for a UFO to visit her for years especially after her brother was taken up in one. She complains about every show on her 1953 television set. Unseen to her a counter flips over a number for every complaint and curse word she utters. When it hits 10,000 her television turns into a man with a tv on his head and a super dong for other activities. They quickly become sex buddies. After a while he tires of being a house boyfriend doing all the domestic activities and goes out to find a job. Fortunately for him, he speaks 12 languages and lands a couple of teaching jobs on TV and the radio. Haruko works with a sex crazed woman turned “artistic” arsonist. Her next-door neighbor makes sex art out of veggies. The most dedicated TV licenser on the planet makes sure she pays her fees whether the television works like a normal one or becomes a man. There’s an “artistic” masked coin bandit and a Friday the 13th Jason cosplayer who follows her around. She also finds out some kinky news about her father and mother.
I’m sure there was some deeper message and social commentary on feeling socially alienated, the boredom of working a meaningless job, being unable to make your real passion make money (tea stain art?), and only being able to find true love with a television set, but it was a little hard to strain out with all the bizarre paranormal and abnormal people wandering around. If you ever wondered what an R rated Pee Wee Herman’s Playhouse made in Japan might be like, this would come close. Where else could you see a drugged-up television set have a dance-off with a camera?
22 August 2024
