The Complete Japanese Showa Songbook

DIR: Shinohara Tetsuo | Japan | 2004 | 120min
In Japanese with English subtitles.

SHOWTIMES:
Thurs. Sept 30 | 9:15pm | Granville 7 Cinema, Theatre 3
Fri. Oct. 1 | 3:20pm | Granville 7 Cinema, Theatre 2

All you lovers of senseless violence and black humour, get ye to this afternoon's screening of The Complete Japanese Showa Songbook.

I saw three films in 5 hours yesterday night and, when 9:15 rolled around, i was fading fast. But this film brought be from the brink of a nap and then some. The story begins with a young man with a small circle of friends who share his obsession with Showa-era pop music. On a restless afternoon walk, he commits an act of random and horrible violence for no apparent reason - he pesters a random woman on her way home from buying groceries and decides to slash her throat (though, 'decides' is perhaps too strong a word).

Movies about sociopathic young men who commit random acts of violence are nothing new. What makes this film different is what follows this woman's murder. The victim also belonged to a circle of friends who all have karoake, being divorced, middle age and a first name - Midori - in common. The Midori's decide to find their friend's killer and exact revenge long before the police even appear on screen. The remainder of the film recounts a back-and-forth revenge scenario that escalates into pure, giddy nihilism.

Though i recently noticed a local newspaper call the film (or the filmmakers) misogynist, i think that's just too simple, though it certainly depicts misogyny and often uses it for laughs. It certainly is a mean-spirited film at times. But, I found the evolution of the women characters really interesting. After they've killed, they take on an aura of confidence and their relationships with each other become deeper and more meaningful. The young men, on the other hand, never really clue into anything and most of them die as ridiculously as they lived.

Based on Murakami Ryu's infamous novel, The Complete Japanese Showa Songbook is actually a fascinating, if somewhat long, treatise on post-WWII Japan - touching on everything from post-industrial malaise and the changing family to karoake and atomic bombs. On top of that, it's delicious, mercilessly entertaining.