You wouldn't think a movie about a school girl in a short skirt battling a supernatural, chainsaw wielding monster would be this solemn and dull. But Negative Happy Chainsaw Edge barely even qualifies as a martial arts or action flick. This whole thing is really an extended metaphor on dealing with grief, depression and a sense of useless alienation among Japanese young people. At least, that's what I think it's about. It's not all that easy to discern the emotional beats and cultural allusions in Japanese cinema.
Yosuke (Hayato Ichihara) is a boarding school student who's been wallowing in depression and self-loathing ever since his bolder, tow headed friend got himself killed in a motorcycle accident. He's on his way to wasting his life until he meets Eri (Megumi Seki), a young girl who battles the aforementioned chainsaw wielding monster every night. Yosuke finds purpose in helping Eri fight her demonic opponent and she gradually warms to his dorky attentions. But then Yosuke's father insists that he move to a new town and Eri convinces herself that she must take on her final fight alone.
If you expect this to be an exciting exhibition of special effects and wire fu, you'll be grievously disappointed. The action scenes are almost all truncated, without any design and leading to no climax. Half the time we don't even get to see the beginning or the end of a fight. That's because this is actually an art house movie about young people dealing with senseless loss which externalizes that conflict into a dark figure with a gigantic chainsaw. What it has is a lot of brooding with a pop music video thrown in toward the end.
Based on a manga comic book, Negative Happy Chainsaw Edge isn't all that horrible. It is way too long, by at least 30 minutes, and so peculiar in its storytelling that I can't think too many folks would like it. I mean, the DVD cover makes it look like a movie about Leatherface after he's been bitten by a werewolf and I doubt the kind of audience attracted to that would appreciate watching a couple of Japanese teens slowly grapple with the meaninglessness of existence.
Unless you have a taste for something odd, you'll be happier staying away from this Edge.
Yosuke (Hayato Ichihara) is a boarding school student who's been wallowing in depression and self-loathing ever since his bolder, tow headed friend got himself killed in a motorcycle accident. He's on his way to wasting his life until he meets Eri (Megumi Seki), a young girl who battles the aforementioned chainsaw wielding monster every night. Yosuke finds purpose in helping Eri fight her demonic opponent and she gradually warms to his dorky attentions. But then Yosuke's father insists that he move to a new town and Eri convinces herself that she must take on her final fight alone.
If you expect this to be an exciting exhibition of special effects and wire fu, you'll be grievously disappointed. The action scenes are almost all truncated, without any design and leading to no climax. Half the time we don't even get to see the beginning or the end of a fight. That's because this is actually an art house movie about young people dealing with senseless loss which externalizes that conflict into a dark figure with a gigantic chainsaw. What it has is a lot of brooding with a pop music video thrown in toward the end.
Based on a manga comic book, Negative Happy Chainsaw Edge isn't all that horrible. It is way too long, by at least 30 minutes, and so peculiar in its storytelling that I can't think too many folks would like it. I mean, the DVD cover makes it look like a movie about Leatherface after he's been bitten by a werewolf and I doubt the kind of audience attracted to that would appreciate watching a couple of Japanese teens slowly grapple with the meaninglessness of existence.
Unless you have a taste for something odd, you'll be happier staying away from this Edge.