The Insects Unlisted in the Encyclopedia (2007) User Reviews

You can grate radish on her scars

[Meganeguard · 5/10 · 28 January 2008]

The nameless protagonist of The Insects Unlisted in the Encyclopedia works for a trashy magazine called Black Book which attempts to publish stories about the bizarre happenings with the environs of Japan. One day his pretty albeit quite flatulent editor and chief tells him, under the threat of death, to find a substance called Deathfix which supposedly kills the individual, but after a few minutes the drug user comes back to life. The writer is supposed to take the drug, die, return to life, and then write about his experience being dead for his audience. The editor gives him a hefty sum to support his month long search. The first thing the writer does is enlist his buddy Endo to help him in his search. Endo, a modern day hippie and several years older than the writer, lives day to day in either a drug-induced or alcohol induced haze and busies himself trying to do things as create his own mermaid by tying the upper half of a doll to a fish. He also sets his own vomit on fire. With this being in tow, the writer goes in search of his cameraman Majima, but has little luck in doing so. The only clue he finds is a magnetic band. The writer and Endo's adventures continue and along the way they pick up a yakuza called Mr. Eyeball, a former dominatrix named Sayoko, and Mr. Eyeball's androgynous underling, things just continue to get stranger and stranger. However, maybe things get a bit too strange. While some of the gags found in The Insects Unlisted in the Encyclopedia are quite creative albeit disgusting and vulgar, they begin to grow old after awhile and with each gag trying to outdo the previous gag, it becomes just too much and the slender thread of the story evaporates.

The Japanese Equivalent of Epic Movie

[hickey2 · 1/10 · 19 January 2010]

This film is completely idiotic, unfunny trash. The humor in it caters to a five year old's sensibilities at best. I chuckled twice, maybe, but the rest of the time I was rolling my eyes and cursing at the relentless stupidity on screen. I can't believe I made it all the way through the movie, but I forced myself to because I have a bizarre compulsion to finish movies I've started, provided I've rented them and not just tuned into them on TV, and I had indeed (unfortunately) rented it for a whole 80 yen. The only reason I rented it in the first place was that it was one of the only Japanese movies there that had English subtitles; had I had any idea of how bad it was going to be, I would have left it on the shelf, or paid not to be burdened with it.

An example of the humor you can expect to find throughout the movie: in the opening scene, the female boss of this magazine is yelling at the main character, a journalist, and giving him an assignment he doesn't want to do. Then she farts really loud. And goes, "Oops, that was me...Oops, I may have made a mess. I'm going to go clean up. I'll be back."

That's about as highbrow as it got.