Jigoku De Naze Warui

Why Don't You Play in Hell

Japan 2013
produced by
Takuyuki Matsuno, Tsuyoshi Suzuki, Atsushi Moriyama (executive) for King Record, KH Capital, BizAsset, T-Joy, Gansis
directed by Sion Sono
starring Jun Kunimura, Fumi Nikaido, Shinichi Tsutsumi, Hiroki Hasegawa, Gen Hoshino, Tomochika, Itsuji Itao, Hiroyuki Onoue, Tak Sakaguchi, Tetsu Watanabe, Tasuku Nagaoka, Akihiro Kitamura, Megumi Kagurazaka, Motoki Fukami, Taro Suwa, Donpei Tsuchihira, Takamitsu Nonaka, Hideo Nakaizumi, Nanoka Hara, Tatsuya Nakajima, Tsugumi, Totou Lorena, Ryo Ito, Riko Narumi, Kyoko Enami, Kenjiro Ishimaru, Denden
written by Sion Sono, music by Sion Sono

review by
Mike Haberfelner

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For ten years now, a filmmaking collective calling themselves the Fuck Bombers tries to produce a cinematic masterpiece - but while the enthusiasm has never left them, they hadn't gotten one step closer to that goal, and their in-house action star Sasaki (Tak Sakaguchi) dinally quits them, feeling at almost thirty he's a trifle too old to still be called the "Japanese Bruce Lee" with nothing to show for it.

At the same time, Michiko (Fumi Nikaido) is on the run from her father, yakuza boss Muto (Jun Kunimura) who wants her to become an actress to make her mother proud - because ten years ago, Michiko's toothpaste ad was cancelled after her mum was involved in a murder (which was at least part self defense) and had spent the time since in prison but is now to be released. Michiko hires a hapless young man, Koji (Gen Hoshino), to pose as her boyfriend for a day, but then the two get captured - and to save him from being killed, she claims he's a movie director and the only one she feels will make a good actress out of her. Boss Muto likes the idea and pretty much on the spot hires filmmaking equipment and makes his gang into a film crew. Problem is, Koji hasn't got the first idea about filmmaking - but by pure chance, he hears about the Fuck Bombers and gets in touch with them ... and in no time at all, the Fuck Bomber's director Hirata (Hiroki Hasegawa) is all fired up about the project, especially when he finds out that the film is to depict an actual raid of Muto's gang on yakuza boss Ikegami's (Shinichi Tsutsumi) headquarters ...

Why Don't You Play in Hell is tons of fun, there's hardly a minute without something hilarious, outrageous, grotesque, ultraviolent happening, and director Shion Sono sure knows how to keep things original, give interesting spins to genre mainstays, keep things moving at a steady pace, and the drawn-out fight scene/shoot-out at the ending of the film sure packs a punch ... and yet the film's not perfect: Its story is needlessly over-convoluted, it features a few too many characters, and the characters themselves are often poorly written or one-dimensional or lack proper motivation. Plus, the thing goes on for a bit too long, and whenever the film tries to show "heart", it slides into clichées.

That all said, you'll probably still laugh your ass off watching this, it's just nowhere near perfection.

review © by Mike Haberfelner

 

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