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Yoko (Kyoko Koizumi) is a self-centered commercial executive who is so
convinced that she is ingenious that she doesn't even notice that noone
but her, not even her boss (Sonny Chiba), finds her ads funny. Eventually
she will lose her notepad in which she has put down notes for future
commercials, and all of a sudden feel totally lost without it - and at
Christmas, too. But before that she hires a killer from England (Vinnie
Jones), complete with his own interpreter (Yosiyosi Arakawa), to shoot a
stage hypnotist (Hiroshi Abe) - for whatever reason.
The killer shoots the hypnotist, right on stage, but unfotunately while
Kobayashi (Ittoku Kishibe), a loving famila man, is still under hypnosis
believing he's a bird ... and what's worse, nobody manages to get him out
of his hypnosis - and slowly but surely, his family has to come to terms
with the fact that he might remain a bird for the rest of his life and
might throw himself off the roof because he believes he can fly every now
and again ...
Aman (Tadanobu Asano) kills his wife (Yumi Asou) - every night - but
she just refuses to stay dead, and every morning she is back among the
living and makes his life a living hell. Eventually, Aman hires the
English killer, but event hough he kills her but good, the wife continues
to reappear every day. Eventually though, one of her incarnation shows a
tender side, and Aman refrains from killing her, instead falling in love
with her all over again.
It's Christmas, and the killer (for whatever reason) comes by Aman's
house to bid him farewell and bring him a Chistmas present ... then though
he sees Aman's wife and out of professional pride he kills her even though
Aman has asked him not to. Thing is, this time the woman stays dead, much
to Aman's dismay, who will ultimately throw hismelf off the roof of a
building ... but will be caught in mid-flight by Kobayashi, who has
finally learned how to fly.
A last story concerns a trio of burglars who eventually come to terms
with being gay ...
This film actually comprises five stories intertwined into one, with at
least two of them (the unsuccessful wifekiller and the father turned into
a bird) being close to ingenious. However, the finished film as such is
less so, because some of the stories are decidedly less than great
(especially the gay burglars and the commercial executive) while the great
stories are never exploited to their full potential - and somehow, the
five stories do not work too well together. That said, Survive Style 5+
is still a well made, entertaining and at times incredibly funny movie, it
just could have done with maybe two stories less and the remaining stories
extended - a pity the film just wasn't like that.
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