In a Nutshell. Mini reviews of movies old and new. No fuss. No spoilers. And often no sleep.

Sunday 11 September 2011

BULLET BALLET [1998]

From Tetsuo writer/director Shin'ya Tsukamoto comes another frantic, low budget film that assaults the senses.
This time around, Tsukamoto drops the sci-fi side of his storytelling and goes for more a noir-ish crime thriller which I suspect is supposed to be a revenge film. Depicting the loss of a loved one and the depression that follows is pretty much what the story is about. That's all fine but after awhile you just get sick of the protagonist moping around and yearn for him to do something about it. Quit your pissing and moaning and man up or shoot yourself in the head all ready, I thought to myself. He does none of these, he attempts to unleash his true emotions but never does and pisses his pants instead (figuratively speaking). It's irritating and makes for no real character or story development. By the end of the film you feel like you just ran around in a noisy circle with no real sense of purpose.
There's some amazing imagery and interesting scene set-ups but is just didn't add to anything to make it worth investing one's time in.

2 Clings & Clangs out of 5

1 comment:

Dr Faustus said...

I got around to viewing this last night. When it was cut to perfectly complement the music it was really good, but otherwise it was frustratingly unappealing and I felt much the same as you by the halfway point.