Pisutoru opera (2001)

Director:

Seijun Suzuki

Writers:

Kazunori Itô (writer)
Takeo Kimura (writer)

Release Date:

27 October 2001 (Japan)

Genre:

Crime | Action | Drama

Plot Keywords:

Sequel | Assassin | Surrealism | Psychedelic | Avant Garde

Awards:

1 win

Cast

Makiko Esumi	...	Miyuki Minazuki
Sayoko Yamaguchi	...	Sayoko Uekyo
Hanae Kan	...	Sayoko Uekyo
Masatoshi Nagase	...	Man dressed in black
Mikijiro Hira	...	Goro Hanada
Kirin Kiki	...	Rin
Kenji Sawada	...	Man at Tokyo Station
Haruko Kato	...	Shizuka Orikuchi
Tomio Aoki
Yôji Tanaka	...	Koroshi-ya No. 7
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Yoshiyuki Morishita	...	Killer no.9
Kensaku Watanabe		(as Sakutarô Inui)
Jan Woudstra	...	Painless Surgeon

Also Known As:

Pistol Opera (International: English title)

Runtime:

112 min

Country:

Japan

Language:

Japanese

Colour:

Colour

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Stereo

Certification:

UK:15 | Netherlands:12 (2009) (DVD)

Company:

DENTSU Music And Entertainment

Goofs:

Boom mic visible: As Uekyo speaks into the camera with a Union Jack draped over her, the boom mic drops into the picture for a second or two, then moves up and out of sight.

Quotes:

Man dressed in black: Soon I'll relieve your anxiety with the relief of death.

Movie Connections:

References Karumen kokyo ni kaeru (1951)

The Worst Movie Ever Made

During my ventures into foreign cinema, I have taken a liking to a wide variety of movies that span different genres that include horror, action, drama, comedy, and romance, to name a few. Thus, I have enjoyed the thoughtful, serious tone of dramas as well as the mindless, popcorn fun of action films. With a wide array of Chinese, Japanese, and Korean movies under my belt, I am confident in my ability to recognize bright spots in movies to appreciate and complement. Unfortunately, Pistol Opera has nothing to recognize. It is by far the worst Japanese movie I have ever seen. In fact, it is the worst movie EVER MADE. (A Man Called Hero taking 2nd place.)

I suppose the best way to express the reasoning behind my verdict is through an analogy. I remember taking Art in high school and hearing my teacher speak of a very popular artwork that showed a blank canvas with a single red line drawn across the bottom. I remember being appalled at how exploitative such artwork was in that it took advantage of our appeal to art by shoving IAN down our throats – IAN meaning Incomprehensible Artistic Nonsense. I began to realize that artistry – in and of itself – does not signify quality. Therefore, one must be on the lookout for low-quality crap that masks itself as art. Pistol Opera is the epitome of such exploitation in film-making.

For those expecting drama, you're looking in the wrong place. There is not one dramatic moment that comes to mind. Although there are many artsy moments that fail in their attempts at being dramatic. For example, near the end of the movie there is a confrontation between two female assassins that is set to the backdrop of various theatre stages. This is not a problem in itself. The problem arises in that the theatre stages serve no useful purpose that is discernible to the viewer, and are therefore no less gratuitous and exploitative than that artwork with a red line drawn across a blank canvas.

For those expecting action, run far, far away! Like the action scenes in A Man Called Hero, I would not even classify the scenes in Pistol Opera as "action sequences" because the concept of "action" demands that someone actually DO something. They don't. Instead they stand still, make a theatre pose, and then one of them dies. This isn't action; this is stupid. And for those who may feel that I am close-minded and therefore unable to appreciate different forms of action sequences, let it be noted that I found the sequences in Onmyoji – which use incantations and spell-casting – to be MUCH more entertaining than anything in Pistol Opera.

I honestly cannot express in words how awful this movie was. It is simply trash film-making that is shown under the guise of "artistry" – Incomprehensible Artistic Nonsense at its finest. All in all, I would not wish to have my worst enemy be forced to watch this debacle.

Rating = A rarely given 0/5 stars