Funky Forest: The First Contact — trail

Kris and I first discovered Katsuhito Ishii with Sharkskin Man and Peach Hip Girl and Party 7 a few years back. Most of you probably know him from the Anime segment in Kill Bill Vol. 1. But, however you may know him, it’s obvious the guy has a wealth of talent, and is surely one director to keep an eye on in the coming years. The trailer for his latest film, Funky Forest: The First Contact, is now up and man, does it look crazy. Lots of cool talent in there, including Dreamlogic faves, Susumu Terajima and Tadanobu Asano. Press release below:

Katsuhito Ishii (TASTE OF TEA, Golden Maile winner, LVHIFF 04) is back! This time he’s joined with two other hip directors to create this extremely odd omnibus, which stitches together a number of funny and/or weird short films with overlapping themes and crossover characters into a wild quilt of trippy dreams, unrequited desire, horny losers, odd aliens, awesome dancing, bodily functions, cool music, and some really disgusting creatures straight out of David Cronenberg’s fever dreams.

A talented cast led by Tad[a]nobu Asano provides a certain gravity to such far-out sequences as the girl in the after school club whose ‘sport’ involves using a badminton racquet to swat at the milk squirted towards her by a shy fellow with foot-long nipples, after which he starts pulling bloodsucking creatures out of his pants and tossing them at her.

The preceding sequence is not the strangest part of the movie – it isn’t even the strangest part of that particular short.

FUNKY FOREST is not for everyone, but Ishii fans, VERMILLION PLEASURE NIGHT lovers, and the curious or daring will find it a richly rewarding, one-of-a-kind experience.

Check out the trailer for Funky Forest: The First Contact, here.