Robo-geisha's trailer had me in stitches, because it doesn't show anything about what the 'plot' of the movie is. It's all just images, a voice saying things that will be in the movie, like, say, Fried Shrimp. And indeed there is Fried Shrimp in the movie, and it's used for rather violent effect. But everything in Noboru Iguchi's film is completely tasteless, nearly every second. I have to wonder if the scenes that are actually meant to be taken seriously- such as those moments where see the bond between Yoshie and her sister- are meant to be funny as well. While I wasn't laughing out loud for every moment of the madness, there was enough to make it a crowd-pleaser. What kind of crowd depends on where you're seeing it or what circumstances.
Oh this is a silly, sick little flick. If you've seen The Machine Girl, or anything by that group of new Japanese directors who have their previous experience in special effects, you know where their minds are at (the other one, Nishimura, made Tokyo Gore Police and he's collaborating with Noboru on Mutant Girls Squad, which sounds just peachy). Nothing is really too outrageous or stupid, and Noboru goes for it. I loved seeing how he would try and top himself within a scene, hell, within a shot. Watch in that first opening scene, where the Robogeisha first shows herself, and how far it goes: the level of humor in the businessman's reaction to the buzzsaw in her mouth, and the reaction one gets from seeing the "other" being inside of the Robogeisha! And just when you think the film is going for something with the two "Twins" with the penis-mask-faces, wait till you see their swords coming out of their asses (and they're embarrassed by them!)
The surprises are what make the film as entertaining as it really is. While Noboru deserves some points for getting some genuinely good direction in some scenes... some being the operative word, he's mostly a director for the exploitation-picture sect. This is a world where girls can turn into tanks (no, that's not a misprint), buildings bleed CGI blood, and old men in wheelchairs have secret guns hidden in their kneecaps. Need I go on? You know who you are if you go for this kind of stuff; I imagine going in cold on Robo-geisha would be a sobering experience. How would one feel seeing, for the first time, an absurdist take on world domination by a corporation that gets girls who are tired of their over-dominated existence at home, and become killing machines (literally in most cases) to help assist this world domination/destruction with the crudest comedy this side of Takashi Miike meets Tom & Jerry?
I suppose it would feel... hopefully awesome, if one is in the right frame of mind. It's not a movie for the faint-hearted (some of the gore is bug-f*** crazy, even if it is, sadly sometimes, CGI), and safe to say it won't win any Oscars. But it's got hot Japanese girls kicking ass and playing everything for laughs with cute-straight faces. Oh, and did I mention there's a Robo-Castle? Yeah, kind of weird, especially as it does a robot dance on Mount Fiji.
Oh this is a silly, sick little flick. If you've seen The Machine Girl, or anything by that group of new Japanese directors who have their previous experience in special effects, you know where their minds are at (the other one, Nishimura, made Tokyo Gore Police and he's collaborating with Noboru on Mutant Girls Squad, which sounds just peachy). Nothing is really too outrageous or stupid, and Noboru goes for it. I loved seeing how he would try and top himself within a scene, hell, within a shot. Watch in that first opening scene, where the Robogeisha first shows herself, and how far it goes: the level of humor in the businessman's reaction to the buzzsaw in her mouth, and the reaction one gets from seeing the "other" being inside of the Robogeisha! And just when you think the film is going for something with the two "Twins" with the penis-mask-faces, wait till you see their swords coming out of their asses (and they're embarrassed by them!)
The surprises are what make the film as entertaining as it really is. While Noboru deserves some points for getting some genuinely good direction in some scenes... some being the operative word, he's mostly a director for the exploitation-picture sect. This is a world where girls can turn into tanks (no, that's not a misprint), buildings bleed CGI blood, and old men in wheelchairs have secret guns hidden in their kneecaps. Need I go on? You know who you are if you go for this kind of stuff; I imagine going in cold on Robo-geisha would be a sobering experience. How would one feel seeing, for the first time, an absurdist take on world domination by a corporation that gets girls who are tired of their over-dominated existence at home, and become killing machines (literally in most cases) to help assist this world domination/destruction with the crudest comedy this side of Takashi Miike meets Tom & Jerry?
I suppose it would feel... hopefully awesome, if one is in the right frame of mind. It's not a movie for the faint-hearted (some of the gore is bug-f*** crazy, even if it is, sadly sometimes, CGI), and safe to say it won't win any Oscars. But it's got hot Japanese girls kicking ass and playing everything for laughs with cute-straight faces. Oh, and did I mention there's a Robo-Castle? Yeah, kind of weird, especially as it does a robot dance on Mount Fiji.