I'm a bit baffled by the negative reception here so far, this was one of my personal favorites of last year's Nippon Connection.
The whole film is shot mockumentary style and the humour is very dry and understated, depending on the absurdities of situations, trappings of cultural customs and nods to mostly Showa era japanese pop culture rather than telegraphing big crazy punch lines. If you like your jokes more on the nose you probably won't get much out of it. I vastly prefer this style of comedy myself. A certain familiarity with japanese (pop) culture will definitely help, so your mileage may vary. If you've ever seen a Japanese period play, gangster movie and Godzilla film you should be fine though. Thankfully the references never get too frequent and explicit or draw too much attention to themselves. It's more of an undercurrent of tropes and entertainment styles that the movie dips its toes into rather than a barrage of movie quotes and retro throwbacks.
The performances themselves are similarly understated, but intensely likeable and natural. Newcomer Kozo Haginoya as the aging dental technician who idolizes Steve McQueen takes the cake though.
To me this was a pure love-letter to filmmaking and everyone involved in making them a reality even if they are just on screen for a second. The title Extro as given by movie legend Nobuhiko Obayashi himself being a portmanteau of extra and maestro. If you enjoyed other mockumentaries on the subject like the recent Top Knot Detective or movies about movie-making in general give this one a chance and don't let the 5.1 imdb score dissuade you.
The whole film is shot mockumentary style and the humour is very dry and understated, depending on the absurdities of situations, trappings of cultural customs and nods to mostly Showa era japanese pop culture rather than telegraphing big crazy punch lines. If you like your jokes more on the nose you probably won't get much out of it. I vastly prefer this style of comedy myself. A certain familiarity with japanese (pop) culture will definitely help, so your mileage may vary. If you've ever seen a Japanese period play, gangster movie and Godzilla film you should be fine though. Thankfully the references never get too frequent and explicit or draw too much attention to themselves. It's more of an undercurrent of tropes and entertainment styles that the movie dips its toes into rather than a barrage of movie quotes and retro throwbacks.
The performances themselves are similarly understated, but intensely likeable and natural. Newcomer Kozo Haginoya as the aging dental technician who idolizes Steve McQueen takes the cake though.
To me this was a pure love-letter to filmmaking and everyone involved in making them a reality even if they are just on screen for a second. The title Extro as given by movie legend Nobuhiko Obayashi himself being a portmanteau of extra and maestro. If you enjoyed other mockumentaries on the subject like the recent Top Knot Detective or movies about movie-making in general give this one a chance and don't let the 5.1 imdb score dissuade you.
