Review of Why Don't You Play in Hell?

Shion Sono is a filmmaker that I've several films from before, and I've never been less than impressed. WHY DON'T YOU PLAY IN HELL? continues that trend by delivering something completely bonkers, but also really funny and a little bit poignant. The plot, which is a bit difficult to sum up, is about this group of friends who make movies. Through a convoluted series of circumstances, they end up filming a Yakuza feud between the Muto and Kitagawa clans. One thing the film does extremely well is have a sense of fun about itself and not take itself too seriously. There is a lot of tongue-in-cheek humor, and the over-the-top performances help a lot to set a manic tone. The film is also gloriously, even gleefully, bloody and violent. This might turn off a lot of viewers, but the insane levels of violence are largely played for laughs. I don't want to spoil anything specific, but there are several moments that practically made my jaw drop in incredulity. Finally, this film works as a love letter to film and shooting on film. The group of kids (later, adults) who are at the center of the story have a lot of fun shooting stuff on their 8mm cameras, but shooting this Yakuza feud on 35mm provides them with the opportunity they've been waiting for their entire lives. If there's anything negative to say about the film, it's that it might have bitten off a little more narratively than it could chew. At 130 minutes long, it juggles a lot of narrative threads and moving parts, some of which could have been trimmed. For starters there is a fairly long opening sequence that takes place 10 years before the events in the film proper. It sets up all of the necessary characters and relationships, but it could have been a little bit shorter. There's also a subplot about the daughter of one of the Yakuza boss' daughters who has aspirations to be a famous actress. Granted, this is necessary to how the burgeoning film crew comes into contact with the Yakuza, but I'm sure they could have come up with a less convoluted way to accomplish this part of the plot. Still, I will say that the film was never boring nor dragged. Not only does it have comic levels of violence and over-the-top humor, but the cinematography and editing keep things moving along at a good pace. And this all culminates in a final battle that alone is worth the money you spend on it. Overall, this is something that will probably mostly appeal to Shion Sono fans, or of Japanese cinema in general, but if you're in the mood for something weird you can't go wrong with this.