A little bit of quirkiness gets you a long way. Just ask Kenichi Ugana. Over the past few years, the 40-year-old director has been feted as a rising star of Japanese indie cinema, mostly on the strength of some inventive genre exercises that worked better as short films (see last year’s “Visitors: Complete Edition” for an example).
His latest, “The Gesuidouz,” had its world premiere at the 2024 Toronto International Film Festival and would seem to tick all the right boxes for midnight movie fans. It’s a punk-rock slacker comedy laden with references to cult horror flicks, plus just enough surreal touches to make it look properly wacky in the trailer. But Ugana’s most high-profile film to date is also one of his laziest: a smug shaggy-dog story that feels like its creator is seeing how much he can get away with by pandering to undiscerning festival audiences.
The Gesuidouz (whose name translates as “The Sewers”) are a bunch of talentless noiseniks who appear to have no fanbase yet have somehow landed a record deal, complete with cynical manager (Yuya Endo). Having failed to recoup the costs of their previous album, they get sent off on a year-long retreat to the countryside with orders to write a hit song.
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