Funky Forest: The First Contact (Sub) | 
 enlarge | Directors: Katsuhito Ishii, Shunichiro Miki, Aniki
Actors: Kotaro Shiga, Kazue Fukiishi, Yoshiyuki Morishita, Ryo Kase, Chizuru Ikewaki
Studio: VIZ VIDEO
Category: DVD
List Price: $29.98
Buy New: $19.34
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Avg. Customer Rating:  6 reviews
Sales Rank: 35645
Format: Anamorphic, Animated, Color, Dvd-video, Ntsc, Subtitled
Languages: Japanese (Original Language), English (Subtitled)
Rating: Unrated
Number Of Items: 2
Running Time: 150
Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1
Dimensions (in): 7.1 x 5.4 x 0.6
MPN: YFYF01
UPC: 896911001102
EAN: 0896911001102
ASIN: B0012EM5I8
Theatrical Release Date: 2006
Release Date: March 18, 2008
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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Shipping: International shipping available
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Amazon.com
One simply cannot put too fine a point on the experience of watching Funky Forest: The First Contact, a two-hour-plus, genre-defying feature from Japanese directors Katsuhito Ishii (best known for the cult hit Shark Skin Man and Peach Hip Girl), Shunichiro Michi and Hajime Ishimine (a.k.a. Aniki): It is simply unlike any other film, but its consistently ebullient tone and absurd humor should make it a most enjoyable trip for the adventurous moviegoer. As with Ishii's previous effort, The Taste of Tea, the emphasis is on dreamlike visuals and non-linear storytelling, though here, even the most basic plotline is abandoned in favor of a series of rotating vignettes (non-sequiturs, really) about characters caught in absurd scenarios. The "Unpopular With Women Brothers" (Japanese heartthrob Tadanobu Asano, character actor Susuma Terajima, and young Anglo non-pro Andrew Alfieri) struggle to woo girls with woeful songs and complicated dances, while teacher and aspiring DJ Takefumi (Ryo Kase) attempts to win over his student Notti (Erika Nishikado) with mixes and his own elaborate dancing (which blossoms into a dream with full-blown routines opposite animated partners). Elsewhere, Susama presides over a free-form classroom full of exceptionally vocal students (who also perform a musical routine using some David Cronenberg-inspired creatures as instruments), a trio of chatty businesswomen spin elaborate stories about aliens, a dog pens anime storylines (anime legend Hideaki Anno of Neon Genesis Evangelion fame is featured in the cast), a pair of manic comedians nearly beat each other to death, and the whole thing comes to a lovely and lysergic conclusion in a dream involving Notti (Nishikado provides her own playing) and DJs tuning into the earth itself to create a sort of harmonic convergence. Suffice it to say that Funky Forest is as bizarre as movies get, and its willful incoherence and long running time (which comes with an intermission) may be more than one viewer's undoing, but in its own fractured way, the movie does make a few gentle observations about freeing one's self of unnecessary hang-ups (about school, relationships, etc.) and finding happiness in the simple joys available in each day. And Ishii and his collaborators and cast (which includes Oscar nominee Rinko Kikuchi of Babel and several of the players from Taste of Tea and Peach Hip Girl) deliver the madness and the message with impeccable technical quality and honest and funny performances, making this a challenging but ultimately rewarding experience for independent-minded audiences and fans of the filmmakers' unique style. The DVD includes several trailers and TV spots, a making-of featurette that threatens to explain the film (but does no such thing), and director Michi's hilarious demonstration of Susama's complicated dance. -- Paul Gaita
Product Description
Cult-favorite director Katsuhito Ishii (The Taste of Tea Shark Skin Man & Peach Hip Girl) teams up with the talented Shunichiro Miki and ANIKI to create another visually inventive masterpiece! Funky Forest features hilariously odd characters that will take you on an unpredictable cosmic journey.Three unpopular brothers Masaichi Masaru and Masao are struggling to be popular among the girls. Luckily enough they finally get a chance to have a co-ed picnic with some pretty young ladies! With 21 free-associative episodes ranging from a nonsense "sci-fi" comedy to a dance-battle daydream Funky Forest: The First Contact will challenge your mind and melt logic as its unique characters find themselves in warped dimensions way past our imagination.System Requirements:Running Time: 150 minutesFormat: DVD MOVIE Genre: ANIMATION/ANIME UPC: 896911001102 Manufacturer No: YFYF01
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3 +Stars: A Mind-FREAK and A Very Bizarre Ride August 29, 2008
Japanese films have always been able to blend brilliance with oddball flair, art, commerce, screwball comedy and uninhibited anarchic craziness. Never before has one movie made me say "What the Heck?" more times in one viewing. FUNKY FOREST: FIRST CONTACT (2005, Naiso No Mori: First Contact) is one film that will bewilder and dazzle you, with its very bizarre execution and `extremist filmmaking. The film is a collaboration between three renowned Japanese filmmakers; Katsuhito Ishii (Party 7), Hajime Ishimine (Frog River) and Shunichiro Miki (Evangelion 1.0) and if you're familiar with Ishii's films, you know that they're usually for the esoteric audience very adulterated to this style.
Synopsis partially derived from the back cover:
Three very unpopular brothers, Katsuichi, Masaru, Masao are struggling to meet some pretty ladies. Luckily enough, they get a chance to have a `singles' picnic with a trio of pretty young girls! With 21 free-associative episodes from sci-fi nonsense to a dance-battle daydream, the film will challenge your mind and logic with its crew of very outrageous characters as they find themselves warped into dimensions way past our imagination--you'll have to see it to believe it!
This film may well be the MOST original production that I may have ever come across. It blends screwball comedy, science fiction and experimentalism in a hyper-accelerative imagination to attain new cinematic heights. This flick is like a series of illustrations and sketches gone insanely wild; CGI fantasies and daydreams, musical numbers, very weird dancing, hilarious high school high-jinks, what you will get is a mental constitution dipped in the bizarre, the bizarre blended with the weird.
Truth be told, the film has no plot, well, not in a linear fashion anyway. The film is just a surreal experience that takes some elements from "Sharkskin Man and Peach hip hop Girl", "Party 7" and "A Taste of Tea" to blend in sheer anarchic proceedings. The film has a somewhat fragmented style, the film's narration is just as odd as its characters. The film is split into Side A and Side B (not to worry, you don't have to flip the disc) with a 3 minute intermission during the mid-halfway point to give your brain a chance to relax.
The less you know about this film, the better. It's appreciation would have to come from its `shock' value. But I will try to illustrate some elements that you're in for.
The Unpopular with Women Boys- The guitar brother (Tadanobu Asano) learns to play the instrument to impress women, while his brother Tanaka does the Kabuki dance with the same motivation. They have a younger brother who is Caucasian and loves to eat candy bars.
The Hot Spring Vixen Babes- Three pretty Japanese women (Chizuru Ikewaki plays one of them) who tell elaborate and wild stories including the alien Piko-Riko, Buck Naked and the Panda, and the tree and the neighbors; these sketches really made me crack up!
Notti and Takefumi- Takefumi (Ryo Kase) is an English teacher, who loves to sound mix and aspires to become a DJ. Notti is a very attractive student who likes to hang out with Takefumi but the two hasn't become lovers and they are "dating" without "dating".
Combined with the Mole Brothers, the Bloodsuckers, the Homeroom kids and their teacher and "Pero the dog director", and you have one heck of a mind-freak. (I can't say the "F" word here) The film is impressive, it offers quite a number of impressive stories within a story; there definitely is a plot in "Funky Forest". It will `free' and `melt' your mind and definitely immerse you in a wacky and bizarre experience that you won't have time to worry just what the story is all about. There are quite a number of familiar faces from "A Taste of Tea" and "Josee". Rinko Kikuchi (Babel) and one of the "Swing Girls" even makes an appearance.
One small fault the film may have is that at 150 minutes, it may feel too long. I think it would benefited if the film was more compressed and shorter in length. The non-linear style may also alienate some viewers but I do think it is part of its charm. I am still cracking up at the stories of the "Hot Spring Vixen Babes" while I'm writing this review. The film has a lot of characters so careful attention will be required. The film has a lot of suggestive themes when it regards to some of its aspects so it does have the "explicit content" marked on its dvd cover.
"FUNKY FOREST: First Contact" is NOT a film for everyone. The film is definitely flaky, bizarre, a hoot at times, but definitely has high marks for its originality and direction. It still has a lot of "funky" warmth and charm beneath its archaic segments and the characters just have to be seen to be believed. There are so many ideas and visuals in the film that it was amazing just how Ishii and company managed to pull it off. "Funky Forest" pushes the boundaries of filmmaking, it is comforting but encourages confrontation, it is refreshing as it is bizarre; the film is a visual maelstrom of creative images and ideas that doesn't make any sense--but in a weird way it does make sense? Am I making sense here?!
Free your mind.
HIGHLY RECOMMENDED! [3 + Stars]
Funky Forest is Japanese Film Crack August 25, 2008
Funky Forest is the type of movie you should watch if you're REALLY into Japanese movies of the eccentric kind. The movie is somewhat linear but not plot heavy going from different groups of people and their weird circumstances. It's hard to describe the movie except to say you have to really turn your brain off and just absorb the movie like a sponge to enjoy it. This is the type of thing you would probably see late night on TV when there's nothing else interesting on. Memorable yet strange is how I would sum it up.
 Intermittently interesting, but hard to recommend August 24, 2008
1 out of 2 found this review helpful
If you are going to watch this movie, it will help if you go into it not expecting anything resembling a normal movie. I have to admit that I had a pretty violently negative reaction to it at first, and I turned it off at about the 15 or 20 minute mark. After reading some online reviews, I decided to give it another chance when I was in a more receptive frame of mind, and I had a somewhat better time with it. I still think that it's too long, and it has some boring stuff I would have cut (particularly the "babbling hot springs vixens" parts), but if you're willing to stick with it, it becomes an interesting experience. It may seem pretty disjointed at first, and to some, the movie may seem like a collection of completely random, unconnected vignettes, but I think that structuring the movie this way possibly makes it a less frustrating experience that it might have been otherwise because you're not likely to feel that the movie has an intricate plot that is impossible to follow, and if you start to get bored with any particular segment, it's probably pretty close to being over.
It is a bit like channel surfing through strange Japanese tv at 3 am, which is both good and bad. It might help a little if, instead of looking at this as a movie, you look at it a little bit more like a filmed piece of performance art or a really, really strange concert film/extended music video. It would be fair to call the film "dreamlike," but it's worth remembering that the vast majority of dreams that people have would probably make for rather dull viewing.
I would offer a few of pieces of advice for those interested in seeing this movie:
1. If you are not familiar with the names Katsuhito Ishii or Tadanobu Asano, then don't bother with this movie. You probably won't get much out of it.
2. If you have ever turned off a movie because it was "too weird," then don't bother with it.
3. If you start to feel like giving up on the movie during the early part of the film, skip ahead to about the 50 minute mark. I think that this is the point where the film starts to get a little bit better (Overall, I think that the "Side B" half of the film is stronger than the first half, and it has a pretty nifty anime sequence).
4. This may be a movie that's best watched in small doses. Watching "side A" one night and then "side B" the next might be a less frustrating experience.
Overall, I'm not sure that this is a film I would recommend to anyone, but you're not likely to find anything else quite like it.
Short attention span theater July 17, 2008
0 out of 1 found this review helpful
A mixed-up mix
Mix up your journey to the next journey
Mixers rock
-DJ Takefumi, from the film Funky Forest: The First Contact
So, do you think you've seen it all? I would venture to say that you haven't- until you've sat through a screening of Funky Forest: The First Contact, originally released in 2005 as Naisu no mori in Japan but now available for the first time on Region 1 DVD.
The film is a collaborative effort by three Japanese directors, most notably Katsuhito Ishii (The Taste of Tea). Ishii, along with Hajime Ishimine and Shunichiro Miki, has concocted a heady "mixed-up-mix", indeed. There is really no logical way to describe this blend of dancing, slapstick, surrealism, sci-fi, animation, absurdist humor, and experimental filmmaking, married to a hip soundtrack of jazz, dub and house music without sounding like I'm high. There is no real central "story" in the traditional sense; the film is more or less an anthology of several dozen vignettes, featuring recurring characters a la late night TV sketch comedy. Some of these disparate stories and characters do eventually intersect (although usually in a somewhat oblique fashion). The film is a throwback in some ways to "channel surfing" anthology films from the 1970s like The Groove Tube, Tunnel Vision and The Kentucky Fried Movie; although it is important to note that the referential comic sensibilities are very Japanese. If a Western replica of this project were produced, it would require collaboration between Jim Jarmusch, Terry Gilliam and David Cronenberg (and a script from Charlie Kaufman).
You will need to clear some time-Funky Forest runs 2 hours long, in all its challengingly non-linear glory. So is it worth your time? Well, it probably depends on your answer to this age-old question: Does a movie necessarily have to be "about" something to be enjoyable? With an underlying spirit of winking goofiness running all throughout this unconventional weirdness, perhaps the filmmakers are just paraphrasing something that Mork from Ork once said about always retaining "a bit of mondo bozo". God knows, it's helped me get through 52 years on this silly planet.
 Sit back, relax and watch TV -- like surfing through the cable channels on another planet March 24, 2008
6 out of 7 found this review helpful
Funky Forest: The First Contact is laugh out loud loopy -- the most fun I've had watching a film in a long time. Bad comedians, bizarre dance routines, a show and tell classroom, a canine director of animated films, aliens who hope to take over the world, geeky brothers, a funky forest that delivers otherworldly pop, and lots more go into this almost indescribably odd and hilarious film from the maker of The Taste of Tea.
The best description I can think of for Funky Forest: The First Contact is: a Japanese avant-garde science fiction musical comedy television network film. If that doesn't make any sense, or if that doesn't entice your interest, there may be nothing I can say that can convey how delightful and funny and quirky and charming this film really is.
But here's another go: imagine you find yourself in a cheap Tokyo hotel above a busy neon bright city street, and you may have had one too many drinks of sake or maybe not since you can't really remember how you ended up in a hotel room in Japan in the first place, but you can't sleep and you are bored so you turn on the television and start flipping through the channels and each program is a little more strange than the last one and you start to wonder whether you are really asleep after all and dreaming but you think to yourself that your dreams usually aren't so odd and funny and colorful and you don't want to wake up because you are having too much fun. Watching Funky Forest is a little bit like that, but maybe even better.
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