MEATBALL MACHINE KODOKU

Oh Japan, land of the blossoming cherry trees, tea ceremonies, and all the brain-melting splatter epics. Yoshihiro Nishimura, virtuoso of effects and director, goes all out with the long-anticipated continuation of the cult film “Meatball Machine” (2005), serving up the apotheosis of J-Gore cinema. A gigantic bell jar hurtles from outer space directly toward Tokyo. Anyone unfortunate enough to be sitting under it soon jumps literally out of their skin. Extraterrestrial parasites implant themselves in human brains and stimulate the body to spectacular transformations. Flesh, muscles and metal become one, until human motorcycles (!) race through the streets firing MG rounds from their nipples. In this masterpiece Nishimura condenses motifs and aesthetics of the Japanese gore cinema into an ultimate and completely overheated special-effects transcendence: a Grand Guignol blood opera in frenetically mounted images and avant-gardist radicality, stuffed so full with madness and creativity that eyeballs will still be rolling even hours after the end of the film.