Big Man Japan

Strangely paced, unflinchingly crazy and brow-furrowingly confusing, this is a tough movie to get a handle on. It's pseudo-documentary in the same style as Christopher Guest, but with less obvious comedic timing, more humble, unassuming characters and a hefty injection of pure, unabashed Japanese absurdity. The story's focal point is Masaru, a soft spoken middle-aged loser with a going-nowhere life and zero self confidence, who nonchalantly moonlights as the fifteen-story tall, nearly naked hero "Big Japanese Man." Despite saving the city from a series of rampaging monsters, public interest in his work has begun to wane and he struggles to make ends meet. Excruciatingly slow at points, it has a few interesting things to say about the longevity of a superhero's profession and the fickle nature of public favor, but much of that is lost beneath the burden of such a painfully dull lead character. Its dry, bizarre sense of humor hits the mark more often than not, and the CGI fight scenes make for quite the spectacle, but this really didn't need to be half as long as it is. Fans of Japanese-styled eccentricity will have a ball, although they'll have to wade through some arid terrain to get to the good stuff. I'm still trying to figure out what happened in the last scene.

[SPOILER ALERT: This review contains spoilers.]