TIFF 09: Hitoshi Matsumoto's SYMBOL Review

Symbol is the sort of weird comedic experiment that only someone with Hitoshi Matsumoto's reputation could see to completion. Whether one would call it a success is entirely subjective. Even die-hard fans may have a hard time swallowing what he delivers here: an 90 minute shaggy dog story. Thankfully, Symbol boasts a game-saving finish that reveals Matsumoto as an ambitious prankster whose main interest is messing with people's heads. 

The film begins in Mexico where a masked wrestler named Escargot Man is preparing for a fight. The setting soon switches from a dry Mexican vista to a sealed white room with no exits. A character played by Hitoshi Matsumoto, who is clothed in colorful kid's pajamas, is trapped in the room. Cherubs emerge from the walls, and through experimentation, Matsumoto discovers that touching the cherubs' bathroom parts causes items to magically appear in the room. Manipulating the cherubs also causes doors to emerge from the walls, providing a hope for escape. The first hour unfolds in this fashion, cutting back-and-forth between Matsumoto's attempt to escape, and the story of the Mexican wrestler.

Unlike Big Man Japan (Dai Nippon Jin), which seems completely commercial in comparison, Symbol has no narrative hooks to grab onto. Matsumoto's performance is really broad. His constant screaming leans towards the annoying side, and his jokes, which involve a lot of physical humor, are hit-and-miss. The Mexican wrestler story seems to amble on with no peaks or valleys.