Brussels 2013 Review: TEBANA SANKICHI: SNOT ROCKETS Will Turn Your Brain To Mush

Writing a review of Tebana Sankichi: Snot Rockets is impossible, and probably stupid to attempt. Reviews involve structuring words and sentences in order to give the reader an idea of what a movie is like and whether it is good or bad. Snot Rockets not only obliterates the definitions of words like "good" and "bad," it also destroys most other words two, along with all notions of structure, logic, time, rationality and probably even emotion too. Nonetheless I have labored to construct a paragraph which somewhat approximates the experience of seeing the movie:

>>Mr. Postman + Tebana minus Sankichi, PLUS SANKICHI again and again and again, off the bridge, never InTo river, and again, because of two times Shiro... two or four? three?
OR MILLION TIMES SHIRO! BLAM, Wack **&%! **&? **&! ... oh, just a dream. NOT A DREAM!! We'll return. ++####### Times Square Balboa bourgoise choP! abcdxyz (zyxdcba), American Money! $ $ $---> FLASH!BACK: Sankichi is â bully, FLASH-FORWARD. Now Flashback, or don't: Sankichi is weak and vulnerable. YOU SLUT! x 30.  ¬¬¬∆ Breathe. Breathe for a moment. We're changing formats. Melodrama. Is it satire? SHUT UP!!!! ^%CASEFDAE#@~!@(#U(3uJ π∑∑∑ ¢ åå¥ + = + LKDSNLKVN3948opuiiuio..... Where is Mr. Postman?

Or something like that. Except with sounds and images, and for about 75 minutes. Within the first five, Snot Rockets smashes the "absurdist" label to a billion pieces and blasts off into the unexplored galaxies of total nonsense. It remains there, at mostly breakneck pace, taking the wacky pop filmmaking that the Japanese have mastered over the years to an extreme I never thought possible.

Those upset that I haven't attempted an actual plot summary should probably avoid this movie. That said, I suppose it's worth providing a bit of context about the making of the film. Yudai Yamaguchi (Battlefield Baseball, Meatball Machine) and star Tak Sakaguchi began the film in 1995 with a short staring the title character. Over the ensuing years they continued to add to it, shooting all around the world, from Tokyo to Austin Texas, and finally, this is the result. Ironically, I probably could have appreciated the rapid-fire, what-the-fuck sensibility much more in a small dose. But maybe that's the point.

As I indicated in the headline, Tebana Sankichi: Snot Rockets will indeed make your brain feel like it's turning into mush. For some, this may be exhilarating. By the end though, it mostly left me with a headache.