SUBWAY CINEMA: Robogeisha Review [Update]

[ETA: This sold-out screening will be at the Japan Society and is NOT part of the biweekly free showings.]

Robogeisha will be screening for free this Tuesday, May 18 at 7PM as part of Subway Cinema's biweekly free movie series. Screenings are held at Tribeca Cinemas (54 Varick Street, on the corner of Canal Street, one block from the A, C, E and 1 train Canal Street stops)

Noboru Iguchi's Robogeisha is a ridiculous movie. But under what circumstances could a movie called Robogeisha not be ridiculous? Your only real gambit when making a movie with that title is to forgo restraint and just keep throwing visual and story information at the viewer until you run out of money. Maybe I'm being a little facetious here, but only a little. I respect a movie like Robogeisha that's willing to go nuts on its own terms - even when the final results are somewhat uneven.  

The movie stars Aya Kiguchi as Yoshie, sister of a popular geisha whom she serves hand and foot. The sinister son of an even more sinister steel magnate detects a level of untapped anger in Yoshie that could be exploited for their bikini-clad assassination force. So Yoshie and her sister are abducted, taught to fight, and given the mechanical upgrades that earn the movie its title.

The tone is very much tongue-in-cheek and the humor is generally handled quite well in spite of some languid pacing. While the film could be perhaps 20 minutes shorter, scenes remain protracted, dulling the impact of jokes that should have razor sharp. Much of the humor comes from the ridiculous upgrades that Yoshie and her sister receive on the path to becoming the ultimate Robogeishas, including armpit-based swords (for naughty poses) and breast-mounted canons. The effects - a combination of unconvincing CG and often less convincing prostheses are part of the movie's charm - giving it the feel of one of the live action Saban action shows for kids. 

Your mileage, will of course, vary with the humor here.

For all its charms, the movie does have some flaws that create bumps in the road - the previously mentioned pacing being the true bane of the entire production. The script is essentially an origin story of Yoshie, recalled in flashback after she's dispatched some evil lady ninjas attempting to kill a politician. By the way, pay attention to this opening because it doesn't quite make sense in the context of the ending. Anyway, as an origin story it takes its time getting to its premise and finally getting Yoshie out there with her cool(ish) new gear. There's also a recurring element of characters repeating for the audience what just happened to them or what they've just seen - it feels funny the first couple of times but really wears out its welcome quickly.

Which is a shame, because given tighter plotting, this one could have really good ridiculous fun instead of just ridiculous fun.