964 PINOCCHIO
Directed & Written by Shozin Fukui
Music by Hiroyuki Nagashima
Cast: Hage Suzuki, Onn Chan, Kyoko Hara, Koji Kita & Ranyaku Mikutei
1991/97 mins/Color/2.0 Dolby Digital
1.33:1/Japanese/Japan/NTSC Region 1
Review from Unearthed Films DVD
Pinocchio 964 is a cyborg created to please sexually-fustrated women. Unfortunately for him, it doesn't seem to be working properly in that department. He gets his memory erased and he's thrown into the streets of Japan. Soon enough he meets the rather strange Kyoko who doesn't really look to be all there. She'strying to bring back Pinocchio's memory by shooting his name a million times and wandering around the city.
Pinocchio 964's creator want him back and send his men looking for the android. As he's been hunted down, Pinocchio remembers his past and wants personal revenge for what happened to him.
Much like Shinya Tsukamoto's TETSUO, Shozin Fukui's 964 PINOCCHIO is hailed as one of the classic of the Japanese underground cyberpunk cinema era of the late 80s/early 90s. Well I must have watched another movie because 964 PINOCCHIO turned out to be nothing more then useless experimental cinema for me. Screaming, industrial setting, grainy cinematography and having someone vomitting for 10 minutes doesn't make a movie groundbreaking in my eyes. Sorry for the fans of this film but I simply can't recommend it. Now, maybe it would have helped if I had been in a different state of mind (reading = taking drugs) but otherwise I don't plan on enduring, oups I meant revisiting, this movie for a long time. To each its own I guess...
Yet this is actually a very interesting and nicely put together edition from Unearthed Films. First of all, the movie is presented in its original 1.33:1 full frame presentation. For such a low budget film, the image looks pretty good with nicely saturated colors, no compression, artifacts or defects. The remastered 2.0 Dolby Digital audio track is loud, crisp and clear. We get the 1988 short film CATTERPILLAR from Shozin Fukui in which many ideas later explored in 964 PINOCCHIO originated from this one. There also a 33 minutes interview with director Shozin Fukui which looks like a very relax and down to earth person. He explain to us how most of the ideas behind the film came from, how the movie came around, the music and the future. We get a still gallery and trailer for other Unearthed Films releases such as RUBBER'S LOVER, ELECTRIC DRAGON 80 000 V and JUNK. The movie is separated in 18 chapters, comes in a keep case with an inlay card and features animated menus.
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Review by Kim Dubuisson. All Right Reserved. 2005. ©
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