Dead Leaves

Arrested for stealing food, clothes and weapons, two amnesiacs with unusual facial features are thrown into an abusive lunar prison in this weird and wacky animated comedy from Japan. The pacing of the film is very brisk and so fast in fact that the opening few minutes (before the pair are arrested) are disorientating. The film goes from strength to strength though from the moment that the amnesiacs are imprisoned. As the jail inmates are force fed, forced to defecate at the same time and punished by death for the most minor rule infringements, the movie establishes a sharp attack on totalitarian justice systems. Things only get more interesting as the pair discover that all their inmates are genetically modified clones, which leads to them contemplating their own origins. As the film progresses, the action mounts more and more and when push comes to shove, the whole thing feels a little over-the-top. The imagination on display is incredible though (you will have never seen a baby quite like the one here - and then there is the golden drill!) and the film is even quite funny in between its violent outbursts. The movie's biggest drawback is the fact that it ends rather abruptly, but clocking in at less than one hour, the film at least never outstays its welcome while also providing plenty to ponder in terms of personal identity, prison brutality and the ethics of DNA manipulation.