Nutty yakuza comedy from Sion Sono. It's overlong, particularly with an interminable set-up, but once we get to the big action set piece you'll find it well worth the wait. A group of amateur filmmakers calling themselves the F Bombers (led by Hiroki Hasegawa) has spent a decade looking for the opportunity to make a real movie. Fortunately (or unfortunately) for them, a yakuza gang is looking for someone to make a feature starring the boss's daughter (Jun Kunimura is the boss, Fumi Nikaido the daughter). Hasegawa proposes that they film the real-life gang war that is bound to happen with the rival gang (led by Shin'ichi Tsutsumi). Sono really could have shortened the film considerably had he realized the character played by Gen Hoshino, the love interest of Nikaido, was worthless and jettisoned him. Or, more obviously, he should have been combined with Hasegawa's character. As it is, Hoshino plays a shy, ineffectual character and he pretty much gets shoved to the background anytime the more lively Hasegawa is on screen. I can't imagine anyone caring about his burgeoning relationship with the drop-dead gorgeous Nikaido. None of this really matters once we get to the blood-soaked finale, which is about as fun as any movie I've seen in recent memory.
