Wool 100%

Japanese cinema certainly has a lock on the "weird" genre. Films like Survive Style 5, Tamala: Punk Cat in Space, Party 7 could only be made in Japan, no other country seems to have the ability to let film makers experiment in such ways. Wool 100% is certainly in league with these other films although it could be considered a "women's weird" film.

Two elderly sisters live in a mansion piled to the roof, inside and out, with things they have found in the trash. On one of their daily trash expeditions they come across a pile of brilliant red yarn. They bring it home but that night a strange, wild girl breaks into their house and starts to knit the yarn into a formless sweater. Once finished, the girl screams with an un- natural voice, pulls the sweater apart and starts to knit again. The sisters don't know what to do as the girl refuses to leave and starts to wreck the house. Slowly the girl's presence changes the sisters' attitude to the trash hoard and we start to learn about their past.

The film is quite a bit stranger than the description but that's the basic plot for the first 30 minutes. Well-photographed and with a quirky soundtrack dominated by a baritone saxophone the film has two animated segments as well. The director got her start in animation and the watercolor and crayon animation in the middle of the film shows it. It's an amazing sequence however it's not in the anime tradition.

The film starts to slow down by the last third but it's still wonderful in many ways.

Told like a fairy tale, this is a story about two elderly sisters who dig through trash cans for things (there must be 100 broken clocks in their mansion). One of their finds is a tilting toy with a girl's face, a doll. That night, they encounter a girl who is knitting a red sweater, for which it seems when she's finished she has to start all over again. The story tells of the relationship between her and the sisters, with some unusual links to their childhoods. This film is very unusual, its ideas are very out there, but its a well told story and the mix of live action, animation & puppets is definitely interesting. If you like quirky films, you'll like this. I want to also say that this was Kyoko Kashida's last film. She has had an interesting film career, actually making this film not so unusual a casting choice for her. She was a star of "Woman Of The Dunes" and "Mangi", both films done more than forty years before this one. Thank you for your gift to Japanese cinema Ms. Kashida, and may you rest in peace.

Good fantasy films are hard to come by. Not many films are able to bring new and exciting concepts that spark people's imagination. We are often left with elves, wizards, orcs and magic. Common elements of the fantasy genre no doubt, but when some people are better at speaking orc language than they are at fixing a tire, it's time to try something new.

Wool 100% is not one of those films. It's fresh, quircky and totally unique. It's also part animation and puppetry.

Tominaga's film feels like a modern fairytale. While it honors the concept of a fairytale, it replaces the traditional elements with something new and fresh. The basic story follows two old sisters who live in a house of garbage. Every day, they go out to collect more junk, which they treasure and document in a picture book. When they run into a basket of red wool, their life is thrown upside down as they introduce the ever-knitting girl into their house.

Although folklore differs a lot between the East and the West, I think Wool 100% takes most of its inspiration from the creative minds of the makers of the film (although that's just my guess of course). In any case, I'm always glad when a film like this comes along, especially when it's Japanese. They have a knack for making films like these.

What I didn't except was that the execution would be lacking a bit. Although the story calls for a visual feast, the first half of the film is pretty low-key. The designs and sets are lush but are filmed in a rather dull and disappointing hue. The quality does vary between scenes, but the overall impression is that of a low-budget Japanese drama.

There is a turning point halfway the film, where the intentions of Tominaga become clear, but I still feel she could have done a better job with the first half. The film warps back in time and delves into the past of the two old ladies. It does this through some pretty special animation sequences and even some lengthy puppet animation scenes. A pretty interesting twist that fits the story and the idea behind it like a charm.

It needs some getting used to, but the different forms of film making flow together really well. Tominaga also provides the film with a pretty weird, µ jazzy and bombastic soundtrack and some pretty creepy/annoying but effective voice effects. Whenever the girl in the red sweater starts crying, it's time to lower the volume on your stereo (check the trailer).

In the end, Wool 100% could have been a better film. The visuals could've used some more attention and while the soundtrack is weird and unique, it's not truly fulfilling. On the other hand, Tominaga created something truly special that will be hard to match. It makes that this film leaves a pretty weird taste after watching it. I'm not 100% convinced, but on the other hand it's one of the most intriguing and genius things I've seen in a fantasy film in a long time.

Wool 100% is a film that you just have to see. You might not like it, but at the least it's an experience worth having. I just hope Tominaga gets a bigger budget and a better cinematographer next time. 4.0*/5.0*

"Wool 100%" is an exceptionally difficult film to describe. It's about two nasty sisters who love collecting things on their daily walks. However, when they bring home some red yarn, their lives change dramatically.

"Wool 100%" could easily have been called "Weird 100%", as it's an incredibly strange and occasionally annoying film. It's the sort of thing you might expect from Japan and is about as far removed from a Hollywood sort of production as you can imagine! Usually, this would be a good thing but in this particular case, it was just too weird and too much. Now I am not saying I need for a film to be 'normal'. After all, one of my very favorite Japanese films is "Happiness of the Katakuris" and I also like such oddities as "Zebraman", "Tampopo" and "The Eel"--and all of these (especially "Happiness of the Katakuris") are odd films to say the least. However, unlike these other films I just didn't find the payoff for all the strangeness--it just went on and on and the loud screaming that occasionally pierced the film made me just want to turn it off. Not satisfying to me at all--and I wanted to like it.