Asian Film Festival of Dallas 2010

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“Oh, come on…”

Lynchian in its scenes of quiet normalcy, and like nothing you’ve ever seen the rest of the time, Hitoshi Matsumoto’s follow-up to the deadpan mockumentary BIG MAN JAPAN is a masterpiece of mind-blowing existential comedy that asks you to forget all you know and experience its brilliance with an open mind.

SYMBOL begins in Mexico, where local luchador (wrestler) Escargot Man is driven to town by a foul-mouthed nun where he must prepare for a big match (which he is expected to lose).  As he silently goes about his day, halfway around the world a nameless man (Matsumoto) wearing polka-dot pajamas wakes up in a very strange room.

The room is unnervingly white, with endless walls that rise up to the sky.  There are no doors, no windows; nothing but a series of unsettling cherub penises that stick out from each wall (if you need to re-read that sentence and think about it, we can wait).  The man quickly discovers that when he tweaks these appendages, items pop out of hidden slots in the walls.  Soon he has an ample supply of sushi, chopsticks, 3-D glasses and other household appliances.  The seemingly random items become part of a puzzle that allows the man to escape, but what then?  While the man in the room is trying to understand his newfound purpose, Escargot Man begins his match while his young son looks on.  Meanwhile, a death-metal band starts to play in Los Angeles…

Clearly a high-concept conundrum about the interconnectedness of all things, Matsumoto also makes you feel like you have become stuck inside a very intelligent child’s prank.  But SYMBOL is a must-see experience.  Love it or hate it, forgetting it is unlikely.

Director

Hitoshi Matsumoto

Cast

Hitoshi Matsumoto

Country

Japan

Language

English Subtitles, Japanese, Spanish

Alternate Titles

しんぼる

Release Date

2009

Runtime

93 minutes

Print Source

Clement Duboin
Urban Media International
clement@umedia.fr

Exhibition Format

35mm