REVIEW - R100

Is it to embrace an expanding international audience? Is it to dumb down the message, and have it literally interpreted for viewers left perplexed by his other works? Or is it a signifier of Matsumoto Hitoshi's grandiose intentions in R100, though hardly any more epic and outrageous than anything we'd expect from him, that he actually interrupts the action (or what we had naively presumed to be the action) to offer up explanation for his choices and his conduct as creator of this insanity? Giving voice to the sceptics and giving only the mildest, most cautious reason to the supporters of his creative indulgences, he only reinforces the wildly winking eye he has set upon us from his film's very first scene. Fittingly, what pleasure he bids us discover in R100 (and there's plenty of it!) is most perverse, particularly narratively - logistical and continuity issues arise, and are briefly mocked, but otherwise it's extremely easy to follow what's going on; why it's going on is another matter, and Matsumoto sets us a challenge most of us will never succeed at, and which is futile regardless, if we are to ever truly comprehend quite why. One suspects it's all for the hell of it, and that all this psychological teasing is also all for the hell of it. Observing him manipulate the language of cinema to his own unique ends is actually enthralling, and even if he lacks the verve to form something genuinely revolutionary in his concepts or his methods alike, what Matsumoto achieves is of solid artistic value, and superb entertainment value. The escalating nonsense and histrionic humour each have the potential to irritate enormously - I found both to be as welcome as they were not. And whatever your opinion on them, they contribute to Matsumoto Hitoshi's admirably grandiose intentions. A little bit radical, a lot ridiculous, R100 is a notable step forward for one of the industry's most idiosyncratic and most promising talents.