Bunraku (2010)

Directed by: Guy Moshe | 124 minutes | action, drama, fantasy | Actors: Josh Hartnett, Gackt, Woody Harrelson, Ron Perlman, Kevin McKidd, Demi Moore, Shun Sugata, Emily Kaiho, Jordi Mollà, Mike Patton, Shahar Sorek, Fernando Chien, Yoshio Iizuka, Kofi Yiadom, Aaron Toney

The word bunraku refers to a traditional form of puppetry (originated in Osaka in the seventeenth century) that is especially popular in Japan. The leading roles in such performances are played by large, human-operated puppets that have wooden heads, hands and feet. The story is read by a narrator in the audience who is not on stage. In the colorful genre cocktail ‘Bunraku’, director Guy Moshe tries to bring this traditional oriental narrative form to life on the television screen in a fairly straightforward story about revenge, violence and the invariably violent nature of the human species. The scene is set in a post-apocalyptic world in which firearms have since disappeared from the scene and have had to give way in favor of handcrafted stabbing, thrusting and throwing weapons. This new world is the carnal embodiment of Social Darwinism; anarchy, chaos and lawlessness reign and the only law in force is the law of the fittest. The film is mainly set in Dodge City, a cardboard city where the ruthless power-hungry Nicola (Ron Perlman) and his cronies hold sway. However, Nicola’s monopoly of power threatens to end when two strangers make an appearance in his glory.

‘Bunraku’ is probably not a movie that will conquer a warm place in the heart of every film lover. First of all, this has to do with the chosen style. The film is, at first sight, a somewhat strange, difficult to interpret mixture of an oriental fighting film, a traditional spaghetti western and a violent film noir, set against a very special decor that looks a lot like a pop-up picture book. It’s sometimes as if elements from ‘Kill Bill: Vol.1’, ‘The Good, the Bad and the Ugly’, ‘Sin City’ and ‘A Clockwork Orange’ merge into a very distinct cinematic amalgam. The character of the animations is a very conscious stylistic choice, as evidenced by a few hints that crop up in the course of the story and the animation scenes in which entire city blocks and city districts are expanded. Without a doubt a daring choice, which distinguishes the film from many conventional prints. Just like ‘Sin City’, a film with which ‘Bunraku’ has quite a lot in common visually and thematically, the narrator sprinkles in the work of Moshe (Mike Patton, the versatile singer of Faith no More) lavishly with swollen lyrics and phrases. Not always successful, because many of the deadly serious and pompously pronounced passages sound a bit strange and all too pretentious against the background of a city literally built out of cardboard. In short, the cartoonish appearance of ‘Bunraku’ occasionally clashes with the apparently grim and serious message the story seems to convey. The fight scenes – which are numerous in this separate epic – are at times quite nice, but not always well choreographed. On the acting front, the vast majority of the star-rich cast put in a decent performance, with Woody Harrelson and Kevin McKidd as the most appealing examples. Harrelson is always good as the richly humorous sidekick, while McKidd with verve conjures up an extreme and terrifying take on the legendary psychopath Alex (‘A Clockwork Orange’).

Contrary to what the cover of the film claims, ‘Bunraku’ is not a film that makes ‘Sin City’ or ‘300’ pale. The film has just too many shortcomings for that. However, these weaknesses do not detract from the fact that ‘Bunraku’ is an interesting experiment that, with a little good will, guarantees two hours of viewing pleasure.