Film: The Machine Girl
Release date: 18th May 2009 (HMV Exclusive)
Certificate: 18
Running time: 97 mins
Director: Noburu Iguchi
Starring: Minase Yashiro, Asami, Kentarô Shimazu
Genre: Action/Comedy/Crime/Horror
Studio: Cine Asia
Format: DVD
Country: Japan
Since its release in 2008, The Machine Girl has gained a cult following across the globe, and it’s easy to see why. Anyone who has watched the brilliant trailer online will have either laughed out loud or been ashamed their eyes have born witness to something so ridiculous, but there is much more to this film than missing limbs, gore and deadly underwear.
When Ami’s (Minase Yashiro) brother Yu (Ryôsuke Kawamura) and his friend Tagashi are murdered by the school bully Sho (Nishihara), the scene is set for your fairly typical revenge story. Unfortunately for Ami, Sho is also the son of local yakuza boss, part-time ninja and full-time crackpot Ryuji Kimura (a marvellously deranged Kentarô Shimazu who resembles the more evil twin of Enter The Dragon’s Kien Shih).
Ami soon tracks down one of the members of Sho’s gang, and so begins a series of ever more outrageous confrontations. This first encounter ends in Ami’s hand being turned into the infamously daft looking piece of tempura as witnessed in the trailer. If only this was the worst thing that happens to her hand, but a later scene showing Ami’s arm being broken with a bat before her fingers are sliced off and her arm severed will make even those with the strongest of constitutions flinch.
Ami is not the kind of schoolgirl who will let a lost limb hold her back, so she teams up with Tagashi’s grieving parents Miki (Asami) and Suguru (Yûya Ishikawa) to plot their revenge on the Kimura gang and, thanks to Suguru’s engineering skills, Ami soon has some new weaponised arm attachments to help in the battle against the evil Kimura gang.
All roads lead to the final showdown and various ninjas, civilians possessed with the spirits of ninjas, and yakuza henchman are dispatched by Ami and Miki on the way to the pay off battle involving the now legendary ‘drill bra’, surely overtaking the dildo knife from Se7en as the most deadly underwear in the history of cinema…
The plot follows the standard for most revenge thrillers; the victim suffers a tragedy and sets out for revenge before suffering a huge setback, in this case is the loss of a limb. The hero then fights back and eventually reaches a showdown with the killers.
Writer/director Noburu Iguchi didn’t weigh himself down with plot – the film is about outrageous set pieces, tanker loads of blood, huge amounts of energy and some of the most imaginative use of prosthetics you are likely to see in your lifetime.
There are so many standout scenes in the film, the tempura hand for instance is hilarious and sets the tone for the film nicely. The torture scene involving Ami, Miki, a mallet, a Kimura henchman and a lot of nails is also brilliant, as is the moment the same henchman is accidentally shot in the head by one of his own. It is apparent everyone involved has bought into the cartoonish world created by director Iguchi, and it looks like all the actors, particularly scene stealer Hinoka, who plays insane sex-bomb Violet Kimura, are having a riot. Fingers and limbs are blown, chopped and shot off, and generally treated with utter contempt. What’s great about The Machine Girl is that by using prosthetics the makers have emphasised the cartoonish aspects of the violence without losing the heart and soul of what they are doing. These people really care.
Of course, at the end of the day we are talking about a kill-crazy, comedy gore-fest. The Machine Girl has absolutely nothing to say about anything, and there are no new plot ideas on show either. The acting is wildly unpredictable, and the dialogue is clunky and ridiculous - even for a comedy gore-fest!
Fans of this genre of Japanese film will recognise some familiar sub-plots; there is extreme violence happened upon and caused by schoolgirls, there is a hint at not one but two lesbian relationships, and most of the men in the film are generally pathetic. Stylistically there are some familiar friends as well; numerous camera angles shot through or up the main protagonist’s mini-skirt, plenty of ninja throwing stars, bucket load after bucket load of blood spraying everywhere - you will have seen this all before.
What sets The Machine Girl apart is the sheer brute force, style and energy on display in just about every scene. The viewer is aware that the villains are going to become ever weirder and extreme as Ami and Miki get closer to their goal, but the way in which the various deaths are executed on the journey has to be seen to be believed. The effects of some of the prosthetics are just glorious, so much more satisfying than CG ever could be. The story is ridiculous, but there are laughs aplenty and everyone is in on the joke.
The Machine Girl is not a great film, but it was never meant to be. It is an enjoyably silly romp filled with truly memorable scenes, and made by people who believe movies can be ridiculous and wholeheartedly entertaining. SM
When Ami’s (Minase Yashiro) brother Yu (Ryôsuke Kawamura) and his friend Tagashi are murdered by the school bully Sho (Nishihara), the scene is set for your fairly typical revenge story. Unfortunately for Ami, Sho is also the son of local yakuza boss, part-time ninja and full-time crackpot Ryuji Kimura (a marvellously deranged Kentarô Shimazu who resembles the more evil twin of Enter The Dragon’s Kien Shih).
Ami soon tracks down one of the members of Sho’s gang, and so begins a series of ever more outrageous confrontations. This first encounter ends in Ami’s hand being turned into the infamously daft looking piece of tempura as witnessed in the trailer. If only this was the worst thing that happens to her hand, but a later scene showing Ami’s arm being broken with a bat before her fingers are sliced off and her arm severed will make even those with the strongest of constitutions flinch.
Ami is not the kind of schoolgirl who will let a lost limb hold her back, so she teams up with Tagashi’s grieving parents Miki (Asami) and Suguru (Yûya Ishikawa) to plot their revenge on the Kimura gang and, thanks to Suguru’s engineering skills, Ami soon has some new weaponised arm attachments to help in the battle against the evil Kimura gang.
All roads lead to the final showdown and various ninjas, civilians possessed with the spirits of ninjas, and yakuza henchman are dispatched by Ami and Miki on the way to the pay off battle involving the now legendary ‘drill bra’, surely overtaking the dildo knife from Se7en as the most deadly underwear in the history of cinema…
The plot follows the standard for most revenge thrillers; the victim suffers a tragedy and sets out for revenge before suffering a huge setback, in this case is the loss of a limb. The hero then fights back and eventually reaches a showdown with the killers.
Writer/director Noburu Iguchi didn’t weigh himself down with plot – the film is about outrageous set pieces, tanker loads of blood, huge amounts of energy and some of the most imaginative use of prosthetics you are likely to see in your lifetime.
There are so many standout scenes in the film, the tempura hand for instance is hilarious and sets the tone for the film nicely. The torture scene involving Ami, Miki, a mallet, a Kimura henchman and a lot of nails is also brilliant, as is the moment the same henchman is accidentally shot in the head by one of his own. It is apparent everyone involved has bought into the cartoonish world created by director Iguchi, and it looks like all the actors, particularly scene stealer Hinoka, who plays insane sex-bomb Violet Kimura, are having a riot. Fingers and limbs are blown, chopped and shot off, and generally treated with utter contempt. What’s great about The Machine Girl is that by using prosthetics the makers have emphasised the cartoonish aspects of the violence without losing the heart and soul of what they are doing. These people really care.
Of course, at the end of the day we are talking about a kill-crazy, comedy gore-fest. The Machine Girl has absolutely nothing to say about anything, and there are no new plot ideas on show either. The acting is wildly unpredictable, and the dialogue is clunky and ridiculous - even for a comedy gore-fest!
Fans of this genre of Japanese film will recognise some familiar sub-plots; there is extreme violence happened upon and caused by schoolgirls, there is a hint at not one but two lesbian relationships, and most of the men in the film are generally pathetic. Stylistically there are some familiar friends as well; numerous camera angles shot through or up the main protagonist’s mini-skirt, plenty of ninja throwing stars, bucket load after bucket load of blood spraying everywhere - you will have seen this all before.
What sets The Machine Girl apart is the sheer brute force, style and energy on display in just about every scene. The viewer is aware that the villains are going to become ever weirder and extreme as Ami and Miki get closer to their goal, but the way in which the various deaths are executed on the journey has to be seen to be believed. The effects of some of the prosthetics are just glorious, so much more satisfying than CG ever could be. The story is ridiculous, but there are laughs aplenty and everyone is in on the joke.
The Machine Girl is not a great film, but it was never meant to be. It is an enjoyably silly romp filled with truly memorable scenes, and made by people who believe movies can be ridiculous and wholeheartedly entertaining. SM
I have no idea who watches these awful films
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