Underplayed Gems

Manriki (2019)

Manriki poster
Original title
MANRIKI
Directed by
Yasuhiko Shimizu
Genre
comedy, horror
Country
Japan
Runtime
1h 28m
Elsewhere
IMDb
The 3D catalogue: film cases on wooden shelves, with the cat sitting at the counter next to its greeting.

The catalogue in 3D

The film shelves have a room of their own that you can walk around in. The cat behind the counter is the AI Catbot, and they pick real films from the same catalogue when you tell them what you feel like watching. Nothing is for sale, here or in there. Go in from here and this film is already out on the counter, with more like it waiting on the shelf next to it.

More films like thisWatch the trailer

or watch the trailer on YouTube

How it feels

A young woman in Tokyo gets a drastic facial reduction using a vise to pursue her fashion modeling dreams. The procedure goes wrong, disfiguring her face and leading to strange and darkly funny situations.

darkly comicgrotesquesatiricalunsettlingbleakfast-pacedabsurd

What happens

Manriki (stylized in all capitals), also known as Vise, is a 2019 Japanese satirical black comedy film directed by Yasuhiko Shimizu. Takumi Saitoh, who starred in the film, designed and produced the film with comedian Nagano. The film's plot revolves around a young woman who, being desperate to succeed as a fashion model, undergoes a grotesque and painful facial reduction procedure using a vise. Her face is disfigured as a result, which leads to absurd and darkly comic consequences. Saitoh and director Shimizu based the film on a script that had been inspired by the discomfort Nagano felt at a fashion-industry event. It is the first feature film by Team MANRIKI, a filmmaking project team consisting of Saito, Nagano, Shimizu, and musician and actor Nobuaki Kaneko. The film won the Asian Award at the 23rd Bucheon International Fantastic Film Festival in 2019. (from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA)

More like this

This page is from Underplayed Gems. Not quite it? You can browse by genre, country and year, or take this one into the 3D catalogue and ask the Catbot for something closer.