SURVIVE STYLE 5+ (2004)

I’ve discovered that I don’t need drugs to have a trippy 2 hours. All I need to do is to pop this film in the DVD player and press play. Vaughan asked me if I’d like to review a film about a man who thinks he’s a chicken, a woman who shoots her arms like rockets and Vinnie Jones. What sort of stupid question is that? Of course I’d like to review a film that sound like it’s come out of one of my cheese-before-bedtime night terrors. Little did I realise what I had let myself in for.
We’ve seen the mould for this type of film before: A number of seemingly unrelated stories that, as they unfold, mingle and become connected, sometimes very tenuously, by the end of the picture. Here that pattern is followed but the stories range from the sublime to way past the ridiculous. So, what exactly am I talking about? Well, first off there is the advertising executive who is always coming up with ideas that she thinks are fantastically funny (and you can tell this by the most annoying laugh in cinema history) but the clients invariably hate. Then there is a man, who after a memorable session with a self obsessed hypnotist believes that he is a bird. Next we have a hitman and his interpreter who work out of an office where the walls are covered in photographs of the victims. Another story is about three bungling no hopers who are just out to burgle and have fun with the booty. These guys produce the most laughs and easily the most disturbing moments: ‘I’d like to watch.’ being the pinnacle of shudder inducing lines. Then we come to the most surreal story of the lot: a man who kills his wife. Not too weird in the normal run of things until you realise that he has to do this a number of times as she has the audacity to not stay dead.

To begin with all of these plot lines are individual and have no baring on any of the others. As the film progresses some of the stories have huge impacts on the others but some don’t meet at all and others only have glancing blows. Because none of the stories is too complex or boring they fit together well and you don’t feel overwhelmed, needing a pen and paper to keep up. That’s not to say that I understood why things happened but after realising that sometimes its better just to accept some of the plot points, I came to the conclusion that this bizarre collection of tales was really rather good.

Visually the sets were varied, ranging from the mundane office block and suburban sprawl to the completely off the wall house of the gentleman with the stubborn wife. This latter set is of particular note as it looks like the interior designer went off, had a quiet moment with a few dodgy pills and then was asked to create something a bit special. The house is huge and is filled to the rafters with chintz and other eclectic oddities. I especially like the reindeer
So, to conclude, the film is bonkers and entertaining. The acting is great (even Vinnie Jones) and the musical score is suitably varied to mach the flow of the film. The special effects are simple and effective, and even when you have a ‘dangling on a string’ moment it doesn’t ruin things as it’s just part of the madness. All in all the package is well worth a watch, although I did find that just short of two hours was a little long. But if you manage to leave the rational part of your brain in a box in a drawer in a cupboard under the stairs, then you will enjoy this film and be hoping, like me, that your next foray into Japanese pop culture is just as entertaining.

There aren’t too many extras to talk of on the disk. There is the ubiquitous trailer, a making of documentary and a ‘Manga Attacks’ selection, which appears on lots of Manga titles now. The documentary is, as you would expect, behind the scenes footage of the filming, including meetings and scene set ups. I liked the part where they were trying to decide how the bird man should throw himself off a hill whist he’s attempting to learn how to fly – cue lots of crew members making fools of themselves. This is worth watching as it is entertaining and insightful, not something I’d say about this section on all DVD’s.