Popular reviews

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  Review by Moresbi ★★

  #46 (extra) - Shinichiro Ueda from Japanuary Challenge 2024

  Progress: 31/35 Complete 💯

  "A hard-on of the soul."

  "Remember who you are."

  "Popuran" aka "Popran", from Shinichiro Ueda (director of the outstanding and quite memorable "One Cut of the Dead".. if you haven't yet... go for it (even better if in the dark)!), just didn't really work for me, on multiple levels.

  The plot was one of the problems for me. At best, found it awkward but it didn't really translate well execution-wise. The first 35-40 minutes felt like a wash and the movie didn't really feel to get into a rhythm throughout. Personally, I enjoyed Quentin Dupieux (similar?) "Mandibles" far more.

  Well, the movie mostly relies on Yoji Minagawa…

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  Review by Carlo V

  Ok maybe Ueda's not getting the most out of a movie about a guy trying to catch his flying penis, but it's still the first movie I've seen with that synopsis so y'know... your move, world.

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  Review by Reinier_Zouw ★★½

  Prank auteur Shinichiro Ueda makes probably his stupidest movie yet, about a man whose penis gains sentience and flies out of his pants, off towards the people his owner had previously wronged. Starts out tremendously funny, but like Miles Davis famously said, it's all about the scenes where you don't see the flying penis. And that's where this falters. The back half consists exclusively of four near identical scenesof the protagonist confronting someone in his past that are then interrupted by flying penis shenanigans. Those shenanigans are very funny, but a little more variety really wouldn't hurt. Still, has about 30 minutes of fantastic flying penis material contained within, which is more than you can say about most movies.

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  Review by anglek ★★★½

  น้องปู๋ที่บินหายกับความหมายของชีวิต

  เรามันบ้าไปแล้วที่เสียน้ำตาให้กับหนังเรื่องนี้ พอเห็นฉากที่อ่านมังงะวาดเองเท่านั้นแหละ อยู่ๆ น้ำตามันก็ไหลออกมา

  อย่าลืมสิว่าตัวเองเป็นใคร ที่ปู๋หนีไป ปู๋มีเหตุผลของปู๋ หวังว่าทุกคนจะตามหาปู๋ของตัวเองเจอนะ

  แต่เอาจริงๆ นะ หนังไม่ได้สนุกบันเทิงอะไรมากมายหรอก เราแค่ประทับใจกับมังงะวาดเองเฉยๆ นึกถึงตัวเองตอนเด็กๆ

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  Review by BjorkShandy ★★★

  The Chase Is Better Than the Catch

  So glad Ueda has finally moved past his tired 'One Cut of The Dead' gimmick. The first couple of times it was cool but then he went on to reuse the same formula again and again. The man clearly has talent so to see him squander it by rehashing the same formula with little to no evolution was starting to feel like a cruel joke on both himself and the audience. Thankfully, Ueda's 'One Cut' gimmick is nowhere to be seen in 'Popran' so for the first time in a long time, I'm actually looking forward to what he's doing next.

  You'd think a film about a guy trying to catch his flying…

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  Review by maria ★★½

  Local man loses dick but gets it back by actually trying to be less of a dick. The thing is (the thingy) that even though it's not bad, it's not particularly funny either and is often too on the nose.

  If you are interested in more penis related narratives (that tell a completely different story), Symbol is bonkers and lots of fun.

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  Review by TheGradWat ★★★½

  It's become clear to me the Uedo Shinichiro is my kind of director, although after One Cut of the Dead it seems like unfortunately many can't find the same appeal in his work. What I have found myself enjoying about his the most so far is the amount of heart he's been able to show in the strangest situations -- first with zombies, then cults and now the loss of a popran. He can veer into saccharine sappiness to be sure in these more recent films, but I greatly appreciate modern directors that are still willing to go there. I love my heart being smashed into pieces as much as any other film fan, but a soothing balm is really…

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  Review by The Black Lodge ★★½

  Nippon Connection 2022

  Shinichiro Ueda hat mit One Cut of the Dead einen Welterfolg aus dem Nichts erschaffen. Seine Werke, die davor und danach erschienen sind, habe ich noch nicht angesehen, aber auf Popran war ich dennoch wirklich gespannt. Uedas neuer Film handelt nämlich von einem unsympathischen Geschäftsmann, der die damit einhergehende Macht für seine eigenen Bedürfnisse ausnutzt. Eines Tages verschwindet jedoch sein Penis und er hat nur sechs Tage, um diesen wiederzufinden. 

  Man darf Popran nicht mit One Cut of the Dead vergleichen, sonst kommt der neue Film des japanischen Regisseurs schlechter weg, als er eigentlich ist. Es war unmöglich, an seinen Welterfolg heranzukommen und das weiß auch Ueda, weshalb er eine andere Art von Comedy nutzt. Während One…

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  Review by Lindi ★★½

  Nippon Connection 2022 - Film #3

  After he made one of the best and most surprising modern films with his funny and charming One Cut of the Dead I had big hopes for every project of his. Last year his Special Actors could fulfill the high expectations. But now he has lost it. Popran may sound fun on concept, but the film is rather sloppy and unfunny. Seems more like a student film than that of someone who made succesful films before. It‘s just in the end that this forms some kind of pull that keeps you engaged. The first hour is more or less insignificant. Not especially funny, but not totally unfunny. Not as clever as his previous works,…

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  Review by Boxer_Santaros 1

  Slight yet charming, just like my cock ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)

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  Review by Pony Chen ★½

  驀然回首

  唉⋯明明「高概念、低成本」的喜劇，就是上田慎一郎的強項，但這次反而是目前三部看下來，最保守也最無聊的╮(╯▽╰)╭。其實某幾段還是有上田一貫的風格，像解釋「Popran」的偽直銷大會（有點像《特約經紀公司》的變體）、在倉庫被「口爆」與對兩個屁孩畫唬爛說服他們，仍然能展現那種微尷尬又噴飯式的喜劇調性。

  問題在於，因為「那話兒」消失必須找回初衷的過程，只是去跟過往心結和解（找前夥伴/前妻/父母講講話就可以了？？？），讓整體變得廉價且過於方便，無法營造出急迫與說服力，皆川暢二有試圖去讓一切看起來合理，卻因為敘事缺失與角色問題，而力有未逮。（畢竟低成本，畫面問題就睜一隻眼閉一隻眼）

  其實原本有潛力能夠拍出如《一屍到底》的瘋狂後設喜劇，也因為概念太強，所以越保守，才更顯得越沒有多大的驚喜（連招牌的大轉折都沒了）上田慎一郎不要首作即巔峰，後面連自己都無法超越了欸。

  P.S.
  裡面一堆不知道到底該不該笑的點，看的時候一直聽到一堆臭直男笑聲，越看越不耐(◐‿◑)

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  Review by HowardStark ★★

  基本上就是軟爛臭直男的尋根過程，再加上奇想創意而成，但走的都是保險的安全牌，上田慎一郎證明《一屍到底》就是生涯無法超越的巔峰，全都是無驚喜的套路，但皆川暢二的表演頗不錯，也有被他的表演給戳到，但就是整體普通偏中下的喜劇。如果拍成高概念的狂想曲不知道會有多嗨，與其看到創意被白白浪費不如讓他發揮到極致～

  一直沒看《特約經紀公司》就是覺得他無法超越《一屍到底》，愛這部片愛到不願再傷害自己，沒想到過了這麼多年看《急急復雞雞》還是略感失望，然後華映的字幕也沒有影展期間傳出的那麼糟，感覺有修過一些（至少沒看到中國用語），不過有些明顯是Google翻譯的地方還是怪到不行，例如Here it is翻成這裡有、I got it翻成我知道了（這是在主角抓到天魚的時候翻的？？？），還有很多很多，這部片最奇幻的地方就是字幕！

  PS主角房間有一張《The Thing》的海報