On Blu-ray/DVD: Masaaki Yuasa's bizarre, boisterous (and eventually pretty profound) anime, THE NIGHT IS SHORT, WALK ON GIRL

TrustMovies doesn't know quite what he expected when he sat down to view THE NIGHT IS SHORT, WALK ON GIRL, the 2017 Japanese anime just now hitting Blu-ray and DVD via the combined auspices of Shout! Factory and GKIDS.

According to the press release, the animated movie is "a free-wheeling comedy about one epic night in Kyoto, in which a group of teens go out on the town." While that description is, yes, more-of-less true, it barely begins to give you an idea of the utter strangeness and (I think) cultural foreignness of what you are about to encounter.

Directed by Masaaki Yuasa (shown at left), the movie -- based on a popular novel of the same name written by Tomihiko Morimi and illustrated by Yusuke Nakamura (the latter also served as the film's original character designer) -- is so full of oddball characters, both human and supernatural, and cultural references seeming perhaps rather bizarre to non-Japanese, that uninitiated viewers had best sit back and simply let the movie flow in, over and through them.

Eventually, during the final third of this 93 minute movie, things begins to coalesce and, if you're anything like me, you may find yourself surprisingly moved by the theme that finally makes itself most felt: that of how important are the connections -- all kinds of 'em -- between people.

In the film's most surprising scene, our heroine explains to an evil supernatural being how his misdeeds have actually connected people so that they -- and he -- are not alone. My god, this might mean there is hope even for someone like Donald Trump. (No, I am going way too far with that prognosis.)

That heroine, a college sophomore, known here as Otome (above), is being followed/stalked (but nicely) by a senior called Senpai (below), a probably decent enough fellow who is coming undone because he can't deal with or understand his mixed feelings of affection, sex, love, caring and all the rest.

The anime is peopled with lots of other characters, many of whom are as bizarre and interesting as all else in this very strange and energetic movie, the animation of which is super colorful and often quite inventive -- more and more so as the movie rolls along.

There's a "used-book ghost/being" (above), a love-smitten character who refuses to change his underpants, and a friendly pervert (below) with quite the collection of erotica (further below, with the sexual organs blocked by colorful florals).

Otome drinks like a fish yet never seems to actually get drunk. She can drink everyone else in the film under the table: This is one of her many "abilities" -- and one reason for parents to make sure they watch the film along with their under-age kids and then try to explain it all later.

The movie compares to little else I've seen (though maybe you're more anime-educated), and I suspect it will stick with me for some time. The combo Blu-ray/DVD package hits the street this coming Tuesday, January 29 -- for purchase and/or (I hope) rental. Enjoy!

Gillies MacKinnon's WHISKY GALORE is a charming, spirited remake of the 1949 original

Pay absolutely no attention to today's New York Times sour and incomprehensible review of WHISKY GALORE, a very smart and spirited remake of the popular 1949 movie directed by Alexander Mackendrick. Rather than try to "modernize" the remake, as the Times reviewer suggests, director Gillies MacKinnon (shown below) and screenwriter Peter McDougal wisely stick to the original -- which was low-key and delightful then -- and come up with a film that is low-key and delightful now.

This tale -- of a small island off Scotland during World War II that is suddenly deprived of its liquor and a sailing vessel (three photos below) full of the stuff that is suddenly moored on the rocks just off-shore -- proves a sweet, succulent story that gives a fine ensemble cast the chance to shine together. The movie also captures the look and feel of its 1940s era with ease and charm, and the behavior of the actors is quite in keeping with that time and place. There is, thankfully, no inclusion of the kind of "modern" nonsense -- foul language, fart jokes, hot sex or fast car chases -- that some less skillful filmmakers might use to "update" this old-fashioned tale.

Instead we get an ensemble of townsfolk who are, each in his/her way, specific and amusing, and who join together to bring booze back to its rightful place. (Teatotalers, I would guess, need not bother to view this one.) It's all enchanting and full of charm and the kind of coincidence that is necessary and indeed works well in this sort of movie.

The cast is large and swell, with the most prominent name being that of Eddie Izzard, above, who plays what the film posits as something close to the villain's role. He's sweetly funny and nasty, but even his comeuppance is tinged with love, as his wife assures him that his arrest is just a "slap on the wrist."

That wife is played by the wondrous Fenella Woolgar (if you've never seen her award-calibre performance in Bright Young Things, please do). I have dearly hoped to see Ms Woolgar in another role as good as that, but until then, this one will do nicely.

As the island's grumpy postmaster with two highly marriageable daughters, Gregor Fisher (above) is terrific. But then so is everyone else. And MacKinnon and McDougal see to it that the tone, style and speed of all this adheres beautifully to the era at hand.

From Arrow Films and running a just-right 98 minutes, Whisky Galore opens today in New York City at the Cinema Village and in Los Angeles at Laemmle's Music Hall 3. 

Andrew Ahn's SPA NIGHT: problems with family and sexuality in L. A.'s Koreatown

So far as TrustMovies can remember, we haven't had all that many films that dealt with Korean culture in Los Angeles -- which makes SPA NIGHT, the first full-length features from Andrew Ahn, something of a novelty. And this writer/ director's way with Korean-American culture and tradition results in a movie that, though it goes only a step or two toward any of the goals pursued or hoped for by its three-member family of leading characters, still manages to hold -- via its specificity and fluidity -- our interest and caring.

The leading character here is a young man just about to enter college -- maybe USC, if he can get his SAT score a good deal higher -- and very much part of a tight-knit family that owns a little restaurant at which all three of them work. Mr. Ahn, shown at left, appears to know Los Angeles Koreatown culture, as well as Korean-American traditions quite well, and he also knows how to steep his movie in these and let us understand their effects upon this very working-class trio without undue pushing. We're immediately made part of the work, home and religious life of the family, while the filmmaker's gaze quickly comes to rest on the son.

That son, David, played by Joe Seo (on poster, top, and above and below) with a quiet control that is slowly being pierced by his family's expectations, as well as his own sexual needs, is unsure of his proper place in life. Mom and Dad expect him to go to college, but then a sudden downturn in the family's fortunes changes everything. Dad has known about this for some time, but he lies by omission, as does mom, in more outright fashion, in order to save face -- another time-honored Asian (and for that matter, western) tradition.

Via various plot devices -- all of them realistic and believable rather than merely coincidental -- David spends a day and night with the son of a wealthier family who has been prodded to take David around with him to school classes and elsewhere. After some heavy drinking and (of course) a Karaoke bar, the girls and guys go to a spa -- a Korean pleasure -- for a little relaxation and cleaning up. But, hey, it's men only here, so the gals will have to use the one across the street.

This spa experience changes so much, yet what is shown us proves so quiet and measured that only slowly does David come to sense and then experience these changes. The "help wanted" sign he notices in the spa registers strongly enough that soon, our boy is working there, around naked male bodies that he surreptitiously admires -- as some of the men do him. And not so surreptitiously.

The movie tracks the change in David's responses to all this, as well as how his parents are changing, too. Mom works for that wealthy woman whose son showed David around school and town, while Dad, sometimes with David in tow, takes whatever odd jobs he can find, as he simultaneously begins to drink more and more. (The scene in which David, helping Dad with a "moving" job, finds himself in the home of a much wealthier family is sad and telling.)

The route from teenager to young adult is always fraught, but being sexually "different," as well as economically strapped, makes it darker and harder. By the quiet close of the film, all three family members seem further set on their course ahead, for good or bad. We might might want a tad more movement and story than we get here, though David's at least beginning to come to terms with his sexuality, and with his parents and their problems, make us understand that his life from now on will certainly be different from what it was before.

Spa Night -- from Strand Releasing, in both English and Korean-with-English-subtitles, and running 97 minutes -- opens this Friday, August 19, in New York City, exclusively at the new Metrograph theater. On the following Friday, August 26, the film opens in Los Angeles at the Sundance Sunset 5, after which a limited nationwide release is expected. To see all currently scheduled playdates, with cities and theaters listed, click here, then click Screenings on the task bar halfway down the page.