Symbol

Matsumoto is laudably weird. 'Symbol' is the bastard child of a Spanish dubbed 'The Wrestler' and 'The Cube' remade by Laurel and Hardy, put in the tumbler with 'The Fountain' as directed by Darren Aronofsky and a hint of '2001: A Space Odyssey'. After I got over the fact that there's a man in a white room, pressing angel cocks (mnyes, quite) in an attempt to escape, his actions seemed annoyingly folly for what he was trying to achieve. But who am I kidding: I never got over that fact.

Mostly brilliant. Its' central thesis: God is actually a Japanese man trying to escape from a room by fondling cherubic penises, inadvertently saving the career of a lucha libre. It's one big, throbbing non sequitor, and I loved it.

This movie is all about a pyjama-wearing Japanese man touching babypenises. And it is friggin' amazing.

A Japanese man wakes up in a huge, empty and exitless white room, decorated with hundreds of tiny sculpted cherub penises. Whenever he touches one, a seemingly random object appears in the room. Crosscut with these strange events is the story of a Mexican boy whose father is lucha libre star Escargot Man. Bizarre and very dry comedy from the same director/star as Big Man Japan, this is an entertaining film about the interconnectedness of all things. Matsumoto's deadpan delivery is hilarious.

This movie is just fantastic. Bizarre, Japanese humor at its best, combined with philosophical symbolism that will force you to keep thinking about it long after the movie is over.

A story about the path to enlightenment. The final sequence, a homage to causality/ the interconnected nature of all beings, actions and events, is a stunning and truly uplifting experience. It's also really funny and has more than adequate levels of Japanese weirdness! Thumbs up x2

This was just weird. Seriously, a movie about touching angels' dicks to influence reality. Only the Japanese can come up with this... I liked the beginning (when the Japanese guy had to find out what's going on) and the scenes with the feisty nun. Some scenes were pretty artistic, but the stupidness and the really untalented Japanese actor with his long unnecessary pauses really took away from the movie. O yeah, the ending was just retarded... Again... Weird stupid movie.

cool movie

Hahaha, despite my relatively low score, I would definitely recommend checking this out for its originality and wicked sense of humour (the sushi and soya gag was, for instance, very good). It's impressive minimalism with confounding inventiveness, with everything - somewhat disappointingly - boiling over completely by the end. Worst job ever: Being in charge of ensuring continuity between takes in the room with the penis buttons.

Strange little movie that begin with the phallic symbol, or rather the real thing, of child-like power of learning to the adult power of practicing and the final future of what may come. How every thing is connected with the real world (the "seen") and the strange/other dimension (the "unseen") of consequences and advancement. Strange, weird, frustrating, world that mirrors all things that happen in one's own life. A movie just providing a glimpse of answers to that famous "why are we here"?

So, it was Matsumoto all the time...

This movie's confusing, crazy, funny, and not as deep as the director might have hoped for, but still neat. Matsumoto's great acting makes it twice as enjoyable. Definitely recommended - even more so when drunk or drugged otherwise.