It’s probably fair to say that Survive Style 5+ is one of the more obscure films we’ve covered on the show, at least for a Western audience. The first – and, to date, only – feature film from Japanese director Gen Sekiguchi, the movie never even saw a wide release in English speaking territories. It is, however, available in full with English subtitles on YouTube. It’s well worth checking out.
The film was selected for us by our excellent Patreon pal Nathaniel De Bell, who makes his long-overdue debut on this week’s episode. He joins us to share how he discovered this unusual movie, and helps us to break down the plot – no mean feat in this instance…
Like an acid-fuelled Japanese take on Pulp Fiction, Survive Style 5+ consists of five loosely connected stories that weave and intermingle throughout the film. They include a near-mute thug who is haunted by a wife he can’t seem to bump off successfully, a middle-aged father who becomes convinced that he’s a pigeon after a hypnotism goes awry and the interventions of an English hitman played by none other than Vinnie Jones.
Tune into this week’s episode to hear our thoughts, plus our regular features including drinking games and sequel pitches. In the likely event that you know nothing about this film, we really do recommend checking it out first in the link above – it’s different, but highly entertaining and definitely worthy of a wider following.
If you want more excellent recommendations for under-appreciated films like this, check out our guest Nathaniel’s Letterboxd page, a veritable treasure trove of unsung classics and quirky world cinema gems. And of course, if you want to join him in our inner circle of listeners – and access a wide variety of incentives therein, make sure you check out our Patreon page.
Next week, it’s time for another edition of ‘John introduces Harry to a classic 90s comedy’. Will this one be a home run or another swing and a miss? Tune in next Monday to find out…