Japan,
2003, 80 min
Shown in 2004
CREDITS
- dir
-
Hideyuki Kobayashi
- prod
-
Hideyuki Kobayashi, Junji Ito
- scr
-
Hideyuki Kobayashi
- cam
-
Hideyuki Kobayashi
- editor
-
Hideyuki Kobayashi
- mus
-
Hiizu Taguchi, Tamako Yoshida, Hideyuki Kobayashi
- cast
-
Mayu, Hiroto Nakayama, Misao Inagaki, Haruna Hoshino, Miyako Takamiya
- source
-
Tidepoint Pictures, 655 Bryant St., San Francisco, CA 94107. FAX: 415-546-7086. EMAIL: ijichi@tidepoint.com.
- premiere
-
World Premiere
-
COMMENTS
Hideyuki Kobayashi, Tamako Yoshida in person.
OTHER
Japanese puppetmaster Hideyuki Kobayashi is the founder of Koganemushi Scarabee, a puppet theater featuring animals and insects as characters, as well as puppet versions of such Japanese cinematic luminaries as Ultraman and Godzilla. Kobayashi’s venture into the horror genre mixes babe-esque cuteness (borderline teens in frilly lace and chintzy wedding dresses) with some genuinely deranged chop-mocky ambitions inspired by tooling around with early Polanski, Corman, chainsaws and puppets. Marino is a normal, happy young woman whose encounters with men are less than successful. She is also interested in dolls, which eventually leads her to Numai, the geekish assistant to reclusive artist Iwata, who designs the exclusive and expensive Marronnier line of dolls. Unfortunately, Numai has decided to take matters into his own hands and create his own designer collection. Dispatching his master, he takes a DIY approach to making human puppets and actively seeks out suitable candidates, especially the girl who previously rejected his amorous approach. A mixture of mind warp and surreal unconsciousness, Marronnier has a twisted exuberance that will remind midnight movie connoisseurs of films like Bucket of Blood and Bluebeard.
—Roger Garcia
FACTOID #78
Now among California’s political luminaries, former ambassador Shirley Temple Black and Representative Nancy Pelosi both worked at the Festival in their days as civilians. Temple assisted in film selection in the mid-’60s and Pelosi planned Festival events in the ’70s.
