Slavemen

Direction and Screenplay by: Noboru Iguchi

Release Date: March 10, 2017

Lenght: 1 hour, 27 minutes

First off, I can't seem to find the proper spelling of this film's title. Romanized from Japanese, it is "Sureibumen" but, it is either translated as "Slavemen" plural or "Slaveman" singular. I'll go with the former and face the consequences for it.

Like the director's other movies, it is filled with excess and surrealism making the most out of it's low budget. The plot concerns a poor loser named Takeshi who has been chewed up and mistreated since childhood, even his sister and thinks he's a pathetic doormat. He's ultimately left to find solace in the art of filming. But the reality of his situation, confronted by the fact his abusers have found success as photographers while he's but a lowly janitor, weigh heavily on his heart. But not long after falling in love at first sight, he steals a mask from a group of mercenaries. A device powered by anger, it has the ability to erase people and change reality to suit him. Takeshi might think he's gonna have his lucky break, but as you might expect from someone perpetually unhappy being given this very specific power, things are not going to end well.

Definetly much more of a drama than your typical Tokusatsu, the movie starts out fairly compelling. It is predictable sure, but it's nevertheless engaging, especially if the viewer relates to the protagonist's despair. It reminded me of Colossal by Nacho Vigalondo, both films use a character archetype commonly found in Tokusatsu as an vehicle to explore the character's personal demons and insecurities. In this case, the Henshin Hero instead of the Kaiju. The third act is what makes or breaks the movie though. Without spoilers, it does a narrative trope that is universally mocked yet somehow finds a way to make it work to the narrative's benefit (at least for me it did), regarding it's themes about self-esteem and the value of someone's existence as they struggle in day-to-day life.

The costume design and fight coreography isn't anything too special, but it's servicable. The design of Slavemen, which amusingly predicts the redesign of Ichiho for Hideaki Anno's Shin Kamen Rider, looks pretty good. A memorable movie that is probably one of the director's most accesible. I'd definetly recommend it if it interests you.