Exploring the surrealist fever dream of the movies of Hitoshi Matsumoto
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Exploring the Surrealist Fever Dream of the Movies of Hitoshi Matsumoto
Thu 21 December 2023 22:30, UK
Stick on ITV on a cold, wet winter day in drizzly Wolverhampton, or indeed any other British city prone to lashings of heavenly spittle, and you might find Dermot O’Leary wittering on about the increase of otters in East Anglia, or indeed, a Love Island contestant trying to make eggs on toast in the shape of their lover’s face. The humble British black mirror certainly casts a revealing light on the tediously dry humour of the country, yet shares a remarkable similarity to the seemingly impenetrable world of Japanese comedy, where contestants vie for supremacy on the aptly-titled Slippery Stairs and run around in giant moth suits, only to be knocked to the floor by a foam fist.
Where much of British comedy originates from the population’s rigid social conventions and general dislike of sticking out in groups of peers, Japanese humour is very similar, with the two cultures sharing a love for wacky slapstick and refreshing nonsense that breaks through the mould of stiff ‘good behaviour’. Few TV shows best represent this concept than Documental, a Japanese game show presented by the celebrated national comedian Hitoshi Matsumoto.
The concept isn’t dissimilar from the sort of fodder you would find in the early days of YouTube, where a video would compile the ‘funniest clips from around the globe’ before challenging the viewer ‘not to laugh’ throughout its near-ten-minute runtime. However, in the case of Documental, a video of a poor young skater colliding with an unwitting grandma is replaced by ten comedians, who are confined to one room for six whole hours where the challenge is to make everyone else laugh without themselves even breaking a smirk.
- The result is some of the funniest and most absurd TV ever created,
- Matsumoto manages to curate an energy as the host and master of ceremonies that turns making someone laugh into some sort of ancient art form,
- transforming the entire challenge into some sort of surreal task where the audience witnesses the existential breakdown of ten national icons.
The show, indeed, gives you some insight into the mind of Matsumoto, with the frenzied creative having lent his mind to the world of cinema ever since 2007.
- A champion of originality above all else, Matsumoto is a rightfully stubborn creative,
- refusing to make anything outside his own realm of comedy that flitters between tragedy and comedy.
Both ‘of this world’ and entirely alien, his films feel like the product of a primary school focus group whose milk has been spiked with LSD, where average men turn into 100-foot tall giants such as in 2007’s Big Man Japan or a gentleman in polka-dot pyjamas plays God like in 2009’s Symbol.
- It should really go without saying that Matsumoto’s films truly aren’t for children,
- even if they feel conjured from the mind of a disturbed infant,
- with many of his films flirting with sexual humour, following in the trend of many other Japanese comedies.
In Symbol, a man trapped inside a giant white cube is forced to interact with the world using scattered willies on the walls as levers, while 2013’s R100 explores a man’s obsession with a bondage club that sees a dominatrix disturb his life at awkward times.
- Together with 2010’s Scabbard Samurai, Matsumoto has crafted a filmography just four movies deep that reflects the eclectic nature of Japanese comedy while celebrating unabashed surrealism in all its glory.
In this vein, his movies are largely meaningless, exploring life on the line between comedy and tragedy on which comedy and lunacy breed freely.
Speaking about his movie Symbol, which toys with themes of religion, the director told IndieWire, "It just came out that way. You don’t have to probe it too deeply. It just became like that. I wasn’t too concerned about it. For example, let’s say this glass of soda in front of us were to spill. Maybe somebody could take it for a symbol. It’s just cathartic to do that".
After R100 failed to strike a significant chord with audiences and critics, Matsumoto has since taken a step back from the big screen, instead focusing on his absurdly popular game show Gaki No Tsukai, which has well over 1000 episodes to its name. Yet, even still, his contributions to the cinematic fold made an indelible mark for all those who know where to look, with his curious comedic contributions inspiring fearless crackpots around the globe.