Kataude Mashin Garu (The Machine Girl), 2008
Noboru Iguchi"I'm a demon. I'll stay a demon until I kill all of Yu's enemies."
The Machine Girl is about a young highschool girl who's brother is killed by the son of a Yakuza, who then goes on a blood-bath of a revenge against all who had part in it. It's a simple film that heavily relies on the revenge plot, much akin to Kill Bill (one of my favorites), and even references the film here (the Yakuza clan is named the Hanzo Hattori clan). But, lacking the beautiful style and cinematography, along with the well written script in characters, it's clear that Noboru Iguchi was more intent on creating something along the lines of a Grindhouse film, also borrowing heavily from the style, tone, and machine gun appendage of Robert Rodriguez' Planet Terror.
The Machine Girl isn't a good film by any means. I actually wanted to watch it because I thought it was going to horrible, but fun and goofy all the same, and I wasn't necessarily disappointed. The script is completely throw-away, so much so that I had trouble finding an apt or even decent quote for the intro. The characters are paper-thin and don't have any depth at all. The good guys are blatantly good, and the bad guys have no redeeming qualities. But you know what, all that didn't matter. It was still a great time watching this film, and at the end of the day that's all one could really ask for.
Sure, no one's going to go out of their ways to analyze this for deeper meanings or thoughts on the nature of life or anything, but it's a highly enjoyable film. In spite of all of it's shortcomings, it manages to be charming in it's exploitation of the Asian horror/action genre, and the low budget feel to it is heavily reminiscent of the Evil Dead trilogy, and I mean that as a huge compliment. This is a film that I wanted to show to my friends immediately, because the absurd nature of it all, and the over-the-top effects and gore (all practical, rarely any CG, another huge plus in my book), gave the film a campy and fun sense, complete with some very black humor.
It could definitely improved with better effects, a tighter script, actual characters (not cardboard cutouts for leads), and a better score/soundtrack (which as it is, is possibly one of the most bland collections of music I've heard). Again, it may seem like I had a lot of criticisms with this film, and they are most certainly there, but I loved this film, and would highly recommend this film to anyone looking simply for a good time, who doesn't mind black humor and (very fake and over-the-top) gore.
3 out of 5
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