Screwed (1998)

Screwed (1998)
W: Teruo Ishii
D: Teruo Ishii


This one looks like the rival of Tetsuo The Iron Man, but comes nowhere close to that level of insanity. With a cover promising wild pyschedlic sexuality and madness, what we get is more akin to Japan’s answer to a Richard Linklater movie.

The always excellent Tabanobu Asano (Ichi the Killer, Shark Skin Man and Peach Hip Girl) leads the cast in this bizarre tale of lost love, artistry and loneliness. The opening montage is a David Lynch look into his world as he thinks about his comics, for you see he is a comic book artist, but as we quickly learn his mind starts drifting away from it when his girlfriend breaks up with him. And since they live together, she’s kind of bringing home the person she’s with. He goes on a journey and ends up in a small fishing village where he starts anew, but stays the same. Never taking advantage of the life he so dearly wants.

What sets this apart from some love lorn movies, is this movie is almost devoid of emotion from most of the actors. The dialogue sharp and witty when its being quite frank with feelings. However, I believed I was going to see one of the most insane films of my life and was very surprised. Cover art is very deceiving, don’t get me wrong there are weird dreams and some crazy fantasy in here, but the bulk of the film takes place in a reality that isn’t unlike what we’ve seen before, just presented askew.