Why Don't You Play in Hell? (2014)
TOMATOMETER
AUDIENCE SCORE
Critic Consensus: Deliriously manic and gleefully tasteless, Why Don't You Play in Hell? delivers infectious genre fun.
Why Don't You Play in Hell? Videos & Photos
Movie Info
Ten years ago, the Kitagawa yakuza clan attacked the Muto yakuza clan at Muto's own home, only to have Muto's wife fight back. This unexpectedly left the Kitagawa clan in shambles, with their top hitman Ikegmai wounded and Muto's wife in prison. Despite the carnage, the most unfortunate fallout from this attack is when Muto's beloved daughter, Mitsuko, has her adorable toothpaste commercial taken off the air. Now, Ikegami seeks revenge, while Muto only has one desire: to have his wife return … More
| Rating: | Unrated |
| Genre: | Art House & International, Action & Adventure |
| Directed By: | Shion Sono, Sion Sono |
| Written By: | Shion Sono, Sion Sono |
| In Theaters: | Nov 7, 2014 Limited |
| On DVD: | Jan 27, 2015 |
| Box Office: | $28.5k |
| Runtime: |
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Cast
as Director Hirata
as Muto
as Ikegami
as Sasaki
as Michiko
as Koji Hashimoto
as Shizue
as Masuda
as Detective Tanaka
as Mitsuo Yoshimura
as Hitman
as Junko
as Master
as Sumita
as Kunihiro Yoshida
as Tetsuo Komuro
as Toshihiro Iizuka
as Young Michiko
as Young Michiko
as Young Hirata
as Ikegami's Woman
as Mayu Otsuki
as Mayu Otsuki
as Young Koji Hashimoto
as Yoshiko
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LoginCritic Reviews for Why Don't You Play in Hell?
All Critics (31) | Top Critics (11) | Fresh (26) | Rotten (5)
A blood-soaked gang saga that builds to a madcap battle royal.
Sono is so pure of heart, so full of enthusiasm and insane imagination and unwavering loyalty to the movie gods, long after the rest of us have stopped believing, that I forgive him everything.
Delivers adrenaline, chutzpah, and fake blood by the bucket-load, continually confounding audience expectations while offering up a twisted valentine to moviemaking in general and the disappearing medium of 35mm film in particular.
Goofball antics and a terrific, raucous finale can't make up for the essential slackness of its repetitive comedy and punk chest thumping.
From sudden zooms and abrupt freeze frames to lengthy tracking shots, slow-motion, and CG-enhanced fantasy interludes, Why Don't You Play In Hell? boasts an aesthetic insanity to match its uninhibited narrative.
A Quentin Tarantino knockoff from Japan, "Why Don't You Play in Hell?" has some of the master's nutty energy but little of his cleverness.
Audience Reviews for Why Don't You Play in Hell?
The Japanese action dark comedy written and directed by Sion Sono was a real pleasure to watch! The screenplay was updated version of a 15-year old screenplay written by Sono, and has been described by him as having similarities with Quentin Tarantino's Kill Bill. Charming acting team led by Jun Kunimura with stars Shinichi Tsutsumi, Fumi Nikaido, Tomochika, Hiroki Hasegawa and Gen Hoshino was superbly cast.
The story of Muto (Jun Kunimura) and Ikegami (Shinichi Tsutsumi), the two gangsters who hate each other, gets a twist or two very early. Ikegami is in love with Muto's actress daughter Michiko (Fumi Nikaido). Muto's wife spent 10 years in jail and he attempts to make Shizue's (Tomochika) dream come true which is to have their daughter appear in a movie. To save his life, the daughter introduces Koji (Gen Hoshino), who is just a passer-by, as a movie director. Koji is running away and then requests from an independent film director Hirata (Hiroki Hasegawa) to cast Michiko as the leading actress in his film. However, everything soon goes completely wrong.
After a few years making straight-faced, confrontational works like Himizu and Land of Hope, Sono has returned to the joyful gonzo style of his epic four-hour opus, Love Exposure. It has a fresh, bubbly feeling of dark action comedy which is simply fun to watch! Perfectly directed for maximum effects! Interesting and invigorating.
Super Reviewer
Crazy, exhilarating, sloppy, funny, silly, kinetic, cartoonish, and a mess. Why Don't You Play in Hell is at times some of these things and somethings all of them at once. It's such bold filmmaking, so much so I can see it being very polarizing. I, for one, mostly loved it. The energy and optimism the director gives the Fuck Bombers is contagious. And I say Sion Sono at least in part is directing his actors in that way as I recently watched Love Exposure, and some of actors are acting in the same way as the Fuck Bombers do. The movie doesn't make sense, but that's all right. It doesn't matter, because it's so fun. From this and now Love Exposure, Sion Sono is fast becoming one of my favorite directors; I hope checking out his back catalogue his movies are all in the style of Love Exposure and this film. It should be fun finding out.
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