Rubber's Lover Review

I'm wondering whether I'm over excited or that this is the most underrated film of all time. Rubber's Lover is a black and white cyberpunk film by Shozin Fukui (964 Pinnochio). I say cyberpunk, not so much as a genre description, but really to give you some idea of what you're in for. 

While it would be easy to think of Tetsuo when referring to a B&W Japanese underground film, the two films are actually quite different, at least formalistically. A closer reference point would be Eraserhead, or even Tetsuo's sequel Body Hammer.

The films plot revolves around two scientist's experiments with a combination of ether, rubber suits which deprive the body of oxygen and DDD (direct digital drive) a device which bombards the listener with dissonant sounds. These experiments are used to unlock some psychic power in their subjects, but every experiment so far has been a failure. The films plot begins to matter less as the movie goes on, and at a certain point it's better to just go along for the ride.  What does seem coherent throughout the film is the directors exploration of the concept that when mental anguish exceeds physical pain evolution occurs. He explored this in his previous film 964 Pinnochio (possibly even more explicitly), but I found the film to be so hard to watch, it was difficult to extract ideas from it. Which is not something I typically say. 

What I kept thinking throughout the entire film was that this is an individual who is completely in control of his medium. Every shot is beautiful, and every scene has it's own perverse logic. This is truly a visually stunning film. It's probably obligatory for me to say that this film is not for everyone, so I guess I will. If you are easily disturbed or offended than steer fairly well clear of this one (as well as my blog, there will be no more warnings of this kind).

I wanted to start out my reviews out with a movie I really liked, so don't think i will always be giving out good ratings, but in my opinion, this is a great film. Realistically I should probably give it an 8, but, I seriously cannot find much not to like about this film, even the ending which might be a bit of letdown to some people, I found to be very fitting. Be sure to check out the interview with the director afterwards. It's interesting and gives some cool insight into the film as well as the directors personal philosophy.

10/10