2009 · comedy · fantasy
Symbol
Directed by Hitoshi Matsumoto1h 33m2009
A Japanese man in polka-dot pajamas wakes up in a room with no doors. Meanwhile, a middle-aged Mexican wrestler prepares for his most challenging match ever.
Our read: Symbol (2009) reads as a neutral, steady, surreal comedy · fantasy entry — gentle in intensity, mid-stakes in scope, cold in temperature, ambivalent in outlook, with a strong directorial signature.
Neutral, steady, gentle comedy / fantasy, surreal in texture. Ambivalent, mid-stakes, cold.
- gentle
- surreal
- cold
- twisty
- signature
Watching Symbol tonight? Spin for your lens.
Everyone on the couch spins once and gets one craft to watch for. After the credits, compare what you caught.
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Everyone on the couch gets one craft to watch for. Spin the wheel to get yours. Sound on: the narrator reads your mission.
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How Symbol feels to watch.
Each axis is scored by hand, not from votes or genre averages. The bar uses the film's own colours.
What watching it is actually like.
“You want wildly surreal Japanese comedy with a man, phallic buttons, and a Mexican wrestler.”
Skip it tonight — Skip if absurd experimental comedy or bizarre visuals will leave you baffled or annoyed.
Eight films that feel like this one.
Closest in the twelve-axis space, not “people also liked”. All films like Symbol, with why →
Discussion
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