A bit overrated, but still an amazing film

It's funny, it's tense, it features two great performances from two actors and the director expertly creates a web of odd tension where you actually don't know what is happening for the majority of the run time.

This is one of the best movies I’ve seen in a very long time. You have to go and see this on the big screen.

Actress is magnificent and exudes a hypnotic screen presence in this affecting drama.

So you're reading the comments section to see what other people thought about this movie, and you're wondering if you should watch it (that's why I came here).Simplest way to answer this: do you relish all super surrealist films and have a burning passion for all that is extremely weird cinema? Then you will very likely love it.I enjoy bizarre cinema to a certain extent but this was way past the line for me. Why? For starters, it's too long for the type of film that it is, which is slew of skits and characters that from time to time overlap. It felt like I was watching footage from several films and was hastily stitched together to try and make....something. I can't compare it to other films because I think you really can't compare it to anything (this is also likely why its loved by other IMDb reviewers). For some reason people have brought up the Taste of Tea, Survive Style 5+, Kamikaze Girls and a slew of other films, but to me these films are all a world apart from each other. If you enjoy weird films but want more developed characters with a more stable plot then watch those other films mentioned.I already know this comment will get the thumbs down and will be written off as being "above my head" or that there are specific Japanese cultural references that I couldn't possibly understand, but considering that even Japanese viewers gave it 1 and 2 stars on amazon.co.jp, I don't think it's necessarily a culturally specific film, just a film that certain people will enjoy.

With a project like this, it is as likely that it is a random goof as something with some structure. It could be both. As this was sent to me by a fellow viewer, and because I am so inclined, I tend to see structure. And what I see I like — a lot. It is essentially a series of sketches, some broken up and scattered throughout. Others continue from or extend situations and characters we know. Perhaps these sketches need to be described a bit, as they are what most people will see.They are tiresome in their humor. Unless you are Japanese, the satire will be lost. But they are amazingly clever in terms of the imagery: striking, unexpected and sometimes disturbing. With all the mastery in the images, they are surprisingly uncinematic, as if this was made not by real filmmakers but by TeeVee or music video people. There are little dramas of teen angst and performance played out, as apt as any John Hughes movie. But when it comes to this sort of thing, my benchmark is "Lily Chow Chow."But it is the structure that matters here. The large arc here is the visit to Earth by an alien, we see at the very beginning. What we see is what he would experience of us if he encountered a Japanese high school. The main characters here are three girlfriends and three brothers. Their baseline skits are set in ordinary reality with exaggerated behavior. Layered on that are diverse performances, many of dance that they do that get as abstract as the rest I will describe. Layered on that are their numerous dreams and illustrated stories. And layered on that is the story of and references to making the movie. Any of these is likely to be less or more abstract. They are woven together by recurring characters (including strange parasitic creatures that can be played musically). At the higher level of the dreams and outer framing, we have the same actors playing multiple roles. I haven't taken the time to map them out as I think there is no special insight other than the quantum blurring.This is an adventure in exploring new cinema by structure. It is just an experiment, so we shouldn't expect it to change lives. But I can easily see how someone can refine and master these techniques to do so.Ted's Evaluation -- 3 of 3: Worth watching.

i went to see this film without having the slightest clue about it....and at first i was quite disappointed; some not very inspiring animations...but then,slowly it all grew, to be more and more crazy and unbelievable, and things accelerated a whole lot...then it appears to be commercials within each other, gags, comedy shows, circus, small short stories and in a way they have nothing to do with each other and yet they make this incredible organic of well-composed-complex movie!so a mix with low graphics (and high), fake commercials, beautiful scenes of landscapes and things like that...wow! so all in all the the best parts of Japanese experimental films + all the best from the(Japanese) pop culture...blend it, shake it...and voilà!I was very glad i saw this movie! really!

Funky Forest: The First Contact is a movie that defies description. It is so uncategorizable, so jaw-droppingly strange, so unlike anything you've ever seen before that you can't help but either laugh and/or shake your head in disbelief for most of its 2 and a half hour running time. The movie has no plot. Instead there are a series of loosely interconnected scenes involving various characters who say and do the strangest things. I was particularly fond of the three female co-workers who visit a spa and take turns telling each other hilariously inane stories. On top of that there is uber-hottie Tadanobu Asano, bursts of animation, unexpected song and dance numbers and some truly disturbing sci-fi elements. For the sheer weirdness factor alone, this is essential viewing.