{"id":35771,"date":"2016-04-17T19:31:54","date_gmt":"2016-04-18T02:31:54","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.the-frame.com\/?p=35771"},"modified":"2016-04-17T19:31:54","modified_gmt":"2016-04-18T02:31:54","slug":"challenge-week-15-why-dont-you-play-in-hell","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.the-frame.com\/blog\/2016\/04\/challenge-week-15-why-dont-you-play-in-hell\/","title":{"rendered":"Challenge Week 15: Why Don’t You Play in Hell?"},"content":{"rendered":"

I’d heard of Sion Sono before seeing this, but mostly got the sense that his stuff would be too weird\/extreme for me. This one, however, is like an actual Japanese version of Kill Bill<\/em>, except even more extreme, plus a filmmaking angle, which you know always attracts me.<\/p>\n

A set of young filmmakers wants to make one amazing film, and what could be more amazing than filming an actual yakuza battle (with their own Bruce Lee-yellow-jumpsuit-wearing action star for good measure). The plot is actually much more complicated than that, involving a yakuza boss, his badass wife and wannabe actress daughter, a rival yakuza gang, and the regular guy who gets caught in the middle of all this, but BASICALLY it’s an over the top homage to 1970s Asian action films.<\/p>\n

\"tf-setup\"<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

It’s also one of the bloodiest films I’ve ever seen, so it helps a lot that it’s so completely absurd. The final yakuza battle takes up probably half the film and is a ton of fun to watch, if you find it fun to have heartfelt love scenes interrupted by severed heads rolling by. Or a girl sliding through an ankle-deep room full of blood and then doing a commercial jingle as if nothing’s at all weird about that. Thankfully, in a film like this, I find it quite fun indeed. The kills are inventive and the cinematography and timing are perfect throughout.<\/p>\n

This is one that had been on my radar from friends who saw it at various film festivals, but I’m grateful to Chewie for giving me a push to get over my Sion Sono hesitation, at least with regards to this film! I enjoyed it a lot.<\/p>\n

\"tf-slide\"<\/p>\n

Stats and stuff…<\/h3>\n

2013, Japan<\/em>
\nwritten and directed by Sion Sono<\/em>
\nstarring Jun Kunimura, Fumi Nikaid\u00c3\u00b4, Hiroki Hasegawa, Gen Hoshino, Shin’ichi Tsutsumi, Tomochika<\/em><\/p>\n

I’m ranking all my Challenge films on Flickchart (as I do all the films I see), a movie-ranking website that asks you to choose your favorite between two movies until it builds a ranked list of your favorites. Just for fun, I will average out the rankings and keep a running tally of whose recommendations rank the highest. When you add a film to Flickchart, it pits it against films already on your chart to see where it should fall. Here’s how Why Don’t You Play in Hell?<\/em> entered my chart:<\/p>\n

Why Don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t You Play in Hell?<\/b> beats Kramer vs Kramer
\nWhy Don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t You Play in Hell?<\/b> beats Johnny Tremain
\nWhy Don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t You Play in Hell? loses to The Princess and the Warrior<\/b>
\nWhy Don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t You Play in Hell? loses to Revanche<\/b>
\nWhy Don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t You Play in Hell? loses to Toy Story 2<\/b>
\nWhy Don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t You Play in Hell? loses to Dead Again<\/b>
\nWhy Don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t You Play in Hell? loses to Triumph of the Will<\/b>
\nWhy Don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t You Play in Hell? loses to The Kid Brother<\/b>
\nWhy Don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t You Play in Hell?<\/b> beats Grosse Pointe Blank
\nWhy Don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t You Play in Hell?<\/b> beats The Lego Movie
\nWhy Don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t You Play in Hell?<\/b> beats Sicario
\nWhy Don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t You Play in Hell? loses to The French Connection<\/b><\/p>\n

Final ranking #890 out of 3611 films on my chart (75%)<\/p>\n

It is now my #1 Sion Sono film, my #1 Jun Kunimura film, my #9 Absurd Comedy, my #20 Action comedy, my #25 Black Comedy, my #22 Gangster Film, my #5 Splatter Film, and my #15 film of 2013.<\/p>\n

Why Don’t You Play in Hell?<\/em> was recommended by Chewie Darsow, a real-life friend.<\/p>\n

A few more screenshots…<\/h3>\n

\"tf-fkbombers\"<\/p>\n

\"tf-overhead-blood\"<\/p>\n

\"tf-blood-dance\"<\/p>\n

\"tf-ready-to-fight\"<\/p>\n

\"tf-glass-mouth\"<\/p>\n

\"tf-threatened\"<\/p>\n

\"tf-clapper\"<\/p>\n

\"tf-yakuza-office\"<\/p>\n

\"tf-why-dont-you-play-in-hell\"<\/p>\n

\"tf-lost-arm\"<\/p>\n

\"tf-rainbow-blood\"<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I’d heard of Sion Sono before seeing this, but mostly got the sense that his stuff would be too weird\/extreme for me. This one, however, is like an actual Japanese version of Kill Bill, except even more extreme, plus a filmmaking angle, which you know always attracts me. A set of young filmmakers wants to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":35788,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[3027],"tags":[3113,3112],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.the-frame.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/04\/tf-feat-directing-fight.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":36497,"url":"https:\/\/www.the-frame.com\/blog\/2016\/11\/challenge-week-44-condorman\/","url_meta":{"origin":35771,"position":0},"title":"Challenge Week 44: Condorman","author":"Jandy","date":"November 23, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"What a fun little adventure espionage movie! Woodrow Wilkins is a cartoonist who likes to test real-life costumes for his comic book character Condorman. Also, his best friend is a CIA desk agent who ends up asking Woody to do an innocuous civilian exchange for the agency. Only Natalia, the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "2016 Movie Challenge"","block_context":{"text":"2016 Movie Challenge","link":"https:\/\/www.the-frame.com\/blog\/category\/film\/2016-movie-challenge\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.the-frame.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/11\/tf-feat-condorman.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":68,"url":"https:\/\/www.the-frame.com\/blog\/2006\/08\/secret-societies-are-in\/","url_meta":{"origin":35771,"position":1},"title":"Secret societies are in…","author":"Jandy","date":"August 7, 2006","format":false,"excerpt":"Last week Treasure Hunters (NBC Amazing Race-type reality show) had its teams running around England and France looking for clues related to a secret society to which many of our founding fathers belonged. Of course, I immediately though \"Freemasonry.\" Because that's been a plot point forever, leading to tons of\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Television"","block_context":{"text":"Television","link":"https:\/\/www.the-frame.com\/blog\/category\/television\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":23452,"url":"https:\/\/www.the-frame.com\/blog\/2011\/07\/50dmc-9-favorite-ending\/","url_meta":{"origin":35771,"position":2},"title":"50DMC #9: Favorite Ending","author":"Jandy","date":"July 7, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"The 50 Day Movie Challenge asks one question every day, to be answered by a few paragraphs and a clip, if possible. Click here for the full list of questions. Today's prompt: What is your favorite movie ending? And the hard ones don't let up, do they? Really, most of\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Film"","block_context":{"text":"Film","link":"https:\/\/www.the-frame.com\/blog\/category\/film\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.the-frame.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/06\/50-Day-Challenge-09.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":1483,"url":"https:\/\/www.the-frame.com\/blog\/2008\/10\/random-review-pirates-of-the-caribbean-at-worlds-end\/","url_meta":{"origin":35771,"position":3},"title":"Random Review – Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End","author":"Jandy","date":"October 8, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"I've had this written forever, and would've sworn I had posted it, but a quick search showed I hadn't. Huh. Well, I'm sure that knowing PotC3 sucked is not earth-shattering information to anyone, but I might as well post it anyway. I should've expected it to be bad. I suppose\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Film"","block_context":{"text":"Film","link":"https:\/\/www.the-frame.com\/blog\/category\/film\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.the-frame.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/10\/pirates_of_the_caribbean_at_worlds_end-201x300.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":36223,"url":"https:\/\/www.the-frame.com\/blog\/2016\/09\/challenge-week-33-the-blues-brothers\/","url_meta":{"origin":35771,"position":4},"title":"Challenge Week 33: The Blues Brothers","author":"Jandy","date":"September 10, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"WHERE HAS THIS MOVIE BEEN ALL MY LIFE. I didn't know which way this one would go, frankly - comedies from the '80s are pretty hit or miss with me. I knew it was a musical of some sort, which is a bonus, but I didn't know really what kind\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "2016 Movie Challenge"","block_context":{"text":"2016 Movie Challenge","link":"https:\/\/www.the-frame.com\/blog\/category\/film\/2016-movie-challenge\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.the-frame.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/09\/tf-feat-blues2.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":35862,"url":"https:\/\/www.the-frame.com\/blog\/2016\/05\/challenge-week-17-stand-by-me\/","url_meta":{"origin":35771,"position":5},"title":"Challenge Week 17: Stand by Me","author":"Jandy","date":"May 8, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"This falls into the huge mass of films that everyone who grew up in the '80s loves but I missed because I was busy watching Fred Astaire and Gene Kelly movies growing up. When I catch up with these films, I rarely love them the way people who saw them\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "2016 Movie Challenge"","block_context":{"text":"2016 Movie Challenge","link":"https:\/\/www.the-frame.com\/blog\/category\/film\/2016-movie-challenge\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.the-frame.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/05\/tf-feat-standbyme.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.the-frame.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35771"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.the-frame.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.the-frame.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.the-frame.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.the-frame.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=35771"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.the-frame.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35771\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.the-frame.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/35788"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.the-frame.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=35771"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.the-frame.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=35771"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.the-frame.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=35771"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}