3 Short Paragraphs (Or Not): Prisoners of the Ghostland

2021, Sion Sono (Love Exposure) -- download

I haven't finished watching the movie yet, but I needed to get something down. The entire movie, as I imagine the entire director's repertoire, is akin to a fever dream full of seemingly random imagery and utterances. 

I don't know anything about Sono. That Guy would have known him quite well, or at the very least, had already had seen a handful of his movies, probably in rep theatres, probably FantAsia. As Kent has emerged as the IRL replacement for the mythical That Guy, maybe he has heard more about the director than I have. But, if everything of his career is like this then, woo boy, the guy is whackadoodle. That Nic Cage eventually ended up being associated with a movie from this director is entirely expected.

Plot summary? In a post-apocalyptic future The Governor (Bill Moseley, Repo! The Genetic Opera) rules over Samurai Town. Think of a theme park designed to look like a Japanese town but populated by cowboys, samurai and geisha. One of the geisha escapes. The Governor calls upon a jailed bankrobber, who we see in an intro committed a massacre in a candy-coloured bank, including the death of an innocent child. He (Nicolas Cage, Color Out of Space) is tasked to go into The Ghostland to retrieve his geisha/granddaughter Bernice but the criminal is clothed in a rubber suit with bombs at key points on his body, which will trigger if he doesn't return in time, or he makes any moves on Bernice (Sofia Boutella, Hotel Artemis). To get some extra time, if Bernice speaks into a mic on the suit, he will get a couple of extra days. The border to the Ghostland is patrolled by a horribly disfigured mutant, his colourful bus, and the Ghostland itself is the ruins of a nuclear holocaust populated by people trying to hold back time. Our "hero" gets there, gets Bernice, gets a testicle blown off, and returns. Alas The Governor betrays him and pretty much everyone kills everyone, but with the death of The Governor, the Ghostland is freed.

Nic Cage is "Hero"

Now, if you take the above at face value, its not any crazier than any other PA 80s/90s movie, and that is likely what Sono was going for. Except, despite having a great cinematographer, everything is entirely random and chaotic. Things happen, dialogue happens, melodrama constantly happens. Nic Cage is the least weird aspect of this movie, if that says anything.  This is the kind of movie where critics may either say they love every aspect of it, because they aren't willing to admit they didn't get it, or others are going to hate it because... well, there isn't much to actually like beyond the visuals. There are attempts at camp, attempts at gonzo but...

Obviously Sono has fans, lots of them, considering the production value here. But I am not sure he gave any value to getting his first English-language film.