Review of Survive Style 5+ (2004) by Jesse O — 02 Apr 2009

You know it's a shame this movie hasn't been released on DVD over here in North America. It's been released in the UK, but you need a region free dvd player to be able to see the UK dvd. So unfortunately I had to watch this movie on Google Video and that is something I never do (this being the only exception).

Cause with every movie I see (with the exception of those on free tv), either I buy or rent them. I don't like not paying for my movies, I've always been like that and I always will. But yea I had heard of this movie a couple of years ago and I was instantly intrigued.

Until now I had been hoping for a dvd release over here, but it never came to pass so I went to the IMDB forums for this movie and I read that the movie was posted in its entirety on google video, which is how I came to watch it.

And I have to say, this is probably one of the craziest films I've ever seen and I say that with all due respect to this movie cause this movie does insane very well. It's really hard to explain the plot of this movie without confusing anyone.

It's the kind of movie where you really DO have to see for yourself. But know this, the film is VERY surreal...probably TOO surreal, so don't expect everything to make a whole lot of sense, because to be honest.

..there's no point to the movie, there's really no point..and I'm not saying that as a bad thing. But you really do not come away from this movie having learned something, you were just amused at what was going on screen.

Perhaps there's a point/moral to this movie and if there is, somebody please tell me what it is. But I did think it was a great movie and great fun. It also has a very colorful and vibrant style, which I liked a lot.

Plus it has Tadanobu Asano (one of my favorite actors) so that's always a plus, even though he barely had any lines in this movie. This has been a really crappy review, but I don't know, reviewing this film in really hard.

Once you've seen it you'll know what I mean. But I definitely recommend it if you're into surrealist films, if not then you can probably skip it. Hopefully there's a north american dvd release for this movie cause I'd definitely like to own this on dvd.

So Criterion, get on that shit...I don't care if it costs me $40, I want this dvd in my collection. Plus you (referring to Criterion) have released Michael Bay movies as part of your Criterion Collection "art house" dvd series.

..'nuff said. Get to work Criterion!!!!