Prisoners of the Whispering Sono Club

    This week we close out Japanuary with a three pack of films from auteur Sion Sono.

     Notorious criminal, Nicolas Cage... I mean HERO, is sent by the tyrannical Governor to retrieve his adopted granddaughter, Bernice, who has fled into the mysterious and terrifying Ghostlands to get away from him. Swinging wildly between frustratingly obscure and ridiculously on the nose look at how Western culture treats and uses Japanese culture and people, Prisoners of the Ghostland.
     A wave of seemingly unconnected suicides go overlooked by the public until 54 teenage schoolgirls throw themselves in front of an oncoming train. Soon Detective Kuroda is informed by a hacker of a website that is tracking and counting these suicides before they become public knowledge. The first part of a still unfinished trilogy- Suicide Club (aka Suicide Circle).
     An andriod in a small apartment styled rented spaceship on a decades long journey to make deliveries to the far flung remnants of humanity. A visual meditation, a claustrophobic critique on our isolationist tendencies, a repetitive mystery, a celebration of small moments of beauty set among The Whispering Star.
     All that and Dave refuses to explain, Tyler takes secret selfies, and Kevin picks up the slack for the rest of us. Join us, won't you?

   Episode 294- Prisoners of the Whispering Sono Club