Hadashi no pikunikku

I found this a pleasant surprise when I saw it as part of a Japanese Independent film festival at the Walter Reade Theatre about 6 years back. It's a wonderful comedy of errors that gets more and more perverse as it goes along. A high school girl's life falls into the parameters of Murphy's Law as she has an incredible stream of bad luck from getting caught scamming a free ride on the subway to losing her grandma (in more ways than one) to getting lost and violated(!?!). Unbeleivable and hysterical,the film picks up speed unrelentingly as we watch her downfall until it finally tumults into a high powered cartoon of itself. This film filled me with glee for the way it starts off unassuming enough and then becomes so over the top that my jaw kept dropping between bouts of laughter. Mind you, it is a black comedy, somewhat offbeat and some might find the humor here a little sick. But I reccomend it for those with a penchant for comedy that pushes the envelope of what is standard and socially acceptable. Perhaps it's a little more typical for the Japanese sense of humor but I did find it to be as surreal and irreverant as "Duck Soup" or "Repo Man".