For anyone with a passion for the weird, the wonderful and the occasionally profane, Kibatsu Cinema has become a Vancouver tradition.
Kibatsu is a Japanese word denoting a person or thing that is, by ordinary standards, unusual or unconventional. The cinematic selections curated by the Powell Street Festival’s Mike Hoffman are exactly that. Four years in, there seems to be no stopping the month long celebration of modern Japanese cinema.
This isn’t Kurosawa nor is it Takeshi Miike. It’s films like Yuya Ishii’s “Girl Sparks,” the only slightly crazed tale of a school girl rolling up her sleeves and going to work when her cross-dressing father’s factory looks like it’s about to go bankrupt.
Highlight’s for 2012 include “Abraxas,” the story of a punk musician turned Zen monk struggling with his personal demons that should make an international superstar out of indie rocker Suneohair. Battle League Horumo is based on an extremely popular novel for teens that plays out somewhere between Pokemon and Battle Royal.
Stretched out over four week, Kibatsu Cinema is weird, it’s wonderful and a welcome antidote for anyone.