Survive Style 5+ poster & wallpaper
Get movie widget Recommend it Add to Favorites

Ittoku Kishibe, Tadanobu Asano, Hiroshi Abe, Vinnie Jones, Kanji Tsuda ... see more see more... , Kyôko Koizumi , Reika Hashimoto , Yoshiyuki Morishita , Jai West , Rinko Kikuchi

Director Gen Sekiguchi and screenwriter Taku Tada, phenomenally successful award winners in Japan's advertising industry, make their feature-film debut with the fast-paced omnibus film, Survive Style ... read more read more...5+, which incorporates five strange tales that occasionally intersect. The ubiquitous Tadanobu Asano introduces the film, playing a man who has apparently just murdered his lovely wife (Reika Hashimoto). He drives out to the woods, buries the body, and returns home to find her waiting for him, and not in a particularly good mood. In the second story, Yoko (Kyôko Koizumi), a driven copywriter who constantly spews ad ideas into her handy minicassette recorder, has just had quick, unfulfilling sex with Aoyama (Hiroshi Abe), a sleazy, conceited TV hypnotist who proceeds to insult her work and her personal hygiene. Yoko takes it well, but she's got plans for the jerk. In the third story, Kobayashi (Ittoku Kishibe), a good-natured salaryman, is hypnotized by Aoyama into believing he's a bird. His family has a whole new set of problems when Aoyama is incapacitated before he can break the trance. The fourth thread follows three dimwitted burglars (Yoshiyuki Morishita, Jai West, and Kanji Tsuda) as they grapple with both professional and sexual confusion. The final plotline concerns a hot-tempered English hitman (Vinnie Jones) and his goofy employer (Yoshiyoshi Arakawa), who also serves as his translator as the hitman asks nearly everyone he meets, "What is your function on this planet?" Sonny Chiba has a cameo as the hen-pecked president of a drug company. Survive Style 5+ was shown at Subway Cinema's New York Asian Film Festival in 2005. ~ Josh Ralske, Rovi

Flixster Users

60% want to see it

6,476 ratings

Unrated, 1 hr. 37 min.

Directed by: Gen Sekiguchi

Invite friends to see

report incorrect info

Photos

Reika Hashimoto Survive Style 5+ Reika Hashimoto Survive Style 5+ Survive Style 5+
Upload a Photo | View All Survive Style 5+ Photos

Your Rating


clear rating

Flixster Reviews (627)

  • kenstachnik
    February 28, 2009
    kenstachnik
    One of strangest, most profound, silly, touching, surreal, lovable, funny and oddly soothing films I've ever seen. It will be hard to knock this out of my top 10. Just submit to the power of the film and finish it in one sitting. You never know where it's going to go, just kno... read morew you'll be glad when you do.
  • arashxak
    October 2, 2008
    arashxak
    I loved this movie, Its bizzare tone stylishness hilarious moments oh and its fantastic ending and it has an emotional undercurrent & some underlying concepts and after all What's Your Function In Life? ha ha
  • DragonEyeMorrison
    February 20, 2007
    DragonEyeMorrison
    I guess a movie like SS5+ bases it's whole appeal on how unpredictable it can be, that is not a bad thing per se, but not only a film needs to have something more than just that, there certainly exist levels of creativiy in running a experiment like that.

    SS5+ attempts to be thi... read mores all fun demential collection of gags, all trown in different directions, hoping something will stick. Some do: your average japanese salary man thinking he's a bird after being hipnotized, Tadanobu Asano killing, and eventually facing the resurrected body of his psycho wife again and again. But there are others that not only doesn't work, it feel like just half baked lazy ideas the director trow in, like a woman working on promotional ads that thinks she is brighter and funnier than she really is, or 3 goofy house robbers that have a "brokeback mountain" thing going on betwen two of them.

    I'm very much on favor of films that try to break conventional movie-making rules in favor in something unique, as long as they do know what they're doing. There are plenty of examples of films that have managed to succed in doing that (Seijun Suzuki's Branded to Kill, Takashi Miike's Gozu, Thai flick Tears of the Black Tiger) SS5+ might had sound great on paper, but on screen it feels way too missmatched to actually consider it a full film and not just a collection of one-trick-pony gags. Yeah, i know what you're thinking "how can a film with Vinnie Jones, Tadanobu Asano and Sonny Chiba fails to be rad and actually become very dull?" Believe me, i was asking the same thing to myself.
  • kiriyamakazou
    September 6, 2006
    kiriyamakazou
    A stunningly insane, hyperactive Japanese classic. Interlocking stories that mix the surreal with the real, create a rather unique film experience. A man as a bird adds superb comedy, as does a man who cannot kill his wife. Vinnie Jones steals the show as an intimidating and slig... read morehtly 'off' hitman. Overall may be too weird for some, but at times it is touching and the soundtrack is top notch.
  • lesleyanorton
    March 12, 2011
    lesleyanorton
    This one's a bit random. A Japanese film that jumps about between five loosely linked quirky stories, like the one about the man who's wife won't stay dead, or the one about the businessman who thinks he's a bird. Easy to follow, despite the jumpiness, and great fun to watch - fa... read morentastically vibrant colours and a great soundtrack too. The only jarring note is Vinnie Jones, as the function-enquiring hit man, but his wooden performance isn't enough to spoilt the party.



    From ESKATON666's favourites list
  • spaulsson
    January 15, 2008
    spaulsson
    Pretty funny and some nice visual effects. A little too weird for my taste though.
  • KLFilmmaker
    July 3, 2007
    KLFilmmaker
    Wildly original, but really weird. Some very cool set designs and good music cues.
  • monkeybobbob
    March 29, 2007
    monkeybobbob
    This film is mad!But its also funny, clever, brilliantly acted and makes you think.
  • cacutshaw
    January 30, 2007
    cacutshaw
    Great film. A number of loosely connected stories interweave like a Robert Altman movie with too much sugar. The film is wonderful to look at and I do hope that the soundtrack (which is great too) copyright problems are worked out so we in North America can own a copy of this ... read moretoo.
  • RicC
    September 12, 2009
    RicC
    Flamboyance for flamboyance's sake. Style over substance but still really funny and hard not to like. Some silly bits but each interconnected story is given its due. Almost a full-length version of a zany commercial.

View All Survive Style 5+ Reviews

Critic Reviews

Jay Weissberg
February 23, 2012
Jay Weissberg, Variety

Click to read the article Full Review

Critic ratings and reviews powered by RottenTomatoes.com

Fresh (60% or more critics rated the movie positively)

Rotten (59% or fewer critics rated the movie positively)

Cast

More Like This

Click a thumb to vote on that suggestion, or add your own suggestions.

  • Kamikaze Girls
    Kamikaze Girls (67%)
  • Koroshiya 1 (Ichi the Killer)
    Koroshiya 1 (Ichi the Killer) (67%)
  • Versus
    Versus (100%)
  • Takeshis'
    Takeshis' (100%)

More Movies like Survive Style 5+

Facts

No facts approved yet. Be the first

Survive Style 5+ : Watch Free on TV

Movie Quizzes

Create a Quiz |

All Quizzes

Video Clips

No video clips yet. Want to upload one?

Meet Other Fans

Add Survive Style 5+ to favorites

Recent News

No recent headlines. Got one?

Recent Lists

Make a List |

View All Lists

Most Popular Skin

No skins yet. Interested in creating one?