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Film: Kuso
Year: 2017
Director: Flying Lotus
Writers: David Firth, Zack Fox and Flying Lotus
Starring: Iesha Coston, Oumi Zumi and David Firth
Review:
Now this was a film that I learned about when looking at the filmography of Flying Lotus, who co-wrote and directed this. He did a segment in one of the V/H/S/ films and I saw that he did this one. I then pulled the trigger to celebrate Black Appreciation in Horror for my podcast, Journey with a Cinephile.
Synopsis: events unfold after devastating earthquake in Los Angeles.
Now what the synopsis gives is something we get in the beginning. This is an anthology with surreal transitions between them. I’d say this is in the vein of Trick r’ Treat where we have one director, a trio of writers that crafted what we get here. These stories have cross-over, but there isn’t much in the way of an overall narrative. It is more about the visuals.
Due to this information, I didn’t take much notes. I did write down the four shorts that tell this story. The first is Royal which features a couple, Missy (Iesha Coston) and Kenneth (Oumi Zumi). They live together and from a line, they might also be siblings. He is into auto-asphyxias. After she gets him off by choking with a belt, he wonders what he can do for her. It turns out, she has this odd pimple on her neck that is alive, voiced by David Firth.
The next story I’ll give details to is Mr. Quiggle. This one has moving parts to it. There is a woman who finds out she is pregnant. She has white eyes and hangs with two creatures that have television faces. Phil (Tim Heidecker) is the one who impregnated the woman. She makes a choice and goes to a clinic. It is here that she meets another who came to this place to eliminate a phobia. Mr. Quiggle has a disgusting way to help.
Smear is the next story to discuss where we have a deformed boy who goes to school. He passes gas in the classroom and is kicked out by the teacher. On his walk home, he finds an odd, living plant that he starts to feed feces too.
Then the final story we get is Sock. This follows a mother who can’t find her child. She hears it crying. That’s when a voice tells her that she needs to go into the wall. She fears this as she believes a demon lives there. She is enticed in and it becomes a nightmare as she tries to survive.
That should give an idea of these stories we get here. I’ll be honest that this is a difficult one to discuss. Going back to what I’ve said is that this is an anthology in the vein of a Trick r’ Treat. Same creative team is behind each of these. We shift in and out of stories periodically. There is a bit of a cross-over at times, whether we see a character in one and then in the background of another. There is also this through line of older televisions. This earthquake that hit Los Angeles and referenced in the beginning has something to do with it as well, but I’m not fully sure what.
Now that I’ve fleshed that out more, let me delve deeper into this. Since we do have the same creative team, I’m treating this as one movie with four individual stories within. If I have a big gripe here, this goes for style and visuals over substance. There are interesting ideas explored. We have social commentary with Phil telling the woman he impregnated that she can’t get an abortion. She feels it is her body, her choice. Rightly so. We have this weird creature living inside of Doctor Clinton (George Clinton). The guy that comes to him for help embraces it in the grossest way. The best way that I can describe this is the nightmarish quality of Mad God with the absurdity of Tim and Eric Awesome Show, Great Job! I remember that show being gross at times but elevate that to 11. Having a more coherent narrative would help me as I’m not the target audience for something like this.
That’s not to say that I hated this completely. The visuals are great. It feels like a music video at times. That doesn’t shock me knowing that Flying Lotus was behind this. From my limited knowledge, he’s a musical artist and from what I’ve looked into, his music videos tend to be surreal like this. I love bringing this world to life that feels like ours, but also a nightmare. The different characters are interesting and the looks given to them are as well. Credit here to the cinematography and framing. The effects used are great as well. It looks to be a combination of practical and CGI. The sound design and music also add to the atmosphere that is needed.
I then want to discuss the acting performances. This is where it gets difficult since I’m not fully sure who is playing who. Coston and Zumi were fine in their segment. Firth’s accent brings something to the thing that he plays. I liked Clinton as this doctor who hides a secret. Cameos by Heidecker, Buress, Donnell Rawlings and Lexington Steele worked. None of the acting is bad here. Everyone is playing a character that fits into the world that was built so credit to everyone for that.
Even though this is a shorter review, I don’t think there is more that I can go into. I’ll say in conclusion; this won’t be for everyone. If you enjoy juvenile dick, fart and poop jokes, plus ones that go more gross, then I think you’ll enjoy this. It isn’t as visually stunning as Mad God, but it plays in a similar way. It still has a nightmare quality. It is well made in capturing that through the cinematography, framing and sound design. The acting performances fit what was needed. If what I said here sounds interesting, give it a shot. Might be one to watch under the influence of substances since it is a trip.
My Rating: 5 out of 10