When filmmaker Tadashi Kobayashi (Tatsuhiro Yamaoka) begins to hold open auditions for a new studio-sponsored film, a wave of experienced and aspiring actors scramble to apply, yearning for a chance to work with the genius director. Behind the scenes, however, Kobayashi struggles to finish the script on schedule and the production quickly spirals out of control. A funny, chaotic and consistently interesting showcase of Sion Sono’s versatile talents, Red Post on Escher Street is a return-to-roots film for the director that develops, in typical Sono fashion, into a boldly subversive affair—a brazenly tongue-in-cheek portrait of the Japanese film industry that harkens to Sono’s own career as one of the most distinctive voices in world cinema. Co-presented with Grasshopper Film.
“A success from Sono… [that] touches the heights needed to call it a masterpiece and marks its spot as one of the essential films of a career marked by high workrate and stylistic variations.” —Asian Movie Pulse
Streaming in the U.S. from February 5-18 as part of 21st Century Japan: Films from 2001-2020
In Japanese with English subtitles