Funky Forest is Funking WEIRD (NSFW!!)

Ever fantasized about traveling to an alternate dimension and flipping through television, trying to decipher an alien world? Seeing the customs, the comedy and what they find sexy on planet Xenew? Well with the beauty of freaky Japanese cinema now you can!

Funky Forest: The First Encounter is pretty much that. Several different small movies all weaving in and out of each other for no apparent reason. Unlike most weird Japanese movies, when watching Funky Forest you get the feeling even Japanese people would be confused by this “movie”. I would compare some of the more tame scenes to a weirder Todd Solondz movie (Happiness, Storytelling, Welcome To the Dollhouse). With the sound off you might think a Todd Solondz movie is just an average movie but if you’re paying attention he’s melting your brain. Funky Forest makes no sense but is utterly beautiful.

We are first introduced to our two hosts who are dressed all in white and have a sort of Three Stooges banter. Most of their conversation is so nuanced and Japanese that I had a very hard time understanding any of the jokes. This goes for a lot of the plots in the film. Our hosts pop up consistently through the movie and close it out at the end. They are funny but super confusing. There are also really weird segments like the “Guitar Brothers” which are three brothers (one a chubby red headed white boy) who like to play guitar. Another was three women on a weekend retreat. These story lines seemed to make little sense and go nowhere.

But to keep you excited there’s segments like a little girl in an alternate dimension training her psychic powers or a guy in a field doing several dance numbers for some goth bee queen.

Just when you think the movie might be a dud it takes this amazing turn. A yellow furry man shows up and asks a school girl to yank on his gigantic furry penis. From that point on the movie descends into a freak show of weirdo creations wholly original to this freaky ass movie. Basically the reason you want to see it.

At the end of the day nothing in Funky Forest makes any sense. This isn’t a movie you turn the lights off and watch alone. You watch this with your friends. You watch it at a party. You wait for the good parts and turn the volume up. While Funky Forest might not be perfect it’s got a lot to teach all us Americans who think we are freaks. Funky Forest is the FREAKIEST!