Dead End Run

Dead End Run is the first film by Ishii since the spectacular Electric Dragon 80,000 V (shown at the 2001 festival), to which some unsuspecting viewers can still think back with amazed ears and others with a feeling of euphoria that is difficult to place. Ishii continues on the road he had taken. Dead End Run is made up of three short films really. In the first part, we see a man (Iseya Yusuke, the director of Kakuto) who is pursued by a female robot with a predilection for musical songs. In part two, the pursuit revolves around Nagase Masatoshi (well known as the tourist from Clara Law’s Autumn Moon, but also to be seen in Goju and Electric Dragon), who is driven by a hitman into the same dead end alley (hence the umbrella title). In part three, Asano Tadanobu is pursued by the police: he ends up on a roof where he kidnaps a girl who was there in order to commit suicide.Ishii’s films combine the breathless nature of commercials and action films with the uncompromising sensibility of the experimental film. They are physical experiences, partly thanks to the soundtrack, that places high demands on the technical facilities of the cinema. Loud guitars, but also extremely amplified background and motion sounds, together with technically perfect, vibrating zooms and fast close ups, combine to ensure an overwhelming experience.