Kuso

Kuso is a genuine paradox: it is a film that you cannot, with a clear conscience, recommend to anyone, but that everyone should really see nonetheless. The title itself is a play on its (non-)literal meaning, since this Japanese colloquialism refers not so much to excrement as to the kitsch product of pop culture. Steven Ellison's debut involves a collection of unrelated novellas-both in terms of story style-that take place in the wake of an apocalyptic earthquake, which explains the unhealthy state of the odd assortment of characters populating the film. Kusois an eclectic, multi-genre spectacle that uses just about every possible image- and sound-recording format available that is taken up a notch with the addition of psychedelic music and hybrid special effects-a phantasmagoria that dazzles the senses. To put it another way, it is an explosion of body-horror-inspired hideousness that is going toe to toe with our sense of aesthetics and good taste. Ellison is brazen, adolescent, and not at all politically incorrect. That is to say, just the way we like him.