Karaoke Terror (2003)

A group of middle-aged divorcees have little in common except that they all have the name Midori and all love to sing karaoke. A group of disaffected young men also have little in common, except for a love of putting on performances of Showa-era karaoke songs. The two groups have even less in common than their members have with each other, but a chance encounter puts them in orbit with each other.
KARAOKE TERROR is quite measured at the beginning, introducing the two groups of very different karaoke fans, punctuated by a senseless murder. It's dialogue heavy and a little bit insufferable at times, as it feels like the film is trying too hard to be edgy and transgressive.
As things progress and the plot moves on the sense that the film is trying too hard persists, but as the somber mood gradually gives way to absurdity it at least becomes more entertaining.
This feels like a conscious attempt at a post-Miike film with its mix of the transgressive, absurd and grotesque - something with the festival circuit in its sights. It doesn't have Miike's sense of style though, the execution is too pedestrian.
The film has something of an all-star cast for Japanese cinema of the era but it seems to have flown under the radar at the time - I don't remember ever hearing it mentioned.
As with many Miike films it probably lands very differently depending on how you engage with it, and I suspect I did not have the right reference frame in mind when I put the film on.
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