Extraterrestrials, homeopathy, and the afterlife mesh in this oddball Japanese comedy written and directed by Junji Sakamoto. An elderly retired couple (Naomi Fujiyama, Ittoku Kishibe), surrounded by eccentric busybodies in a low-income Osaka apartment complex, return to their herbal medicine trade when a nerdy space alien (Takumi Saito) offers to reunite them with their deceased only son in exchange for huge batches of immune-system enhancers. The movie’s high point is an inventive sequence inside a massive UFO, portrayed as an Edenic savannah where intergalactic travelers might find restorative comfort. The sequence reflects a traditional Japanese reverence for nature, and it helps compensate for the claustrophobic early scenes in which the nosy neighbors trade gossip and innuendo about the couple. In Japanese with subtitles.
The Projects
1 hour 43 min • 2016
