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Review

If you’re craving an experimental science-fiction/horror rollercoaster that will have you feeling like you just had your entire brain and body shaken and stirred, Meatball Machine is exactly the full-strength cinematic potion you need. A feature-length expansion of a short film previously created by co-director Junichi Yamamoto (the other director here is Yudai Yamaguchi, responsible for the comedic cult favorite Battlefield Baseball), Meatball makes the early aggressive cyberpunk endeavors of directors Shinya Tsukamoto (Tetsuo) and Sogo Ishii (Burst City) look like models of restraint and tranquility.

Meatball starts off as a sweet romance, but that doesn’t last long: shy, lonely factory worker Yoji has a crush on fellow factory employee Sachiko, but just when they start to bond... well, aliens invade the earth and attach themselves as parasites to human bodies. The method of parasitism is grotesque enough – the aliens implant tumor-like globules on the shoulders of their victims and pilot them like robots (whilst also blinding them with devices that penetrate their eye sockets) – but when Yamamoto and Yamaguchi take the viewer inside the parasite blobs to observe the slimy mini-extraterrestrial activity first-hand, you know you've got a stomach-turning winner.

Meatball Machine puts its cinematic foot all the way down on the gas pedal and doesn’t let up until the inevitable battle between Yoji and Sachiko – a touching testament to young love, blood, and alien ooze. (Japanese with English subtitles)

 -- Travis Crawford