Extro (2019)

	Also Known As: -
	Year of first release: 2019
	Director: Naoki MURAHASHI
	Actors: Kozo HAGINOYA, Koji YAMAMOTO, Yuki SAITO
	Country: J
	Genre: Drama
	Conditions of visioning: 14.06.2020, NCF2020, 14" computer screen
Synopsis: The Japanese film studio “Warp Station Edo” serves as an impressive backdrop for numerous historical dramas. 64-year-old dental technician Haginoya is hired as an extra. Not only his own vanity but also demanding directors and the everyday madness on set stand in his way.
Review: In my video review of that movie seen at the Nippon Connection 2020 Online Festival, I was not able to explain the difference between a mockumentary and a docufiction. The Wikipedia page is very helpful with that: "A mockumentary or docucomedy is a type of movie or television show depicting fictional events but presented as a documentary. These productions are often used to analyze or comment on current events and issues by using a fictional setting, or to parody the documentary form itself. While mockumentaries are usually comedic, pseudo-documentaries are their dramatic equivalents. However, pseudo-documentary should not be confused with docudrama, a fictional genre in which dramatic techniques are combined with documentary elements to depict real events. Also, docudrama is different from docufiction; a genre in which documentaries are contaminated with fictional elements". At JoRafCinema we love this sub-genre, represented for example by the American This is Spinal Tap which coined the name, or the British more recent Shooting Bigfoot. New Zealand produced Forgotten Silver (by Peter Jackson) and the fantastic What we do in the Shadows. Belgium the dark C'est Arrivé Pres de Chez Vous (Man Bites Dog) and Vampires. But Japan has a special talent for this genre, as we can quote Big Man Japan, and more importantly the memorable Sky Jumping Pairs - The Road to Torino 2006 seen at the Far East Film Festival in 2006. So I couldn't miss this new Japanese mockumentary, and I wasn't disappointed. It contains the typical element that the pseudo-directors of the Documentary get more involved in the events, and end up getting lost in their message. Indeed in Extro we jump from the Haginoya story (paying homage to real-World Extra Kozo HAGINOYA by giving him a role in the mockumentary) to one of cops looking for a drug dealer to a mythical bird, and back to Haginoya. In the process we meet characters which are too natural (and stupid) to be true, but the movie never turns to obvious slapstick comedy. There are so many unexpected turns in the movie that it feels like the directors had several topics they wanted to show and couldn't settle on one, but it just adds humor to the helplessness of the fake directors in controlling their subject. Highly recommended.
Rating: 7 /10