one of my absolute favorites!

Excellent, Without a doubt!!

n my opinion it was a great movie with some interesting elements, even though having some plot holes and the ending probably was just too messy and crammed together, but still fun to watch and not your casual movie that is similar to all other ones.

Through painfully honest and emotional moments, the movie becomes irresistibly relatable

This movie has it all:love story - action, killing and blood - humor - surrealism - happy end - surprise endthere is no person who would not like this movie, so watch it, watch it with your friends, watch it when you are alone, just...watch it!I don't know why I don't give this a 10. I guess some less interesting scenes are there to explain/make interesting scenes that happen, but in my opinion only 1 film can have a 10/10, and thats the movie where hot chicks do it with a lot of guys while there's a good story and nice acting with action/gore scenes and a very nice ending. So yeah, basically only the Japanese can make my 10/10 movie and I have seen it but forgot the title, sorry.

First, the obligatory disclaimer: I'm a big fan of Japanese cinema as well as absurdist film, and count among my favorites such as "Shimotsuma Monogatari" ("Kamikaze Girls"), "The Happiness of the Katakuris" and "Shark Skin Man and Peach Hip Girl". Significantly, many of the actors from those three Japanese films appear in "Survive Style 5+", which helps boost it above ordinary comic fare.Also giving "Survive Style 5+" a head start are some truly promising premises, wacky characterizations and art direction like a nuclear explosion in a crayon factory. So where does the film go wrong? It never goes anywhere with its stories, and it takes forever in doing so. One might well imagine the writer and some buddies sitting around, smoking pot and kicking ideas, jotting them down as they come. But so little is done to develop the ideas, it's very difficult to remain engaged.Even absurdist movies need to have some substance (such as Terry Gilliam's more adventurous films); without that substance, it never rises above sketch comedy. Instead of substance, the filmmakers give us repetition, or mawkishness. A serious irritation is the inclusion of far-too-loud soundtrack music from far-too-little-talented musicians. Brevity is the very soul of wit, and nothing proves this -- one way or the other -- like comedic films. But the director seems to be so enamored with some of his plot lines that he keeps them on life support far longer than they remain viable.It really is a shame. With better development of those inventive ideas, without the pointless and emotionally false "touching" scenes, without the music and with about 20 minutes of flab cut out, "Survive Style 5+" could've been right up there with the best in absurdist Japanese comedies. Instead, I found it increasingly unpleasant and lifeless, to the point where I couldn't wait for it to end.

There are 5 stories that somehow connect but not really intertwine (this is the deceptive part), however, I liked all of them, the movie puts a especial emphasis in bizarreness, but it doesn't go too far.Wife and Husband- This is in fact the fantastic part of the movie, the silentness of the wife is the main tool for getting you into that sweet vacillation of whether things are real or not, but there are lot more, as the costumes she wears every time (Which reminds me to a movie knows as "héroe" by this latitudes) and the phase-shifts. Here we also have the sweet dose of violence.Killers - I got pretty surprised when I ran into "Big Chris"! The contrast between Jones and the translator was way bizarre. There's not much going on here, since both of them are like a lone functional character.Birdman- The "strange" vector of the film, yet the cutest, Keiichi's perspective keeps the frankness of children accurately. I LOVED the teacher scene.Yoko the Creative- Oh god, Yoko's ideas for commercials are so unfunny they become funny, and Yoko is funny herself. Really laugh with the way she laughs and with the wild winking when she's having her "afflati". Here I may mark two characters I would had LOVED to see a little bit more of = The café girls. The accident girl was so funnily pathetic, and that were really strengthened by the uncaring friend. I wonder what would have happened to her if she'd got a third scene!!The Housebreakers = And again we find a bizarre contrast, this time between the "ugly" and the "sexy" burglars. This story takes little of the film's length and it is also the most disconnected one, but adds a funky "sexuality" note.And to finish, I liked the music.

By far one of the oddest, yet most brilliant movies of 2004. Five separate stories led by each story's own bizarre set of characters, end up tying together in a set of unusual consequences. Fantastic Cinematography, characterization, and story. This movie is truly one of kind.Other movies containing the basic storyline of character's lives tying together in unusual consequences, such as "Magnolia," can't compare to the charm Survive Style 5+ has. From director, Gen Sekiguchi, who directed commercials of his own (those who have seen the movie know what I'm referring to) in Japan prior to Survive Style 5+. The movie contains brilliant colors, especially in Aman's mansion. Magnificent colors of bright blues, reds, and greens make the movie worth turning your head for straight from the beginning.Some of the characters include Aman (Tadanobu Asano) who is fantastic in the role of a silent killer. Murdering his wife only to have her stirring in her grave for revenge. A game show hit called "Viva Friends" hosted by an awkward man with strange behavior who is able to hypnotize his audience, only to be murdered by a foreign hit man (Vinnie Jones).An everyday family having an obsession with the game show "Viva Friends" which only leads to their father being hypnotized into thinking he is a bird. Upon the hypnotists death, the dad is unable to recover from his hypnotism, and is forced to be bird-dad from then on.A young group of miscreants thieving neighborhood houses while still entertaining those watching the movie with their humorous conversations, and relationships between the trio. Finally a women named Yoko who creates commercials for several companies such as one led by Kazama, the Advertising Company President (Shinichi Chiba) that distributes aspirin pills. Her commercials have a bizarre joke tone to them, and most of the commercials end up being rejected due to the lack of understanding of what the product actually does for the consumer.How the stories pull off tying each other together is truly brilliant. Definitely a great ending the movie deserved, but I'll let you see that for yourself. Anyone who can laugh at bizarre situations, and conversations will love the dialogue and the movie altogether. 8.5/10