The Gesuidouz (2024) TIFF Review- Forget Ennui, let’s make all your absurd punk rock band dreams come true!

With a benevolent approach to the concept of general malaise, Director Kenichi Ugana‘s latest horror punk-styled satire, ‘The Gesuidouz‘, will have you laughing, hooting and crying simultaneously. It isn’t a musical, but it sure contains some cool music!

26-year-old Hanako (Natsuko) is convinced she will die at 27- just like her idols, Jim Morrison and Kurt Cobain. Typically, when you ask an artist what punk means to them, they give careful answers. But to Hanako, “Punk is like this miso soup.” Her dream? She wants her band to headline the Glastonbury Music Festival.

She is the only female lead singer in an up-and-coming Japanese punk band where the band name means “guesthouse”. The other members of the band include the guitarist Masao (Leo Imamura), bassist Ryuzo (Yutaka Kyan) and drummer Santarou (Rocko Zevenbergen).

On her 26^th birthday, the band is informed about their disappointing sales records by their manager, Takamura (Yuya Endo), who proceeds to propose a new idea in a last-ditch effort—move to the countryside and make a record that becomes a big hit. If that fails, he will be forced to drop them from the label.

Almost instantly, these 4 misfit members of this peculiar Japanese punk band head to a remote village with no cell phone coverage. This marks the commencement of their creative imaginations and idea generations, which help them produce enough music, making Takamura very happy!

The acting cue by the cast was simply comedic. With punk-clown-like costumes and flawless timing in dialogue delivery, they created an unbeatably enthusiastic vibe during the premiere screening of the ‘Midnight Madness’ segment at the Toronto International Film Festival. This sardonic style, a la Aki Kaurismäki, masks unexpectedly poignant passages coupled with unwavering humour.

Interestingly, towards the third act, despite the complete absurdity in the jarring sounds, the eccentricity of the characters and the inscrutable oddity of singing punk in the Japanese countryside, this film resonates with you through the message highlighting the vitality of self-expression.

There is beauty in every form of art, irrespective of where you are and what you are doing. Therefore, it’s best to never give up on yourself and keep going. There’s a whole world out there, waiting to cheer you on!