One Cut of the Dead

Paying affectionate homage to genre film-making while simultaneously shredding its conventions, Shinichiro Ueda's debut feature is a masterly coup de cinéma that acquired a cult following on the festival circuit. Opening with a bravura 37-minute single take that chronicles the carnage that besets a zombie movie shoot at an abandoned water plant, the tautly edited action rewinds to provide backstory for "fast, cheap, but average" director Takayuki Hamatsu, his perfectionist actress wife (Yuzuki Akiyama) and their maternal make-up artist (Harumi Shuhama). Don't be misled by the slowed pace, though, as this central segment sets up a slew of inspired gags in the closing stretch, as Ueda passes satirical comment on the nature of bottom-rung horror. Owing much to the cast's knowing deadpan and Kazuhide Simohata and Jyunko Hirabayashi's splatter make-up, this manages to be both riotous and poignant, and announces its writer/director/editor as a talent to watch.