As Good As It Gets

I really wanted to like this movie. I feel terribly cynical trashing it, and that's why I'm giving it a middling 5. Actually, I'm giving it a 5 because there were some superb performances.

a film so unique, intoxicating and bizarre that it not only demands another viewing, but is also forgivable as a satirical comedy where the jokes eventually take the back seat.

A great movie, one of the best of this year. There was a bit of confusion at one point in the plot, but nothing serious.

"Wool 100%" is an exceptionally difficult film to describe. It's about two nasty sisters who love collecting things on their daily walks. However, when they bring home some red yarn, their lives change dramatically."Wool 100%" could easily have been called "Weird 100%", as it's an incredibly strange and occasionally annoying film. It's the sort of thing you might expect from Japan and is about as far removed from a Hollywood sort of production as you can imagine! Usually, this would be a good thing but in this particular case, it was just too weird and too much. Now I am not saying I need for a film to be 'normal'. After all, one of my very favorite Japanese films is "Happiness of the Katakuris" and I also like such oddities as "Zebraman", "Tampopo" and "The Eel"--and all of these (especially "Happiness of the Katakuris") are odd films to say the least. However, unlike these other films I just didn't find the payoff for all the strangeness--it just went on and on and the loud screaming that occasionally pierced the film made me just want to turn it off. Not satisfying to me at all--and I wanted to like it.

Good fantasy films are hard to come by. Not many films are able to bring new and exciting concepts that spark people's imagination. We are often left with elves, wizards, orcs and magic. Common elements of the fantasy genre no doubt, but when some people are better at speaking orc language than they are at fixing a tire, it's time to try something new.Wool 100% is not one of those films. It's fresh, quircky and totally unique. It's also part animation and puppetry.Tominaga's film feels like a modern fairytale. While it honors the concept of a fairytale, it replaces the traditional elements with something new and fresh. The basic story follows two old sisters who live in a house of garbage. Every day, they go out to collect more junk, which they treasure and document in a picture book. When they run into a basket of red wool, their life is thrown upside down as they introduce the ever-knitting girl into their house.Although folklore differs a lot between the East and the West, I think Wool 100% takes most of its inspiration from the creative minds of the makers of the film (although that's just my guess of course). In any case, I'm always glad when a film like this comes along, especially when it's Japanese. They have a knack for making films like these.What I didn't except was that the execution would be lacking a bit. Although the story calls for a visual feast, the first half of the film is pretty low-key. The designs and sets are lush but are filmed in a rather dull and disappointing hue. The quality does vary between scenes, but the overall impression is that of a low-budget Japanese drama.There is a turning point halfway the film, where the intentions of Tominaga become clear, but I still feel she could have done a better job with the first half. The film warps back in time and delves into the past of the two old ladies. It does this through some pretty special animation sequences and even some lengthy puppet animation scenes. A pretty interesting twist that fits the story and the idea behind it like a charm.It needs some getting used to, but the different forms of film making flow together really well. Tominaga also provides the film with a pretty weird, µ jazzy and bombastic soundtrack and some pretty creepy/annoying but effective voice effects. Whenever the girl in the red sweater starts crying, it's time to lower the volume on your stereo (check the trailer).In the end, Wool 100% could have been a better film. The visuals could've used some more attention and while the soundtrack is weird and unique, it's not truly fulfilling. On the other hand, Tominaga created something truly special that will be hard to match. It makes that this film leaves a pretty weird taste after watching it. I'm not 100% convinced, but on the other hand it's one of the most intriguing and genius things I've seen in a fantasy film in a long time.Wool 100% is a film that you just have to see. You might not like it, but at the least it's an experience worth having. I just hope Tominaga gets a bigger budget and a better cinematographer next time. 4.0*/5.0*

Two elderly sisters live in a house piled up and over with junk. They go on daily scavenging expeditions to find new stuff which they bring home and meticulously catalog. One day they discover some red yarn which they bring home and in the night a girl with a knitting obsession breaks in and repeatedly knits and unpicks a sweater for herself.The first half of this film is charming. Some of the subtle humour might be lost on a western audience - for example one of the sisters has a western style of dressing and eating while the other has an eastern/Japanese style, and some of the comedy is in the Japanese descriptions of the drawings they make of their junk.However the story loses its way after this. You can almost see the director's thought processes here: How do we resolve this film? Why are the two sisters living together? Obviously the answer involves War and Love Lost. The girl turns out to be pretty annoying. The house gets cleaned up and cleared out (thereby losing all its charm!). The plot starts to fall apart as we segue back in time, and I found it hard to fathom exactly what was going on for the last bit. Nevertheless the animation is great fun - think "Happiness of the Katakuris" for something similar.7/10 - worth watching but don't be expecting greatness.

Japanese cinema certainly has a lock on the "weird" genre. Films like Survive Style 5, Tamala: Punk Cat in Space, Party 7 could only be made in Japan, no other country seems to have the ability to let film makers experiment in such ways. Wool 100% is certainly in league with these other films although it could be considered a "women's weird" film.Two elderly sisters live in a mansion piled to the roof, inside and out, with things they have found in the trash. On one of their daily trash expeditions they come across a pile of brilliant red yarn. They bring it home but that night a strange, wild girl breaks into their house and starts to knit the yarn into a formless sweater. Once finished, the girl screams with an un- natural voice, pulls the sweater apart and starts to knit again. The sisters don't know what to do as the girl refuses to leave and starts to wreck the house. Slowly the girl's presence changes the sisters' attitude to the trash hoard and we start to learn about their past.The film is quite a bit stranger than the description but that's the basic plot for the first 30 minutes. Well-photographed and with a quirky soundtrack dominated by a baritone saxophone the film has two animated segments as well. The director got her start in animation and the watercolor and crayon animation in the middle of the film shows it. It's an amazing sequence however it's not in the anime tradition.The film starts to slow down by the last third but it's still wonderful in many ways.