While he has created some of the most notable and lasting entries in the J-horror craze of the late 1990s, this only touches the mere surface of what defines the overall work of Japanese director Kiyoshi Kurosawa. The features he did for the sadly short-lived Director’s Company is an interesting and insightful journey through the visual and thematic landscape which he would explore further in his famous works such as “Cure”, “Creepy” or “Cloud”. “Bumpkin Soup”, also known as “The Excitement of the Do-Re-Mi-Fa Girl”, from 1985 is his sophomore feature and had previously been rejected by Nikkatsu for being “too weird” before it was picked up by Director’s Company. The playful melange of comedy, coming-of-age and even musical is an experimental take on Kurosawa’s core theme of the relationship of people and places as well as the search for meaning in the modern world.

on...