With Dada Chen at NYAFF 2013

With Dada Chen at NYAFF 2013
With Dada Chen at NYAFF 2013

Thursday, June 21, 2007

ACF 034: Aachi & Ssipak

Aachi & Ssipak / Achi-wa ssipak
(Korea 2006)
New York Premiere
A New York Asian Film Festival 2007
Preview Review

In the future, according to this fantastic and fabulous Korean anime, all normal energy resources have been depleted. Fortunately, a means has been developed to harness energy from human excrement - shit, crap, ca-ca, Number 2, or whatever you care to call it.

Every human is equipped with an anus ring that calculates the quantity of each dump. Based on their output, citizens in return receive highly addictive Juicy Bars. Unfortunately, this has produced a sub-race of small blue-skinned mutants who are no longer able to shit. Highly addicted to the bars, but unable to obtain them legally, they have banned together as the Diaper Gang (named after the white clothes on their heads) to steal all the Juicy Bars they can.

Criminal elements, both gangs and freelancers, also try to grab the bars, so they can be sold on the black market. Aachi, short and red haired, and Ssipak, tall and bald, are two motorcycle riding independents who endeavor to obtain whatever share of the action they can.

Lady luck appears on the scene in the form of Beauty, a blue- haired and blue-lipped bodacious babe and would-be starlet. She's become the unwilling recipient of a super anus ring that results in her producing prodigious shits.
These in turn generate huge quantities of Juicy Bars that Aachi & Ssipak sell for mucho dinero on the black market. Soon the two punks are doing battle with a rival gang, the Diaper dudes, and a super government cop for the control of Beauty's means of production. 

Jo Beom-jin both wrote and directed this hilarious film, and it's his first! The beginning references the Mad Max films, and the incredible action sequence near the end cribs from Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom. In between there are clear intimations of the Alien films and of John Woo's work, especially the iconic bannister scene from Hard Boiled. I imagine that there are others that I've missed. 

Aachi & Ssipak gets a 4 out of 4 star ACF rating (highest recommendation, but in this case only for mature viewers not offended by scat and extreme animated violence)

For further information and showtimes, click on the film's Subway Cinema link below.
Links:
Aachi and Ssipak - Subway Cinema, imdb
Jo Beom-jin, director and co-writer - imdb

No comments:

Post a Comment

Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.