I was given this film as a gift, and since it was the Japanese release, I knew nothing about the title before viewing it. I assumed, from the cover, that it was a Japanese gangster film starring Tadanobu Asano, who I've enjoyed in every movie I've seen him in. The film gets credit for defying my expectations, but that's about ALL the credit I'll give it.A collection of 3 short films all concerning people running into dead ends. Not figuratively, mind you, LITERALLY into dead ends. Like most Japanese anthologies I've seen, the shorts suffer from a lack of story. With no back story it's hard to really care about the proceedings. The film also suffers from a lack of purpose. In all but one of the shorts there is no explanation as to who, or what, the people are running from, so really you get hand-held camera work to the point of nausea, and little else.The first film started boring me after the first 5 minutes of shots of the main character running(again, no indication as to why), and at 8 minutes I almost hit the fast forward button, but 30 seconds later he came to a stop in a dead end, where he crouched behind a corner. When he kills a woman who he thinks is sneaking up on him, we're subjected to over 3 minutes of him staring at the body, acting nervous. Here's where the film started to defy expectations(spoiler warning): The dead woman begins to rise and act like your typical Japanese ghost, and I prepared myself for a horror film. Then she started singing. And dancing. The music was actually quite good, and I enjoyed the next few minutes, but since this is a short film there really isn't enough time to expand upon whatever the filmmaker was trying to say. Still, it was odd and kind of fun, so I looked forward to the next segment.I have to warn you, if this sounds interesting to you so far, that the second segment is one of the most obnoxious things I've seen in a film. Take the running from the first film, add another 2 minutes to the duration, and you'll start to get the idea of where this fails. The man runs, a lot, from some unseen pursuer, and eventually ends up in an alley that I think is the same from the first segment. Then he confronts the man chasing him, and they spend the next ten minutes of film standing motionless and speechless and pointing guns at each other. Exciting! Sogo Ishii(who HAS made some good films) seems to think that quick edits and shaky camera-work will add the kinetic tension needed to keep you interested, but it just didn't work for me. There's some weird hocus pocus where the actors playing the two characters change a couple of times inexplicably, and a twist ending that I suppose is supposed to add meaning to it all, but again we're given no reason for these 'events', so why care? To me it smacked of weirdness for weirdness sake, meant to seem deep and meaningful, but really just hot air.The final segment, starring Asano, is the most competent of the three, and actually almost has a story. Asano is a criminal running from a trio of cops who finds himself trapped on a rooftop(a nice change of scenery). In a moment of desperation he takes hostage a young woman who turns out to be suicidal. This one ends too quickly, since it's the story that had the most potential to actually go somewhere, but it's pretty harmless, if not as interesting as the first segment.I know some people have compared this to the films of David Lynch, but don't let that fool you into tracking it down. Where Lynch's long moments of inactivity and unexplained surrealism all work towards the emotional heart of the piece, here it just seems thrown together in an attempt to appeal to the MTV crowd(or whatever the equivalent in Japan is). It may be interesting, and heavily flawed, but at only 60 minutes long it's got an unnecessary 20 minutes or more of padding that easily could have been lost.

If you go into Dead End Run expecting the sequel to Electric Dragon 80,000V you'll be disappointed, this is not the continuation, prequel, or sequel, although most of the people from that film are in this one.. the similarities end there.Dead End Run explores the connection between life and death, confrontation and resolution, perhaps even love at the brink of heightened danger. To that end this film achieves its goals by presenting to you a series of stories (three in total) with different views of the same theme. They each start off with someone running, and end at a climactic moment, with little dialog or story telling.Dead End Run is more about capturing a fleeting concept, or an emotion perhaps, its not about a story necessarily. I found this film highly enjoyable, and have already viewed it several times over, each time noticing the amazing detail that went into certain sequences (Steam!) The movie itself does have some faults however, it drags a little too long, while trying to convey emotion and heighten suspense, I feel that it just prolongs the moment and doesn't heighten or add anything to the material at all. However these moments are sparse, as the movie is only 1 hour or so long, the film doesn't leave you hanging for long. Definitely a movie for fans of art, composition, and slow pacing.

But good weird or bad weird? I'm leaning towards the former, if only because the rote yakuza film I was expecting turned out to be anything but, and I do like surprises.Avant-garde might be the best way of describing what happens here: three "stories," each concerning two people, a (possible) death, and the relationship formed between those people in that moment. Beyond that, things just get...weird. In one segment, for instance, a recently killed woman animates herself in a very horror movie fashion, and then goes on to do a long, strange, song/dance piece with her killer.The first and second sequences are closely linked in terms of content and style, whereas the third follows a much more conventional cops-and-crook set up, which seems a bit disappointing - except that it may or may not represent a thematic resolution of the first two. You be the judge.Reminiscent, vaguely, of David Lynch, though with lower production values. Long stretches of silence, heavy on atmosphere; one of the most stunning shots of steam you'll ever see. Not a great movie by any means, but certainly an interesting one.

I Read somewhere that this was to be the sequel to the AMAZING RIDE that was Electric Dragon so i picked up a copy as soon as i could. i must say i was a little let down as it didn't live up to expectations but then again nothing can come close to Electric Dragon so i'll let it off.(POSSIBLE SPOILER ALERT)This film is shown in three separate parts the first two weren't to my liking so i wont talk about them. The third and last one however was great if not a little short. it stars Tadanobu Asano (the man) on the run from the police for some unknown reason, who takes a girl hostage on a building roof. i wont say any more but its refreshing to see some great editing and classy visuals. (END SPOILER ALERT) Not many people will like this film and i must say it is a required taste, all i can say is give it ago