Junk Head

Not only the direction and scenario writing but almost all work, including voices, sculpting puppets, lighting, camera operating, editing, composing music, were, in the beginning, done by Hori alone.{{r|NYAFF 2021-08-06}}{{r|fantasia-2021-junk-head-review}}{{r|Helsinki International Film Festival 2021}} At first, he assumed like most people that "films are not a one-man project".{{r|Ishii 2021}} Then, hearing that Makoto Shinkai made his first film, Voices of a Distant Star, by himself, and, inspired by Shinkai's story, he decided to try to make a film and ventured into the world of film-making at almost forty years old.{{r|Ishii 2021}} However, Hori had neither knowledge nor experience in film-making, and was entirely self-taught.{{r|Asahi 2021-05-03}} It took Hori four years to make a short version of the film for a preview.{{r|Asahi 2021-05-03}} He made a long version for theatrical release with a small team.{{r|Asahi 2021-05-03}} It took around seven years to complete the final product.{{r|NYAFF 2021-08-06}}{{r|Fantastic Fest 2021 Austin}} The short version was released at 2013, the long version was released at 2017 and re-edited long version at 2021.{{r|Ishii 2021}}

The story is set in a distant future world where humans have received longevity but lost their fertility, and are nearly extinct by population decline.{{r|Asahi 2021-05-03}}{{r|JFF in Australia 2021}} The protagonist, a cyborg explorer, enters an underground world where artificially created species live.{{r|Asahi 2021-05-03}}{{r|NYAFF 2021-08-06}} His mission is intended to research for their secrets of reproductivity.{{r|NYAFF 2021-08-06}} As the story goes on, it becomes gradually clear that the underground world is a kind of dystopia where dangerous monsters roam or ambush,{{r|Asahi 2021-05-03}}{{r|NYAFF 2021-08-06}} and that the artificially created intelligent species developed a unique society.{{r|Kotzathanasis 2021}} The story ends in an unexpected manner.{{r|Asahi 2021-05-03}} Director Hori noted the film was the first part of a trilogy.{{efn|As of the year 2021, Director Hori was collecting money for making the next film by crowdfunding and running his interior decoration business.{{r|Ishii 2021}} }}{{r|Asahi 2021-05-03}}

The film is described as "grotesque but humorous".{{r|Asahi 2021-05-03}}{{r|JFF in Australia 2021}} A reviewer of the Fantasia International Film Festival 2021 noted that the film might be too weird for more mainstream anime fans.{{r|fantasia-2021-junk-head-review}} Siddhant Adlakha of Fantastic Festival 2021, Austin, Texas, mentioned that nightmarish creature designs in the film "evoke H.R. Giger".{{r|Fantastic Fest 2021 Austin}} A page for the Festival Européen du Film Fantastique de Strasbourg 2021 guessed that the designs are inspired by not only Giger but also Jerome Bosch and M.C. Escher,{{r|Strasbourg Festival 2021}} and pointed out that the film called to mind Grand-Guignol in its post-apocalyptic and horrifying atmosphere.{{r|Strasbourg Festival 2021 Golden Stork}} A curator of the 20th New York Asian Film Festival noted that Director Hori's world may channel to the Brothers Quay, Jan Švankmajer, Terry Gilliam, Edward Gorey and others, on the other hand, emphasized the originality of the Director Hori.{{r|NYAFF 2021-08-06}} Director Guillermo del Toro lauded a short version of the film as a "work of deranged brilliance".{{r|Ishii 2021}}{{cite web |url=https://twitter.com/RealGDT/status/926093178234585088 |website=Twitter |title=Guillermo del Toro's Official Twitter|access-date=2021-11-06}}

A description by the Japanese Film Festival 2021 in Australia guessed that the film was the humorous appropriation of a classic Nietzschean idea: "God is dead and we killed him".{{r|JFF in Australia 2021}} However, the reviewer of the Fantasia Film Festival 2021 opined that Hori could have focused on the narrative themes of the film{{snd}}the nature of humanity and mortality{{snd}}but he did not do so, and the protagonist, who is called "God" by the underground residents, is preoccupied with being chased by the monsters and engaging in comedic interactions with different humanoid groups.{{r|fantasia-2021-junk-head-review}} The reviewer concluded that the film is "about just basking in the cool, creepy world Takahide Hori has created".{{r|fantasia-2021-junk-head-review}}

A reviewer of Asian movies Kotzathanasis appreciated that the film was made to be virtually silent with the only words uttered actually being incoherent sounds.{{r|Kotzathanasis 2021}} The reason for the appreciation is that it allowed the spectator to focus on the extraordinary images rather than the dialogue.{{r|Kotzathanasis 2021}}

The film won the best animated feature award in the 2017 Fantasia Film Festival.{{r|JFF in Australia 2021}} Director Hori won the best director of a new wave feature in the 2017 Fantastic Festival.{{r|JFF in Australia 2021}} The film won the Golden Stork in the international animated film competition of the Festival Européen du Film Fantastique de Strasbourg 2021.{{r|Strasbourg Festival 2021 Golden Stork}}

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{{reflist |30em |refs={{cite web |url=https://www.asahi.com/ajw/articles/14334088 |title=Self-taught animator spends 7 years on 'Junk Head' |publisher=Asahi Shimbun |date=2021-05-03 |accessdate=2021-10-28 }}

{{Cite news|last=Hadfield|first=James|date=1 April 2021|title='Junk Head': One man's imaginatively twisted labor of love|work=The Japan Times|url=https://www.japantimes.co.jp/culture/2021/04/01/films/film-reviews/junk-head-stop-motion/|access-date=2 November 2021}}

{{cite web |url=https://www.yamiken.com/staff |title=Staffs of Yamiken |date=2017 |accessdate=2021-11-01 }}

{{cite web |url=https://www.nyaff.org/nyaff21/films/junk-head |title=20th New York Asian Film Festival - Junk Head |publisher=New York Asian Film Festival |date=2021-08-06 |accessdate=2021-10-28 }}

{{cite web |url=https://japanesefilmfestival.net/film/junk-head/ |title=Indie {{!}} Cinephile {{!}} Junk Head |publisher=Japanese Film Festival in Australia 2021 |date=2021-10-28 |accessdate=2021-10-29 }}

{{cite web |url=https://fantasticfest.com/films/junk-head |title=Junk Head |publisher=Fantastic Fest 2021, Austin, Texas |date=2021-09-23 |accessdate=2021-10-29 }}

{{cite web |url=http://strasbourgfestival.com/junk-head-en/ |title=Junk Head |publisher=Festival Européen du Film Fantastique de Strasbourg 2021 |date=2021 |accessdate=2021-10-31 }}

{{cite web |url=http://strasbourgfestival.com/winners-2021/ |title=International Animated Film Competition: The Golden Stork — JUNK HEAD (Janku Heddo), directed by Takahide Hori, Japan |publisher=Festival Européen du Film Fantastique de Strasbourg 2021 |date=2021 |accessdate=2021-10-31 }}

{{cite web |url=https://hiff.fi/en/elokuvat/junk-head/ |title=Junk Head (2021) |publisher=Helsinki International Film Festival – Love & Anarchy |date=2021 |accessdate=2021-11-01 |archive-date=2021-11-02 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211102101821/https://hiff.fi/en/elokuvat/junk-head/ |url-status=dead }}{{cite web |url=https://www.cbr.com/fantasia-2021-junk-head-review/ |title=Fantasia 2021: Junk Head Is a Strange Stop-Motion Anime Wonder |author=Reuben Baron |date=2021-08-02 |accessdate=2021-11-02 }}

{{cite web |url=https://japan-forward.com/post-apocalyptic-film-junk-head-lauded-as-work-of-deranged-brilliance-by-guillermo-del-toro/ |title=Post-Apocalyptic Film Junk Head Lauded as 'Work of Deranged Brilliance' by Guillermo del Toro |last=Ishii |first=Ken |date=2021-04-09 |website=Japan Forward |access-date=2011-11-08}}

{{cite web |url=https://asianmoviepulse.com/2021/08/animation-review-junk-head-2021-by-takahide-hori/ |title=Animation Review: Junk Head (2021) by Takahide Hori |date=August 19, 2021 |first=Panos |last=Kotzathanasis |work=Asian Movie Pulse }} }}

• {{Official website|https://www.yamiken.com/}}
• {{IMDb title|6848928}}
• {{Rotten Tomatoes}}

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Category:Films set in subterranea

Category:Japanese post-apocalyptic films

Category:2010s stop-motion animated films

Category:2020s stop-motion animated films