Survive Style 5+ is one of the first films that helped me truly realize the magnificent art of the strange and bizarre. Bright colors, mixed stories, and Vinnie Jones yelling at a lot of people just seemed to catch me in the perfect headspace when watching this for the first time. Yet, as I have aged, not all of my original forays into weird and wonderful movies hold up when revisiting them. So now, watching this again, years after my last view, I was a bit worried that I wouldn't enjoy it anymore. Thankfully, this wasn't the case for Survive Style, as it still makes me smile and laugh, while confusing the hell out of me. A movie following five different sets of people who eventually interact with each other in some way, Survive Style 5+ is a mish-mash of color and enthusiasm all crammed into short scenes bursting with creativity and strangeness. The story revolves around a killer and his victim, who may be his wife, as she comes back from the dead to wreak havoc on him over and over. It also includes a family man who is permanently stuck thinking he is a pigeon, a pair of hired killers, a woman who writes commercials, and a band of thieves who are more into staring at each other in awkward lust than anything else. Honestly, the less said about the plot itself, the better. I feel like you need to experience this movie unknowing of what's ahead of you. A quick description would be saying it's like having an anime panda drive you through a neon-lit tunnel wherein the end you strap on a mangy tiger-headed belt, scream curse words into the air and maybe even learn something about what it means to be a human being. It's good stuff. I want to give extra props to the people who designed the very cool constantly changing sets in this movie. They have the look and feel of TV commercial and sit-com sets. Colorful, weird, a bit offputting, and yet they seem perfect for everything going on. I believe this was the director's first feature film after making regular TV commercials and music videos, which works as a very good mix here. The look of this movie is a very important part, all the way down to the crazy outfits the undead lady wears each time she reappears. Also, that's a ton of pancakes. Survive Style 5+ is a movie in its own space. A movie that may be a bit out there for some, but in my opinion is totally worth hunting down. If you are looking for something completely different, this very well maybe it. But I would still be wary. If you are not used to movies that can be a bit mind-boggling in the sense of reasons for existing, then you might not like this one.
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