It makes me sad that there is only one review for this movie and it's an inaccurate vague review that doesn't really address the movie.
Scrap Heaven is a tight, interesting, character driven story about three strangers tossed together when they all end up on a doomed bus ride. But that's just the way they met. The moments of dark comedy effortlessly lead right into moments of poignancy. For me, this hit all the 'indie movie' buttons.
It's not an action flick, it's not a comedy, it's not an outright drama, it's not a romance movie, it's not a buddy movie, it's not a cop drama, it's not an outsider movie but it's a little bit of all of that and really rings true when it all concludes. Overall it feels very human and real. Never overplayed and it never tries too hard. Come with your open mind but not on a day when you can't take a dark movie.
Plot summary
A cop, a sanitation worker and a pharmacist intersect on a late bus ride that's hijacked by a suicidal political flunky. Shingo is a miserable young desk cop bucking for homicide division. Tetsu is a restroom cleaning attendant who has a mentally ill father and a penchant for mischief. And Saki is a petulant druggist/chemist who was born with one eye and keeps her disfigurement hidden behind shades. Months after the hijacking, the trio reintertwine as they playfully seek revenge for their unhappy lives, until the games become deadly serious.
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Dark, funny, humanistic look at modern life
Perfect for what it is
Scrap Heaven is a beautifully-directed, well-acted, tightly-structured film about 3 people who are completely different except for their grim view of life, and they each want to cause their own form of revenge on the world. Their paths cross one night and then continue to cross willingly and unwillingly over the duration of the movie, and their similarities become more apparent as the film goes on. The end to each character's story isn't completely satisfying, and there is a lot of vagueness regarding certain motivations of the people in this film, but all in all the film remains a clever, dark, hilarious, and DIFFERENT viewpoint of modern Japanese society...
Yes, themes of emotional detachment, societal servitude, repressed thoughts and feelings are nothing new in Japanese films... but this film explores all these themes with a sense of humor and some ridiculousness. The end is a bit predictable, and the film seems to sometimes wander when trying to make its point, but I can safely say I was never bored with this film... and I've thought about it nonstop since I finished watching it. Just a really great film.
Also: I noticed, at times, a strange parallel between this film and Fight Club, actually, and I'm sure I'm alone in this. Some of the acts of anarchy, and one of the main character's blatant Tyler Durden-isms (including his choice of clothes) had me wondering. It's nothing that crazy or distracting from the rest of the film, just worth noting.
WE ARE HERE TO TAKE REVENGE
After a shooting incident on a bus, three survivors meet again. The world's worst policeman teams up with the world's worst toilet cleaner to run a "Revenge" agency out of a dirty toilet stall. The third person involved is a one-eyed pharmacist who hates the world (Chiaki Kuriyama- Gogo in "Kill Bill").
The film had definite potential but then Japanese style and culture step in to take the film down hill.
Guide: F-bomb. No sex or nudity.