On the occasion of the release of “Cutez! “, the new film by Michel Hazanavicius, we wanted to come back to the work that inspired the French filmmaker: “Do not cut! “. Released in 2019, in France, it was a small revolution in Japanese cinema.
What’s this Don’t cut! ?
Directed by Shin’ichiro Ueda, this Japanese comedy met with great international success. The director’s first feature film, Don’t cut! follows a film crew of a zombie movie who wants to shoot the work in a single sequence shot. Of course, not everything goes as planned. Released in 2018 in Japan, and in 2019 in France, Don’t cut! is a deliberately kitsch little nugget, almost experimental, which mixes comedy, horror, mockumentary and found footage with great intelligence. The filmmaker goes even further, by proposing a 37-minute sequence shot to open his film. A sequence that was shot in six takes spread over two days. As for the rest, we leave you the surprise…
Yes Don’t cut! starts like a totally broke Z series, who quickly eyes the potential turnip, the film is full of surprises. Shin’ichirô Ueda voluntarily offers a destabilizing introduction for viewers, which plays with the codes of horror, and pays homage to Romero’s cinema. It’s deliberately a bit outdated, obsolete, see downright amateur. But it is an assumed approach, which seeks to bring the viewer to a twist in the middle of the truly mind-blowing film. Shin’ichirô Ueda simply realizes one of the best overlays of recent years. And once the audience has adapted to this unique proposition, Don’t cut! asserts itself as a funny, burlesque, gory and instantly cult work. Above all, Shin’ichirô Ueda constantly surprises his audience. While we think we can detect the cogs and scriptwriting springs of his work, Shin’ichirô Ueda takes his spectators to truly new horizons.
A deserved success story
With a budget of 3 million yen (i.e. 24,000 euros), Don’t cut! was a monstrous success for Shin’ichirô Ueda, as he brought in the modest sum of $27 million in box office receipts. Initially, the film was only released in two small theaters in Tokyo. But word of mouth is having an effect. More and more spectators flock to these two cinemas to discover Don’t cut!. Faced with this success, the film gained in influence. Shin’ichirô Ueda sees his work being programmed in 300 cinemas across the country, for 5 months. The young filmmaker of 38 years did not ask for so much. But the story does not end there !
The film is literally a hit across the country and becomes the 7thth highest grossing japanese box office of the year 2018. Then, the feature film toured festivals, and began to make a name for itself on the international scene. The movie is endorsed by great filmmakers like Edgar Wright, and quickly won the hearts of the film community. To the extent that Don’t cut! becomes a reference in the middle of the genre film. Shin’ichirô Ueda’s film aroused such enthusiasm that the French filmmaker Michael Hazanavicius took hold of the story to make a French remake of it soberly titled: Cut!. The film has just opened the 2022 Cannes Film Festival and has been available in theaters since May 17. As for Don’t cut!the original version, it is available on the Filmo platformand is released in select theaters from May 18, 2022, as in MK2 Library.
