Black Night Parade

Fukuda's latest is an odd film. He's known to tackle strange projects, often films with a lot of comedy, and Black Night Parade falls into this category pretty well. It's just that I don't really know if this was aimed at younger kids or not. Some parts are pretty dark, others are straight-up childish. I would've liked a clearer angle.

Hino has been looking for a job ever since he graduated from school. No serious employer wants to hire him, so he's working in a small convenience store. Even his colleagues take advantage of him until one day a strange figure in a Santa suit comes to visit him and offers him a unique job.

Black Night Parade isn't as outright funny as Fukuda's earlier work, but it can get seriously weird and even though it slumps from time to time, there's always some odd nonsense just around the corner to pick up the pace. It's a funny little film, but looking at Fukuda's oeuvre, I just know he can do better than this.