JUNK HEAD By Takahide Hori - A Dystopian Stop-Motion Film
JUNK HEAD is a 2021 Japanese film, directed by Takahide Hori.
Born 1971 in the Oita prefecture, Takahide started work in the interior industry after graduating high school. While working in the interior industry, Hori found out that animation legend Makoto Shinkai had made movies almost completely on his own, leading him to become interested in film-making himself.
In December 2009, with no educational background in film-making whatsoever, Hori started to work on JUNK HEAD 1, a short version of his currently airing film, JUNK HEAD. Takahide alone took on the roles of director, producer, character designer, set producer, cameraman, music director, voice actor, and editor. In November of 2013, JUNK HEAD 1 was finished, and he held an independent screening limited to 1 day.
The film saw great praise, leading him to release it for free on YouTube, and start a crowdfunding to be able to produce a full-length version. However, this crowdfunding ended up failing, but later organizations said they would like to fund him, which kicked off Takahide's production for the full-length version in April, 2014.
Fast forward to March 26, 2021, a whopping 7 years since production began, JUNK HEAD finally saw it's theatrical release in Japan. The final edition of JUNK HEAD is a stop motion film, comprised of over 140,000 frames, and every single figure created by the hands of Hori himself. The film has an eerie, dystopian vibe, while the characters somehow also have a cute & lovable look to them.
The film takes place in a world polluted so badly, it has become impossible to live on. Humans had no other option than to develop civilization underground. Artificial life forms, called Mulligans, were created as the labor force to dig.
One day these Mulligans awaken, and take over underground life. 1600 years later, humans have become immortal due to genetic modifications, but lost all ability to reproduce. A virus strikes humanity, killing 30% of the population. On the brink of extinction, humanity has no other option than to explore the Mulligans that had taken over the underground world.
