Director: Takahide Hori
Stars: Atsuko Miyake
Synopsis: An ambush during a human-clone expedition triggers a dimension-spanning, time-travel story set 1000+ years before the stop-motion film Junk Head.
Takahide Hori’s Junk World has everything one might hope to see when throwing on a midnight film. Just to skim the surface of lunacy Hori’s film entails, you can expect to see a cannibalistic death cult draped in S&M gear, loads of sci-fi military tech and weaponry, bureaucratic incompetence, fart jokes, robots, humanoid clones, and a copious amount of mutated underground-dwelling creatures. And that’s failing to mention any of the thematic ideas present in the film! With Junk World, Hori and his small team of six (!!) dedicated stop-motion artisans have created a work of art that feels miraculous in its existence. One just needs to see the behind-the-scenes production footage shown while the credits roll to understand that declaration. At the very least, a film like this should excite any cinephile. It shows a true dedication to capturing a specific vision regardless of whether it will be beloved by countless audience members, or a cult crew of fans. Hori is clearly fully committed to the expansive universe of Junk World in a way that feels like it should be somewhat of a blueprint for studio heads in control of massive cinematic universes.
This film is a prequel to Hori’s 2017 film, Junk Head, and is supposedly the middle chapter of a planned trilogy. If studios are marching forward with deadset plans on building out franchises wherever possible, perhaps a situation like this would be the more exciting version of it. It’s apparent that Hori is creating an entire universe in a sandbox of his own making. That freedom is felt in the introduction of every strange creature encountered or each new impressive set explored. It’s as if any idea that seemed gross, creepy, funny, or some combination of the three was placed into the film somewhere. Of course, any lack of oversight can have its own share of drawbacks in terms of overall quality. But purely from an artistic point-of-view, Junk World feels aspirational. To see a world literally being built second-by-second before your very eyes is a beauty to behold. It’s perhaps the biggest driving force in sustaining interest during the rest of the film.
Junk World is made up of countless fascinating ideas and themes. Unfortunately, in 100 minutes, it never completely feels like any of these ideas are meaningfully explored. The only exception to this is how Hori reckons with humanity. After a quick cold-open stinger of a robot, who will be familiar to fans of Hori’s earlier work, in disrepair proclaims, “I am God,” his latest film begins with an expository set-up. In this world, mulligans were created by mankind as a subservient workforce designed to be exploited. Over time, the mulligans were able to adapt, evolve, and ultimately, rebel. Violence ensued before ultimately finding some form of peace, but the hatred amongst both species remained. There’s a bitter tinge to how humanity here so brazenly created something in our own image, only to then mutate it into something designed to be controlled. Where beauty could have been fostered is instead lost to evil in the lust for power. And between two of his lead characters, a human and a mulligan, Hori examines this loss of experiential beauty across both parties.
For the mulligans, we see just some of the ways in which they have adapted in the years since winning their freedom. They appear to be quite talented in the culinary world, whereas humans exist solely on one form of nutrition: allegedly disgusting, non-descript sticks of nourishment. They also live quite long, and with such long life comes a sense of longing for varied experiences. The humans in this film have such a singular drive that usually revolves around some form of greed, gluttony, or selfish desire. They can’t even fathom why they’d venture from a singular path. It honestly feels like a disservice to the film as a whole that the mulligans aren’t explored even further. They represent a viewpoint about humanity that feels evergreen. In golf, a mulligan is an extra stroke allowed after a poor shot. It’s a literal do-over to make up for a mistake; another attempt for potential greatness. In humans naming their creations after this term, it’s as if we knew we were destined for a lifetime of refusing life’s greatest joys and experiences.
Overall, Junk World feels like a bit of a mixed bag. But its clever structure is one that ultimately allows for a fair amount of forgiveness. Without revealing anything specific, the plot weaponizes the irreverent sense of humor of its creator. Initial elements that may seem to be oddities, or even straight up flaws, become completely recontextualized over the course of the film. It’s a bold approach to telling a story, but very much feels reminiscent of how One Cut of the Dead approached its own story. It can feel like a great reward for an audience if handled correct;y. And purely from a narrative perspective, Junk World feels like it pulls this trick off well enough. Alongside some very fluidly-animated action sequences, the imaginative madness of its overall production design, and its admirable commitment to expanding the world of its creator, Junk World will justifiably have a midnight movie-loving cult of fans. Where it goes beyond that is anybody’s guess. But the knowledge that filmmakers like Hori are still actively willing their wildest dreams and ideas into existence by any means necessary is a thrilling experience to behold in its own right.
Junk World is celebrating its International premiere in the Midnight Madness category of the 2025 Toronto International Film Festival.
