BEASTS CLUTCHING AT STRAWS (2026)
Film Review
The movie Beasts Clutching at Straws, directed by Hideo Jojo, was enjoyable to watch at Fantasia 2026, the festival’s 30th anniversary. The chaotic adventure can provide the spectators a wild entertainment. To begin, characters in separate and different situations gradually get mixed up in the pursuit of a bag of money. The pursuit leads to numerous fights, suspense and worst predicaments for the characters. In addition to wondering who will end up with the money in the end, we can ask ourselves also when or how will the chasing and fighting end. Moreover, what can contribute to the entertainment of this film is how the order of the story’s events is clarified only later in the film (when we learn how exactly did the bag end up in one of the booths of the café that Kanji works in). This can leave us wondering and subject us to inevitable surprises. This films’ unorderly way of telling its story reminded me of the clever way the events of the film, Pulp Fiction by Quentin Tarantino, was elaborated.
Review by Dean Attari
