Symbol

Symbol is a sublime feat of surreal comic fantasy from cult Japanese TV star/filmmaker Hitoshi Matsumoto. A man wakes up and finds himself mysteriously trapped in an empty, white rectangular room and wearing yellow polka dot pyjamas. Meanwhile, in a Mexican dusty town, a green-masked wrestler known as Escargot man prepares for an important match… ‘The eventual confluence between the two “narratives” is holy-shit priceless.’ (Michael Atkinson, The Village Voice)

We’re delighted to present Symbol again at Leeds International Film Festival after first sharing it with audiences at LIFF 2011. Still unreleased in the UK and rarely screened anywhere, Symbol is a unique film experience from the great comedic and inventive mind of Japanese TV star, writer and filmmaker Hitoshi Matsumoto. Symbol was Matsumoto’s second feature after his brilliant debut Big Man Japan (LIFF 2007), a hilarious mockumentary about a single man in his 40s who occasionally transforms into an enormous superhero. As famous in Japan as Takeshi Kitano who is better known internationally, Matsumoto became a pop culture phenomenon in the 1980s as part of the comedy duo Downtown with his childhood friend Masatoshi Hamada. There have been over 1500 episodes of their variety show Downtown’s We Aren’t Errand Boys! and though Matsumoto hasn’t directed a film since 2013 he did narrate the recent animation Violence Voyager (LIFF 2018).