Nicolas Cage has been hyping up Sion Sono's Prisoners of the Ghostland as the "wildest" movie he's ever been in. Seeing the world premiere at the online 2021 Sundance Film Festival, it lives up to that hype. Your mileage may vary on whether that's a good thing or a bad thing, but while not for everyone, this post-apocalyptic East-meets-West semi-satirical surrealist adventure film will put a huge grin on the faces of anyone who can roll with its mix of glorious nonsense and genuinely interesting ideas. Cage's expectedly over-the-top acting isn't even close to the wildest thing about this movie.
Prisoners of the Ghostland was originally set to film in Mexico, but after Sono suffered a heart attack, Cage suggested moving the whole production to Japan to make it easier on the director. Samurai Town, the setting where the film opens and concludes, is a 70-30 mix of Japanese cultural elements and Old West style. The dictatorial Governor of this town (Bill Moseley) is the most stereotypical cowboy of them all; in combination with his posters calling to "Make This Country Great Again," it's clear Sono is making some Paul Verhoeven-esque social commentary in the midst of a grindhouse film where Nicolas Cage has bombs strapped to his testicles.
The Ghostland where Cage's nameless hero is sent to rescue the Governor's daughter (Sofia Boutella) is a Mad Max-style post-apocalyptic hellscape where it's not actually all that clear if the people there are ghosts or just miserable. The people there believe themselves to be "trapped by time," which doesn't make total logical sense but actually packs a serious punch when you realize what they're actually afraid of.
The Ghostland prisoners keep holding a giant clock's hands in place at 8:14. Note that 8:15 was the time the first atomic bomb fell on Hiroshima. Yes, Prisoners of the Ghostland is also about Japan's experiences with nuclear disaster, both the bombs and Fukushima. This issue spelled out directly and surprisingly hauntingly in a kamishibai chorus sequence.
As hard as it can be to keep up with the (utterly ridiculous, maybe kind of bad) narrative or (surprisingly intelligent, maybe great) meaning of Prisoners of the Ghostland, the thing that keeps the film so consistently entertaining upon first viewing is some of the coolest visual design ever. The stills released don't do this film justice; the colors alone in some scenes are just joyous. The wild production design recalls both Kill Bill and Salvador Dali, occasionally at the same time. Just catching all the signage in Samurai Town might be worth a second viewing -- to single out one detail, the wanted posters reveal this film takes place in the same universe as Lupin III.
The big issue with watching Prisoners of the Ghostland at a virtual film festival is that this is the sort of film made to be seen in a theater with a packed crowd, preferably late at night and with friends in tow. Hopefully, there will be opportunities to see it under these ideal conditions in the future.
Prisoners of the Ghostland premiered at Sundance on Jan. 31, and will have an encore screening on Feb. 2. The film stars Nicolas Cage, Sofia Boutella, Nick Cassavetes, Bill Moseley, Tak Sakaguchi and Yuzuka Nakaya. It will be released in the US by RJLE Films later this year.