Surrealism Archives | Otaku No Culture

Popurrí Unleashed! Plastik Theatrik May Be Victoria Fringe 2025’s Most Bizarre

Plastik Theatrik’s Popurrí may well be the most strangest piece of performance theatre at Victoria Fringe 2025, and that’s how we like it!

Popurrí by Plastik Theatrik at Victoria Fringe 2025 – surreal experimental theatre still Remaining Show:
Aug 29, 7:30 pm
Intrepid Studio

Although little is known about the Victoria-based performance troupe Plastik Theatrik, their play Popurrí is easily the most surreal show I’ve seen this year. It offers more than a series of strange ideas—it felt like watching The Muppet Show on acid, complete with a few Beaker-style moments that had me laughing out loud. As for the fly-like scenes at a dining table or heads poking out of a pool of plastic… I won’t even attempt to make sense of them.

I raised an eyebrow higher than Mr. Spock more than once. A surgical, alien-like set piece clearly functions as metaphor, with parts of a human body (represented by a doll) removed. The bizarre creatures conducting the operation meep and emit odd sounds, making me wonder if uno, dos, tres carries a hidden meaning. The numeral references are obvious even to those who don’t speak Spanish. During a scene reminiscent of an alien abduction, a deck of cards marked “uno” appears—later research revealed it’s apparently a game.

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[Fantasia Film Festival] Transcending Dimensions (次元を超える) To Boldly Go Where No Soul Has Gone Before

Presented here is not a very traditional story about a hitman hired to take out a cult leader and rescue a brother. There’s added layers in Transcending Dimensions which suggest it’s best not to challenge some of these mystics, and here’s why:

Transcending Dimensions poster — **This movie played at the 2025 Fantasia International Film Festival on July 24th, and has an encore performance July 28th. Get your ticket here.**

Transcending Dimensions is less a conventional narrative and more of an immersive sensory experience. While this review delves into its themes and stylistic choices, readers who prefer to encounter the film with absolutely no prior knowledge of its unconventional journey may wish to proceed with caution regarding potential thematic insights.

As an instalment in the series of films by writer/director Toshiaki Toyoda, this latest in his Wolf Mountain series delves further into thematic tones about the perils of human ignorance. Each film concerns the repetition of historical mistakes. This movie is not always straightforward, and some viewers might find it challenging to follow. Shinno (Ryûhei Matsuda), a professional hitman, is the focus here, and everything he will soon experience may well reshape his world view!. Here, his sister, Nonoka (played with quiet charm by Haruka Imô), recruits him to find her brother, Rosuke (Yôsuke Kubozuka). He is apparently brainwashed, and she hopes to rescue him from the cult he is now part of.

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[Fantasia Film Festival] The Haunting Charm of I Am Frankelda. Is It Safe to Dream?

I Am Frankelda blurs fantasy and reality in a visually stunning tale of imagination, sisterhood, and the eerie power of storytelling.

I Am Frankelda poster2 — This movie played at the 2025 Fantasia International Film Festival on Sun, July 20th.

Mexicans familiar with HBO’s mini-series Frankelda’s Book of Spooks must be excited about the movie I Am Frankelda. This prequel shows the world the young girl created is very much alive—and its inhabitants want more than to be confined to a pocket dimension. It’s an engrossing narrative where fantasy and reality exist side by side in unexpected ways. When her sister learns what Frankelda has created, jealousy sets in. She conspires to invent her own world!

This work by Arturo and Rodolfo Ambriz is a stop-motion marvel! To bring it to life, they partnered with Mireya Mendoza to direct. I’m already checking online to see what else the brothers have produced. So far, all I’m finding is that this film leads directly into Frankelda’s Book of Spooks. This “baby” of theirs is just as good as Las Leyendas (Legend Quest), of which I’ve seen both series and films. Thankfully, Spooks is available on HBO Max and Amazon Prime Video (USA). As for how well-known they are outside Mexico, it seems they’re still under the radar.

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When So Surreal Behind the Masks Show How The Art World and Culture Collide

When this docuemtary explores the cultural significance and complex history of Indigenous ceremonial masks while examining the broader symbolism of masks, So Surreal Behind the Masks is very thoughtful discourse that goes beyond cosplay.

Playing at FIRST: A Celebration of Indigenous Film

So Surreal Behind the Masks is an interesting documentary that explores the cultural and spiritual importance of Indigenous ceremonial masks, particularly those of the Yupʼik and Kwakwa̱ka̱ʼwakw peoples. The removal of many of these sacred objects from their communities occurred long ago. Museums now house some masks, while private collectors own others.

The film aims to raise awareness about the history and meaning of these masks. Their removal was often driven by a mix of curiosity and misunderstanding—perhaps even fear—of what they represented.

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When Endless Cookie Offers A Touch of the Surreal

No, this film isn’t about food, but the metaphors are certainly evident in Endless Cookie. It’s a very quirky slice-of-life work by animator/filmmaker Seth Scriver.

Now playing at select cinemas in Canada. Please check local listings (or see below)

Unlike similarly styled comedy sketches that were popular in its day, Endless Cookie is an animated film that’s basically a vignette of moments about two half-brothers. What this work delves into concerns what life is like between Seth Scriver (who is white and lives in Toronto) and Peter Scriver (who is Indigenous, from the Shamattawa First Nation in northern Canada). It premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in 2025 and is certainly heartfelt. After it’s run at imagineNATIVE Film Festival, it’s now playing at select cinemas across Canada which started June 13th.

When compared to the shenanigans on what I recall from SCTV and The McKenzie Brothers, the situations are similar. And the approaches to making a subtle social commentary are dead on. While these live-action skits are certainly more of a parody of Canadian identity, this animated biography goes much further.

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Introducing Chevon, Where Surrealism Meets J-pop.

Hopefully as Chevon continues to rise up the charts, fans of Japanese pop music world-wide will take notice. Their latest single has a great message and the music video is worth the watch!

Chevon Album Cover Sapporo-based rising band Chevon, whose elceletic style of music, has a new track that they’re promoting as they tour Japan! They love it loud, and I first noticed them because in the music video, titled Daikoushin, featured kaiju, and has tones similiar to Blue Oyster Cult’s Godzilla!

Their latest digital single is ‘meimei’, released early this month and there’s no word about when they’ll bring their act to other countries. It’s rare for me to want to see a Japanese act, and this band has become the exception. For those in Japan, the dates listed on Shazam.com are known.

From the Press Release:

With their latest track,. ‘meimei’ means “darkness,” and Chevon’s message is that “in an era when it’s considered best to be bright, it’s also OK to be dark – and it’s the dark ones among us who truly understand the sadness of others.”

The music video expresses a uniquely Japanese aesthetic in a similar vein to the illustration artwork for the ‘Meimei’ tour, resulting in a video that embraces the chaos of Chevon’s ‘Meimei’ world.