Hitoshi Matsumoto has a big reputation among his fellow Japanese peers, and he's considered to be a very, very funny guy. He made his name on television and the country's popular form of comedy known as owarai, playing the boke half of the duo known as “Downtown” with his friend Masatoshi Hamada. Now, boke is the universally recognizable comedic trope of the one who misinterprets everything and appears to be a slight airhead. After watching Matsumoto's latest feature film "R100," which has been making its festival rounds this year, the conscious force that's working against any kind of straight-forward, easily-understandable and anchored narrative in the film makes sense to have the fruit of its artistic loins planted in misinterpretation and airheadedness. And that's not meant to be a slight against Matsumoto. On the contrary, it is the fool and the village idiot who usually has the right of it in so many classic stories and traditions. The question is, are you able to bear...
