Oscilloscope is here to deliver We Are Little Zombies, the latest film from Sundance Grand Jury Prize director Makoto Nagahisa that features four 13-year-olds devoid of emotion. Compared to Quentin Tarantino, Damien Chazelle, Shunji Iwai, and Tetsuya Nakajima, director Nagahisa's feature-length film debut centers on a story about the adventures of 13-year-old children whose parents have passed away. They suddenly lose their parents and “should be sad but tears won’t fall.” Will they be able to retrieve their ability to feel through music?

That's one of the things the official U.S. trailer tries to get across, but don't concern yourself with simple matters like plot and character; just let yourself get lost in the insane blast of color and music this thing throws at you. The movie features a ridiculous number of songs--90 of them in total--mostly featuring 8-bit music. As the press notes put it, "Classic Nintendo Entertainment System software was methodically researched and replicated ... [before being] subsequently translated into unprecedented quirky, music that is both nostalgic yet brand new, sentimental yet pop."

We Are Little Zombies stars Keita Ninomiya, Satoshi Mizuno, Mondo Okumura, and Sena Nakajima, along with Kuranosuke Sasaki, Youki Kudoh, Sosuke Ikematsu, Eriko Hatsune, Jun Murakami, Naomi Nishida, Rinko Kikuchi, and Masatoshi Nagase. Look for it in theaters whenever we're ultimately able to look for movies in theaters again. In the meantime, if you want to pass the time in a colorful, creative way, be sure to check out the movie's tie-in coloring book here.

And here's the official U.S. trailer and synopsis for We Are Little Zombies:

When four young orphans—Hikari, Ikuko, Ishi, and Takemura—first meet, their parents’ bodies are being turned into dust, like fine Parmesan atop a plate of spaghetti Bolognese, and yet none of them can shed a tear. They are like zombies; devoid of all emotion. With no family, no future, no dreams, and no way to move forward, the young teens decide that the first level of this new existence involves salvaging a gaming console, an old electric bass, and a charred wok from their former homes—just enough to start a band-and then conquer the world. Tragedy, comedy, music, social criticism, and teenage angst are all subsumed in this eccentric cinematic tsunami.

 

WINNER

World Cinema Dramatic Special Jury Award: Sundance Film Festival

Best Actor, Keita Ninomiya: Buenos Aires International Festival of Independent Cinema

Crystal Bear - Special Mention: Berlin International Film Festival

Written and Directed by Makoto Nagahisa

Coming to Theaters as soon as they open back up!