Marijuana was a subject for comedy back when I was taking my first clumsy steps into stoner culture: The comedy routines of Cheech and Chong, the music of Commander Cody, the midnight screenings of the unintentionally hilarious 1936 film "Reefer Madness."
In Kanata Wolf's "Smokin' on the Moon," Japanese movies finally see the funny side of pot. Its best-buddy heroes, Sota (Arata Iura) and Rakuto (Ryo Narita), work at a Tokyo bar, but deal weed on the side and float through life in a ganja-induced haze. Their interactions with oddball characters, from a randy landlady (LiLiCo) to a loud-mouthed rapper named Jay (Yasu Peron), highlight the black-comic aimlessness of their existences.
But Sota's strange dream (surrealistically animated by Alexei Nechytaylo) of being turned back at the gates of heaven by a creepy golden angel, who subsequently commits suicide, suggests darker psychic currents. And there's nothing funny about Rakuto's relationship with Tsukimi (Mary Sara), a crack-addicted single mother.