of manzai comedy duo Downtown, Hitoshi Matsumoto has sat atop the slippery pole of popularity on Japanese television for nearly two decades. He has also directed two films, 2007's "Dai-Nipponjin (Big Man Japan)" and 2009's "Shinboru (Symbol)," that have screened widely abroad, while occasioning some head-scratching at home.
All his films are about the struggles of a hapless hero (usually played by Matsumoto himself) caught in a crazy, nightmarish situation — a classic comedy setup. In "Big Man Japan," he is a wrestler who transforms into a Godzilla-size giant to fight monster alien opponents, but is despised despite his heroics. In "Symbol," he is a man trapped in a huge white room whose mystery proves maddeningly difficult to solve.
Instead of appealing to the mass audience with broad, obvious gags, as might be expected of a TV comedy superstar, Matsumoto has fully indulged the stranger, more creative side of his comic mind, giving rise to the criticism that he is making the films for his own amusement. (And mine — I find them laugh-until-you-gag funny.)