¡°You oughta be in pictures,¡± sang Rudy Vallee in a 1934 song that became old Hollywood¡¯s unofficial anthem, and the characters of Sion Sono¡¯s shambolic, entertaining ¡°Red Post on Escher Street¡± are still telling themselves a version of this lyric as they vie for roles in a present-day indie film. Most are young women with zero acting experience who nonetheless submit their audition applications via a red post box on the fictional Escher Street, with everything from bold confidence to sweaty trepidation.
Scripted by Sono, the film reflects the real-life methods of its director, who has long used auditions to cast his films and has centered many of them on female protagonists played by up-and-comers. Actresses such as Yuriko Yoshitaka (¡°Noriko¡¯s Dinner Table¡±) and Hikari Mitsushima (¡°Love Exposure¡±) went on to stardom after featuring in a Sono film.
¡°Red Post on Escher Street¡± also has an anarchic spirit reminiscent of ¡°Bad Film,¡± a movie about warring street gangs that Sono shot guerilla-style in 1995 but did not release until 2012. Filmed in eight days with students of an acting workshop Sono taught, the film has rough edges, especially in the harum-scarum ending, but is also informed by Sono¡¯s three decades in the business.
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