Chop sticks pricked into eyes and dumplings pit on knives; creepy and brutal shall be the guys, while women fulfilled beauties and wise. Pleasure and unease, pricy or cheap, genre films are made of these. Dynamite Soul Bambi takes us into the world of Japanese independent film-making. Director and screenwriter Yamamoto is given an opportunity by producer Mrs. Amano to make the feature-length movie Dynamite Soul Bambi. Through the eyes of Mr. Tanizaki, who shoots the making-of, we find in Mr. Yamamoto the promising mid-thirties masculine director; impulsive and dogmatic he is fascinating to his loyal crew and cast.

The Making makes the movie

The narrative strategy of the film within a film does well, mostly. But the narrative levels of sheer depiction of violence and a story of the behind the scenes require different readings. While the depiction of violence must outdo the previous one to be celebrated by consumers, the making-of is a reflection about the creative process and addresses fans and the curious. But here the making-of as a documentary genre turns into fiction itself. Neither a mockumentary, nor a fictional-documentary, Dynamite Soul Bambi gathers elements from all: From fragments of first steps in genre film and standards of choreographed genre film cruelty to the making-of-testimonials by crew and cast. Whether drama or comedy, the actual genre of Dynamite Soul Bambi remains unclear.

“This is why I don't like indie films”

Every movie is a statement on film, every level of self-referentiality an essay on what making a film means and the means of film-making. Stereotypes help: An understanding but certain about their goals female producer, an ambitious and choleric male film director that belittles his crew, hurts feelings on every step and finds concubines at the set. On the other hand the young, beautiful and jealous actresses; the ego vs. common goals, the naïv vs. the professional.

Ideals are there to be betrayed. An ode to independent film-making

By shifting from common places in film we like to topics of the film-maker’s world most of us prefer not to see Dynamite Soul Bambi shows the apparently inevitably implications of independent film-making. But are they inevitable? The problems of independent film-making, the vicissitudes of the author-film-director and the vicious circle of the concentric structure around a director are highlighted. The concatenation of scenes and testimonials leads to the final twist in the plot of Dynamite Soul Bambi that makes this Making-of-movie worth to watch.