A refreshing backhand to the money–obsessed modern world, Chicken Heart finds its deadpan glory in three men who may have dropped out, but who still dream of a better life. Young Iwano was once a promising boxer, but now rents himself out as a human punching bag for frustrated salarymen. Thirtysomething Maru has an even deadlier career: cold–selling wigs to embarrassed-and increasingly angry–bald men. Fiftyish Sada is an embittered anarchist fixated on sailing around the globe. As the world around them grows stranger by the day, they confront or avoid their problems through a series of mountingly ridiculous situations. Director Shimizu (Takeshi Kitano's longtime assistant director) confidently balances the same mix of absurdist humor and heartfelt emotion that marked his memorably off–kilter debut Ikinai, using a sense of pacing akin to Keaton or Tati to create a welcome, wry poetry for a world that sorely needs it.

Chicken Heart is repeated on Saturday, March 15.