AllMovie

One of Japan's boldest genre auteurs, Go Shibata, directed this crazed fusion of politics, the supernatural and psychedelia. In the not-so-distant future, the global economy has collapsed, and cruel but powerful loan shark Kato the Catwalk makes her way around town overseeing her territory while street gangs enforce her bidding. Mr. Abe is a man with magical powers who is also connected to Kyoto's crime syndicates; like Kato, he has a private army of youngsters and uses occult talismans to keep them safe. Shinsuke and Tsutomu would hardly seem like likely strong-arm men in such a world; the former is proudly lazy and spends his days raiding the refrigerator at his girlfriend's flat, and the latter is homeless and usually flying on magic mushrooms. But somehow they're drawn into the orbit of Mr. Abe and are given the task of tracking down a serial killer with otherworldly powers who has targeted the loan sharks preying on the community, and in time Shinsuke and Tsutomu see the murderer more as a renegade hero than a villain. Doman Seman received its North American premiere at the 2010 New York Asian Film Festival.