As happens every August, the Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth holds its Anime at the Modern series featuring titles for kids that are both old (Hayao Miyazaki’s great 2003 film Spirited Away) and new (Mamoru Hosoda’s fine and graceful Oscar-nominated film from last year, Mirai). However, the most interesting item this year isn’t for kids at all.
The Night Is Short, Walk on Girl is about a nameless heroine who embarks on a surreal journey to find a rare book from her childhood while drinking heavily. How heavily? She meets a demon god of the underworld and challenges him to a drinking contest with Imitation Denki Bran: “The liquor that tastes like nothing, just like the nothingness of life,” says the demon. She drinks him under the table. Meanwhile, she repeatedly meets a hapless book collector who tries to impress her by winning the book in an eating contest organized by another demon. He forces bibliophiles to swallow whole pieces of pork that are larger than their heads and so spicy that they’re literally on fire. In between, our heroes encounter the benevolent god of used book sales and a society of insane literary pornography collectors. They also star in a rock opera about curry for a guerrilla theater company that’s being chased around town by the cops. Knock back this hallucinatory fantasy.
Anime at the Modern runs Fri-Sat at the Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth, 3200 Darnell St, FW. Tickets are $5-10. Call 817-738-9215.
