In 2002, Danger After Dark presented one of its most bizarre and challenging films in Sion Sono's Suicide Club. Chronicling a suicide fad among disaffected youth in contemporary Japan, Suicide Club showcased the talents of a filmmaker who was utterly unconcerned with spoon-feeding a convenient and easily-digestible narrative to his audience.

Intrepid viewers will be pleased to know that Sono is once again represented in the Philadelphia Film Festival with another noggin-buster, the appropriately titled Strange Circus. (The official sequel to Suicide Club, Noriko's Dinner Table, is also screening in the festival.)

While not as taxing as his earlier efforts, the film is still a wildly bizarre tale of child abuse told through shifting realities and hallucinatory changes in viewpoint. One never knows exactly what to believe in Strange Circus, but the dreamlike quality of the film is definitely a recommended experience.

Button-nosed pre-teen Mitsuko is sexually molested by her father, who gets his kicks by stuffing her inside a cello case and forcing her to watch her parents "do the nasty". This does nothing to help her blossom into a well-adjusted young lady and leads to strained relations with her increasingly jealous mother, who begins her own cruel program of physical and psychological abuse.

School Daze

Mischievous students Miko and Yuki steer a demonic A/V rig down a strawberry preserve-covered hallway in the raucous coming-of-age comedy Strange Circus. (Photo courtesy of the Philadelphia Film Society)

After she apparently kills her mother in a heated altercation, poor Mitsuko spirals downward into a pit of incest and despair until she finally tries to kill herself by jumping from a roof. The film shifts gears at this point to reveal a strange woman named Taeko writing a novel based on the events that have just been depicted. Is she the adult version of Mitsuko penning an autobiography? Or is she simply a reclusive novelist making money from twisted stories of sexual abuse?

As you might expect from a Sion Sono film, the answers don't come easy. Things are further compounded when the film begins to swap the roles of Mitsuko and her mother Sayuri, toying with the very fabric of the films' narrative. Sono keeps the petal to the metal when a mysterious asexual man named Yuji is assigned to work as Taeko's aid and begins an investigation into her past. What's his angle, and why does the normally aloof Taeko take such a shine to him?

Strange Circus is a beautiful film to watch, characterized by vivid colors and striking locales. Meticulous art direction guides the film as it billows through one surreal setpieces after another, stitching together a dreamlike exploration of psychological abuse and its effects on fantasy and reality. Lest the film forsake its name, its hallucinatory circus segments — replete with haunting carnival music, multi-colored attractions and a freakshow filled with midget angels and three-eyed bears — are truly a delight.

This is not an easy film to digest, and it's likely to furrow a few brows even on repeated viewings. But that's part of its charm, as Sono deftly shows once again how to craft a complex film that doesn't speak down to its audience. He may in fact be too good at this, as the film teeters on the edge of psycho babble at times, but its arresting visual sensibilities and gripping story ultimately make it a rewarding escapade.

Thumbs Up. Almost too bizarre for its own good, Strange Circus is nonetheless an enjoyable candy-colored mind trip.