LATE BLOOMER is the story of Sumida-san, a severely handicapped man, and his downward spiral into hell. Althoughwe first see him with his physical limitations, he has all the personality, and desires, of a physically normal man.
He loves to party, eat good food, and rock out to his caregiver Take’s hardcore band. However, Sumida-san’s life begins to fall apart when he develops a fond crush on his new caregiver, Nobuko. Needless to say, the feelings are not reciprocated and when Nobuko starts spending her free time with Take, Sumida-san is driven mad with desire and frustration, and, of course, things take a turn for the worse…
‘To best describe the film, one can say that it has the best elements of Tetsuo: The Iron Man, Battles without Honor and Humanity, Taxi Driver, Freaks, and Psycho. There are elements of directors Wakamatsu Koji, Werner Herzog, Alejandro Jodorowsky, and Herschell Gordon Lewis in the film too.’
—Midnight Eye
“Weird, wicked and wonderfully perverse”—THE NEW YORK TIMES
“ ***1/2 ” —ROGER EBERT
“Gets under your skin, then immediately starts eating away at your internal organs."—TIME OUT NEW YORK
“One of the best films that has come out of Japan recently"—MIDNIGHT EYE
“Highly unusual spin on the serial killer/horror film mix”—VARIETY
Bone House Asia’s DVD presentation of LATE BLOOMER includes a greeting from director Go Shibata, interviews with the director and actors, and a trailer gallery.
