MFKZ in Select U.S. Cinemas Nationwide on October 11 & 16 /ref> is a 2017 French-Japanese
adult animated
An adult is a human or other animal that has reached full growth. In human context, the term ''adult'' has meanings associated with social and legal concepts. In contrast to a "minor", a legal adult is a person who has attained the age of majori ...
science fiction
Science fiction (sometimes shortened to Sci-Fi or SF) is a genre of speculative fiction which typically deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts such as advanced science and technology, space exploration, time travel, parallel unive ...
film based on the comic series and the short film of the same name. The film was a
French
French (french: français(e), link=no) may refer to:
* Something of, from, or related to France
** French language, which originated in France, and its various dialects and accents
** French people, a nation and ethnic group identified with Franc ...
-
Japanese
Japanese may refer to:
* Something from or related to Japan, an island country in East Asia
* Japanese language, spoken mainly in Japan
* Japanese people, the ethnic group that identifies with Japan through ancestry or culture
** Japanese diaspor ...
Studio 4°C
is a Japanese animation studio founded by Eiko Tanaka and Koji Morimoto in 1986. The name comes from the temperature at which water is most dense.
History
Studio 4 °C has produced numerous feature films, OVAs, and shorts. Early film titl ...
and is directed by Shōjirō Nishimi and Guillaume "Run" Renard. The comic would be published in English as ''M.F.K.Z.'' by the
Behemoth Comics
Sumerian Comics is an American comic book publisher based in Los Angeles, California. The company was founded in 2020 by Nathan Yocum and Ryan Swanson as Behemoth Comics. The comic division sells over half a million (500,000+) comics yearly, rea ...
imprint, Happy Tank beginning in June 2021. ''Mutafukaz'' was released in France on May 23, 2018 and in Japan on October 12, 2018.
Plot
A young woman carrying an
infant
An infant or baby is the very young offspring of human beings. ''Infant'' (from the Latin word ''infans'', meaning 'unable to speak' or 'speechless') is a formal or specialised synonym for the common term ''baby''. The terms may also be used to ...
is chased by black-suited men. Some of the men are killed by a
dog
The dog (''Canis familiaris'' or ''Canis lupus familiaris'') is a domesticated descendant of the wolf. Also called the domestic dog, it is derived from the extinct Pleistocene wolf, and the modern wolf is the dog's nearest living relative. Do ...
who sprouts black tentacles. The woman manages to hide the baby in a dumpster before she is killed by one of the men.
Years later, the infant, now grown to a 22-year-old young man and named Angelino, lives in a run-down
apartment
An apartment (American English), or flat (British English, Indian English, South African English), is a self-contained housing unit (a type of residential real estate) that occupies part of a building, generally on a single story. There are ma ...
in Dark Meat City (DMC) with his friend Vinz and countless "pet"
cockroaches
Cockroaches (or roaches) are a paraphyletic group of insects belonging to Blattodea, containing all members of the group except termites. About 30 cockroach species out of 4,600 are associated with human habitats. Some species are well-known a ...
. While making a delivery, Angelino is distracted by Luna, a beautiful young woman, and is hit by a truck. This causes Angelino to start having
headaches
Headache is the symptom of pain in the face, head, or neck. It can occur as a migraine, tension-type headache, or cluster headache. There is an increased risk of depression in those with severe headaches.
Headaches can occur as a result of m ...
and
hallucinate
A hallucination is a perception in the absence of an external stimulus that has the qualities of a real perception. Hallucinations are vivid, substantial, and are perceived to be located in external objective space. Hallucination is a combinatio ...
. The MIB, strange men in black suits led by a white-suited man named Bruce, begin pursuing Angelino. Angelino calls his friend Willy, and they hide in the rundown crime neighborhood of Palm Hills. Angelino and Vinz are later found again by the MIB, who engage the local
gangs
A gang is a group or society of associates, friends or members of a family with a defined leadership and internal organization that identifies with or claims control over territory in a community and engages, either individually or collectivel ...
in a gunfight, killing people from both sides. Elsewhere, a
Luchador
Lucha libre (, meaning "freestyle wrestling" or literally translated as "free fight") is the term used in Latin America for professional wrestling. Since its introduction to Mexico in the early 20th century, it has developed into a unique form ...
tells his comrades about a
vision
Vision, Visions, or The Vision may refer to:
Perception Optical perception
* Visual perception, the sense of sight
* Visual system, the physical mechanism of eyesight
* Computer vision, a field dealing with how computers can be made to gain un ...
he had about a potential evil they must combat.
In the restaurant they frequent, Angelino and Vinz run into Luna, who is actually working with the MIB and gets the two captured. Luna's father, Mr. K, is the leader of an
alien race
Extraterrestrial life, colloquially referred to as alien life, is life that may occur outside Earth and which did not originate on Earth. No extraterrestrial life has yet been conclusively detected, although efforts are underway. Such life might ...
called Macho who have infiltrated the Earth including politicians and the police in order to eventually colonize the planet. Angelino is the child of a Macho father and a human woman which results in unpredictable and potentially powerful combinations that Mr. K wants to exploit. Mr. K tries to brainwash Angelino and convince him to kill his friend Vinz, while Luna switches sides after witnessing Angelino's past. They are rescued by the group of Luchadors who have followed Angelino's pet cockroaches that instinctively tracked Angelino down, and are joined by a
scientist
A scientist is a person who conducts Scientific method, scientific research to advance knowledge in an Branches of science, area of the natural sciences.
In classical antiquity, there was no real ancient analog of a modern scientist. Instead, ...
named Fagor who was the only one out of several kidnapped scientists working with the Macho.
Crocodile (a MIB from earlier) arrives at Willy's house and holds him hostage. Angelino and Vinz decide to return and Angelino rescues Willy. The Luchadores and Fagor launch the rocket, triggering it to snow across the country, freezing and killing all of the hidden Macho, while causing a news helicopter to crash, destroying Willy's house and killing Crocodile. Angelino, being half Macho, begins freezing, but is saved by Luna's kiss and she apologizes to him. Bruce arrives for a climactic fight against Angelino, who saves Luna from being killed and refuses to use his Macho powers. Before Bruce takes the opportunity to kill Angelino, the local gangs gun him down as revenge for previously invading their hood and for shooting their leader in the eye.
Two months later, everything goes back to "normal" with people forgetting about the incident. Vinz finally gets a job at the restaurant they frequent. Angelino writes letters to Luna who disappeared after his fight with Bruce despite not knowing where in DMC she is. Willy, who also disappeared after the fight, creates his first music single. Mr. K is shown to have survived and has set up a base on the
moon
The Moon is Earth's only natural satellite. It is the fifth largest satellite in the Solar System and the largest and most massive relative to its parent planet, with a diameter about one-quarter that of Earth (comparable to the width of ...
, where he begins sending
UFOs
An unidentified flying object (UFO), more recently renamed by US officials as a UAP (unidentified aerial phenomenon), is any perceived aerial phenomenon that cannot be immediately identified or explained. On investigation, most UFOs are id ...
to potentially invade earth.
Voice cast
French cast
*
Orelsan
Aurélien Cotentin (; born 1 August 1982), better known by his stage name Orelsan, sometimes stylized as OrelSan (), is a French rapper, songwriter, record producer, actor and film director. He has released four studio albums: his debut ''Perdu d ...
as Angelino
*
Gringe
Guillaume Tranchant (; born 20 February 1980), better known by his stage name Gringe (), is a French rapper, songwriter and actor. He is one half of the French hip hop duo Casseurs Flowters, along with Orelsan, with whom he has released two stud ...
as Vinz
* Redouanne Harjane as Willy
*
Féodor Atkine
Féodor Atkine is a French actor of Russian-Polish origin, born on 27 February 1948 in Paris.
A screen performer, he has participated in numerous plays, films and television series in France and abroad.
Life and career
Féodor Atkine was born ...
as Mister K
* Kelly Marot as Luna
* Julien Kramer as Bruce Macchabée & El Diablo
* Emmanuel Karsen as Randy Crocodile
* Gilbert Lévy as Professor Fagor
* Alain Dorval as El Tigre
* Frantz Confiac as Popeye
English cast
*
Kenn Michael
Kenny Blank (born September 15, 1977), also known as Kenn Michael, is an American actor, musician and director. Blank is best known for his role as Michael Peterson in the television series ''The Parent 'Hood'' from 1995 to 1997 for which he al ...
as Angelino
*
Vince Staples
Vincent Jamal Staples (born July 2, 1993) is an American rapper and singer. Staples was once a close associate of Odd Future, Mike G and Earl Sweatshirt in particular. He is currently signed to Motown and Blacksmith Records.
Staples rose to pr ...
as Vinz
*
Dascha Polanco
Dascha Yolaine Polanco (born December 3, 1982) is a Dominican-American actress. She is known for portraying the role of Dayanara "Daya" Diaz on the Netflix series ''Orange Is the New Black'', and for the role of Cuca in the 2021 movie ''In the He ...
as Luna
*
Dino Andrade Dino may refer to:
Prefix
* dino-, a common prefix in taxonomy, meaning "terrible", "formidable"
**Dinosaur
People
* Dino (given name), a masculine given name and a nickname
* Dino (surname), a surname found in Albania and Turkey
* Diño, a surn ...
as Willy
*
Danny Trejo
Danny Trejo ( ; born May 16, 1944) is an American actor. He has appeared in films including ''Desperado'', ''Heat'', and the ''From Dusk Till Dawn'' film series. With frequent collaborator and his second cousin Robert Rodriguez, he portrayed ...
as Bruce
*
Giancarlo Esposito
Giancarlo Giuseppe Alessandro Esposito (; born April 26, 1958) is an American actor and director. He is best known for portraying Gus Fring in the AMC crime drama series ''Breaking Bad'', from 2009 to 2011, and in its prequel series ''Better Ca ...
as Mr. K
*
Michael Chiklis
Michael Charles Chiklis ( born August 30, 1963) is an American actor, television director, television producer and musician. He is best known for his role as Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) Detective Vic Mackey on the FX police drama ''The S ...
as Agent Randy Crocodile
*
RZA
Robert Fitzgerald Diggs (born July 5, 1969), better known by his stage name the RZA ( ), is an American rapper, actor, filmmaker, and record producer. He is the ''de facto'' leader of the hip hop group Wu-Tang Clan, having produced most albums ...
as Shakespeare (a.k.a. Popeye)
* Jorge Gutierrez as El Tigre
*
Bill Lobley
Bill Lobley (born in Bronxville, New York) is an American comic actor known for his work in animation, commercials, and voiceovers for film, radio, and television; including Arcane, Adult Swim's ''Sealab 2021'', Discovery's Animal Planet, and m ...
as Professor Fagor
* Antonio Alvarez as El Diablo
Release
''Mutafukaz'' had its world premiere on June 13, 2017 at the
Annecy International Animation Film Festival
The Annecy International Animation Film Festival (french: Festival international du film d'animation d'Annecy, officially abbreviated in English as the Annecy Festival, or simply Annecy) was created in 1960 and takes place at the beginning of J ...
.Mutafukaz - Annecy Programme /ref> The film was released in France on May 23, 2018. Parco released the film in Japan on October 12, 2018.French-Japanese “Mutafukaz” by STUDIO 4°C Gets Japan Release! /ref>
GKIDS
GKIDS is an American film distributor based in New York with, according to the ''Los Angeles Times'', a focus on "sophisticated, indie" animation. GKIDS releases critically acclaimed, mostly hand-drawn, international films—such as the works o ...
released the English dub of the film in a limited theatrical run in the U.S. and Canada on October 11 and October 16, 2018.
Reception
On Rotten Tomatoes, the film has a score of 39% based on 19 reviews with an
average rating
In ordinary language, an average is a single number taken as representative of a list of numbers, usually the sum of the numbers divided by how many numbers are in the list (the arithmetic mean). For example, the average of the numbers 2, 3, 4, 7 ...