THE Japanese film “Funky For est: The First Contact” is, you might say, funky. It consists of a series of comic sketches.

Some are funny, like “Babbling Hot Spring Vixens in Alien Piko-Riko,” in which three young women sing “Happy Birthday” in English to a man who just turned 39.

But most of the sketches fall flat, even the one in which Rinko Kikuchi, who received an Oscar nomination for “Babel,” gets to show off her navel for an extended period of time.

Perhaps something is lost in the translation, or maybe “Funky Forest” isn’t funny in Japan, either.

In Japanese, with English subtitles. Running time: 150 minutes. Not rated (nothing objectionable). At the Imaginasian, 59th Street, between Second and Third avenues.