Name: Suicide Club (2001)
IMDb: link to Suicide Club page
Genres: Horror, mystery Country of origin: Japan.
Cast: Ryo Ishibashi as Detective Toshiharu Kuroda, Akaji Haro as Detective Murata, Masatoshi Nagase as Detective Shibusawa, Sayaki Hagiwara as Mitsuko, Takashi Nomura as Security Guard Jiro, Mai Hosho as Nurse Atsuko Sawada.
Written and directed by: Shion Sono.
The Three Acts:
The initial tableaux:
Fifty students jump in front of a train to their bloody deaths. At the hospital, there is consternation over the news and the rail closures; further, there is a power outage and another death. The detectives have many issues to sort out. On a website, red dots seem to count the deaths.
Delineation of conflicts:
Were the deaths an accident, which would be convenient for writing them off, or were they murders, or were they something else? Who is behind the mysterious websites? Were the 50 youngsters from the same high school? The police have a lot to figure out.
On the one hand, we have regular common sense. On the other hand, we have the formation of local suicide clubs that wish to establish a new record on the total number of simultaneous deaths. Are the cops immune to this movement?
Conformity and nihilism seem to be working together, hand in glove, but why? Just what are those skin rolls (very long strips of human skin made of segments stitched together) about?
Resolution: One question for me was whether the film intended to show supernatural causes, or whether it stayed reality based. If it stays reality based, will the police find the human centre of the problems?
One line summary: What's behind the group suicides?
Statistics:
Cinematography: 4/10 Blurred and soft with the VHS look, with occasional passages of shaky cam.
Sound: 7/10 I could hear the actors clearly, but required the captions and body English. Music (teen bands, usually) and foley come and go early on. In the second half, music is more obviously integral to the promotion of nihilism and the worship of death. The so-so sound quality did not interfere with getting the messages across.
Acting: 6/10 The detectives have the most screen time. Fortunately, most of them know how to deliver lines. Many of the actors who play teens and pre-teens were just useless.
Screenplay: 6/10 The exposition of motives was a bit murky for much of the film. However, that is par for the course in a good mystery. Once the pieces started coming together, I had hopes for a Western climax. That was not to be; the film ended in ambiguity and without the guilty parties being brought to any sort of justice. Instead, society seemed unable to protect itself.
Final rating: 6/10 An Asian mystery that was loaded with horrifying passages.
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