Jisatsu saakuru (2002)

User Rating:

6.7/10   

Director:

Sion Sono

Writer:

Sion Sono (writer)

Genre:

Horror | Mystery | Thriller

Tagline:

Sore de wa minasan, sayonara [Well then, goodbye everybody.]

Plot:

A detective is trying to find the cause of a string of suicides.

Plot Keywords:

Gore | Surrealism | Surreal | Bizarre | Disturbing

Awards:

2 wins

Cast

Ryo Ishibashi	...	Detective Kuroda
Akaji Maro	...	Detective Murata
Masatoshi Nagase	...	Detective Shibusawa
Saya Hagiwara	...	Mitsuko
Hideo Sako	...	Detective Hagitani
Takashi Nomura	...	Security Guard Jiro Suzuki
Tamao Satô	...	Nurse Yoko Kawaguchi
Mai Hosho	...	Nurse Sawada
Yoko Kamon	...	Koomori (The Bat)
Rolly	...	Genesis
Kimiko Yo	...	Kiyomi Kuroda
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Tomoe Adachi	...	Dessert
Madoka Arai	...	Genesis' Victim (Girl in the Sack)
Kyoko Baba	...	H.S. Girl on the Roof
Hiromi Eguchi	...	H.S. Girl on the Roof
Saon Fujita	...	Dessert
Yasusuke Hamamoto	...	Genesis' Gang
Seiko Hashimoto	...	H.S. Girl on the Roof
Harina Hata	...	H.S. Girl on the Roof
Taihei Hayashiya	...	Rakugo Storyteller
Asami Hidaka	...	Theatre Troupe
Kanako Hiramatsu	...	Mother Slicing Vegetables
Satomi Hisanaga	...	H.S. Girl on the Roof
Noriko Isami	...	Girl With Sign
Joshua	...	Genesis' Henchman
Takatoshi Kaneko	...	H.S. Boy on the Roof
Ryuji Kasahara
Mika Kikuchi	...	Sakura Kuroda
Toshiyuki Kitami	...	Shinakawa
Tomoka Kumagai	...	Dessert
Mitsuru Kuramoto
Himeno Maeda	...	Boy
Toyotomi Maeda	...	Girl
Hajime Matsumoto	...	Toru Kuroda, His Son
Haruna Matsuoka	...	Theatre Troupe
Nobuyuki Mihara	...	H.S. Boy on the Roof
Chieko Misaka	...	Theatre Troupe
Mika Miyagawa	...	H.S. Girl on the Roof
Maiko Mori	...	Koomori's Sister
Tatsuo Moriyasu	...	Komori's Father
Kei Nagase	...	Genesis' Gang
Nahana	...	H.S. Girl on the Roof
Yuna Natsuo	...	Girl By the Stove
Midori Niie	...	Policewoman
Atsushi Numata	...	Comedian
Yuhei Okabe	...	Son
Taiju Okayasu	...	Police
Takamitsu Okubo	...	Father
Kikuko Sakurai
Miyu Sawada	...	Dessert
Kazumi Sekine	...	Dessert
Noriyoshi Shioya	...	Masa (Mitsuko's Boyfriend)
Suzunosuke
Erika Tajima	...	Policewoman
Kazumi Takahashi	...	Masa's Mother
Kei Tanaka	...	H.S. Boy on the Roof
Kenjiro Tsuda	...	Mita
Masato Tsujioka	...	Genesis' Gang
Katsuhiro Watanabe	...	Comedian
Hisako Yamada	...	Daughter
Hiroko Yashiki	...	Theatre Troupe

Also Known As:

Suicide Club (International: English title) (USA) (festival title)
Suicide Circle (International: English title) (literal title)

MPAA:

Rated R for disturbing thematic elements, strong violence/grisly images and some language.

Runtime:

99 min

Country:

Japan

Language:

Japanese

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Certification:

New Zealand:R18 | Canada:16+ (Quebec) | Japan:R-15 | Singapore:R21 | Germany:18

Filming Locations:

Tokyo, Japan

Company:

For Peace Co. Ltd.

Trivia:

The Bat's computer is a black Apple Macintosh PowerPC 5500/225. This model was already discontinued in 1998.

Goofs:

Crew or equipment visible: When the students jump to their death on the school roof, you can clearly see crew-members throwing buckets of fake blood at the window.

Quotes:

Medical Examiner: There are several bodies here. We'll pry them apart later.

Movie Connections:

References The Rocky Horror Picture Show (1975)

Not for the Japanese-ignorant

A user on this board commented that much of this film is lost in translation. This is true. From what I've seen, the overwhelming majority of users on this board are either American or European. Also, the majority of the reviews of this film are negative, and the only explanation from these negative reviews are that the film "doesn't make sense" or lacks a "solid plot."

LOL

Of course it doesn't make sense to you. You're watching it as an American. You cannot watch this film with an American lens. You're right - it doesn't make sense. But if you watch this film with a Japanese lens it makes PERFECT sense.

First, you cannot watch this film within a Christian/existential context. You must watch it from a Buddhist/Shinto perspective. This is the predominant religion in Japan.

Watching this as a Shinto/Buddhist you'll find that a lot of the images take on new meaning. Shinto is an animist religion that WORSHIPS NATURE - pay attention to the animal symbols that repeatedly crop up in the film (did you wonder why there are baby chicks running rampant during that creepy "shaving" scene?). Also, pay attention to the colors. Yellow means something much different to the Japanese than it does to Westerners.

Also, Japan has an incredibly powerful youth culture. Western societies, especially the United States, tend to dismiss youth as a time of decadence, immorality, and lack of direction. The Japanese hold their youth in reverence - they believe it's an incredibly precious time of life. In fact, just as the US has "mother's day" and "father's day," the Japanese have "children's day!" This movie is making a statement about childhood and the value of childhood.

And, last but not least - reincarnation. Reincarnation is accepted as a fact of life in Japan. Keep that in mind when the kids from the Dessart Group are talking all "cryptic" and "nonsensical." ^_^

I won't go into detail on what sort of meaning the film takes within the native Japanese framework. I will tell you this, though: the plot IS coherent from start to finish. There aren't any "plot holes." No more so than you'll find in the greats of American cinema, such as "Citizen Kane" or "Pulp Fiction."

With these things in mind, "Suicide Club" is not as enigmatic as it might seem. Of course, this information doesn't dismiss the other complaints: gratuitous violence and the J-pop performances.... Which, I'd argue, are just more American-biased complaints.

Sayonara! Randy