TAG - A High School Splatter Film

Tag is a difficult movie to rate. The soundtrack is beautiful, the CGI is...shall we say, it could use improvement? The acting to me is good, but I can see if some consider it "over the top".

It's a very Japanese movie with Japanese humour, so many Western people might not understand it or frown upon it.

It's also a very "Sono" movie. Sion Sono (I think as far as I remember, he comes from the pinka aiga genre and his wife is a former JAV star) made many movies about patriarchy and the whole "men vs women" thing. Love Exposure, Cold Fish, Guilty of Romance...all with pretty despicable male characters and often with the empowerment of women.

Tag makes it clear early on that it's a very female movie. Up until the final part, there isn't a single male character (if we don't count a literal "pig") in the film. Then, as we cross into the "real" world, we see nothing but male characters (and not in a flattering light).

I see Tag as a metaphor. Men control women, they oversexualize them (if you watch closely, all the school girls seem to be clearly older than regular school girls) and show them as objects. So we can see the final scene as a freeing of male shackles, aimed at (Japanese) women?

Tag is a horror film filled with illogical ideas that make you wonder if the protagonist is dreaming or trapped in hell. The final twist-that the main character is a video game character-feels like a weak answer to the film's mysteries and left me disappointed. Unless we accept the idea that the protagonist is an AI agent, alive and self-aware, the ending falls flat. Only then can we consider artificial intelligence as truly living and possessing identity.

I discovered this film from a Humour site who posted a sample video of this film. It made me curious to watch this film because of the cute chick plus the gory scene in the trailer.

The story is kind of deep. I think, It's trying to make its audience a mind blown effect. But it isn't. I'm unsatisfied with the dialogue trying to give a meaningful line. I think the novel version tells a lot than the movie version.

Regarding the special effects, instead of scrutinizing the not so bad and not so good gory scenes, just okay, I just laugh it out. I don't know if there's something wrong with me, but I really find those scenes funny.

After watching this film, It made me more curious and I want to read the original story of the novel this film was based.

Thank you.

This movie is hard to explain and also hard to watch. You could make a strong case for it being very incoherent, but you could also argue the opposite. And it's not that one or the other would be right overall. What you can say about this, is that it completely messes with your head (avoiding other words here,to keep it family friendly).

But the completely over the top and also very violent content will either appeal or appall you as a viewer. The very weird story, that I couldn't really explain even if I tried to, has the same thing going for or against it, depending on your point of view. If you want and can wrap your head around things happening (you can't just watch it and do other stuff, the movie needs your overall, full and undivided attention), then you will be entertained - if you are into that sort of strange storytelling that is

I never would have seen this movie or known of it's existence without my kids. My daughter showed me a clip from the first 10 minutes, and I was hooked, because I had to know what was going on. From then on, it was silly and juvenile but every now and then very unexpected things would happen. I'm not sure if this is deemed a horror or sci-fi, but the Japanese film industry sure is different, and occasional worth diving into. I'm glad I watched it, but wouldn't necessarily recommend it.