Juventude Assassina

River's Edge is a dark movie. It showcases the lives of outcast teenagers, as they try to figure out what life is, what love is and what friendship is. Although it was unnecessary graphic at some point, and the events that happened were too much, the movie had a simple but strong plot. The performances, actually, were the key to success for this movie. All the actors and actresses of the movie were exceptional and helped the movie a lot. The ending, finally, suited the story overall. So, six out of ten.

This Japanese film is centred on a group of students who attend a high school next to a polluted river. They include Ichiro Yamada, an in-the-closet gay boy who is frequently bullied; Haruna Wakakusa, a girl he takes to see a dead body after she helps him one day; Kannonzaki, her boyfriend who was the one bullying Yamada; Kanna, Yamada's 'girlfriend' and Kozue Yoshikawa, a bulimic model who believes she is ugly despite her profession.

This is a rather strange film. There is little plot to speak of. We just see the characters interacting and experiencing a series of events. There violence which is rarely extreme but has a brutally realistic feel. Similarly sex scenes aren't erotic but instead have a crude animalistic feel, clearly a deliberate choice. The characters aren't particularly sympathetic; again this is clearly deliberate. The film has a bleak look; something that is emphasised by its 4:3 picture ratio. All this may make this seem like a film to avoid but it strangely works; I was drawn into the characters' stories and thanks to solid low-key acting believed in them. The themes mean this certainly won't be for everybody. Despite its school age settings it is certainly not suitably for younger viewers; it more than earned its UK-18 certificate. Overall I'd recommend it to older viewers looking for something different.

These comments are based on watching the film in Japanese with English subtitles.

This movie is one of those weird, very quiet, but intriguing films. There isn't really a plot to begin with, there are just characters and they just go through the motions. It is interesting enough if you like these type of very dark, very quiet, slow, but intriguing films. Every character has their own thing going on, for example one guy gets beaten up a lot, one dude likes to have sex all the time, one girl likes to eat food and vomit it out, and another character is "normal."

I do like this film and it has some graphic sex in here.

Another good Japanese movie that most Westerners will probably not like, but if you are into Japanese anime, manga, ultra dark and disturbing Japanese stuff, this is a movie for you.

8/10