Suicide Club

First of all, I looked at another comment by someone named rrobins2-1, who said that this movie is "not for the Japanese ignorant," that it has a lot to do with Buddhism and Shintoism, and that it's perfectly understandable from a Japanese point of view.

Mr. rrobins2-1 obviously doesn't know what he's talking about. I have lived in Japan, I speak the language, and I know that his comments are ignorant, which is ironic because that's what he claims others are. First of all, many Japanese people don't follow any religion, nor do they know a great deal about them. Second, every Japanese person I spoke to said the same thing about the movie: "I didn't understand it." So much for that perfectly understanding Japanese point of view. Anyway, now that that's finished, on to the review:

The beginning parts of the movie show a lot of promise. Teenagers are killing themselves, and being happy about it to boot. The police are looking into it, believing that it's more of a murder, and someone is causing it. Throughout the movie, you see their futility in trying to figure things out, and the scenes that feature mass suicide are very intense and well-done, but there ends up being so many different things in the movie that don't amount to anything, and their is no real conclusion to the film.

First off, there's a girl who informs the police of a website that's connected to the suicide. She attempts to find out the cause of the deaths. It seems that she would be an important character, but she's not in very much, and she doesn't do anything. This goes with all the characters. There are many characters in the movie, but none of them are developed, and many times you're left wondering why they're in the movie to begin with. There's a weird Rocky Horror-esquire musical performance about halfway through the movie, which many people believe is way out of character for the rest of the movie. Anway, I don't want to spoil anything, so I will just say that the story doesn't end, and with the way things stand at the end of the movie, it's impossible to understand how these people were convinced to kill themselves the way they were.

Going through all the stuff in the movie quickly: There's the mass suicides, Cops that are out of touch, a giant roll of stitched together human flesh of the people who have or will commit suicide, a weird j-pop band who's name is misspelled numerous times throughout the movie, the weird, gay cultist who sings wants to be famous, coughing children who know everything about the situation and give cryptic clues about it. All of these, as well as the stuff I neglected to mention, either come out of the blue, or are barely in the picture (or both), with no explanation (and almost no clues), leading you to wonder what they are doing in the first place. I know it's supposed to be a satire, but if half the people who watch it don't understand it, how are you supposed to get your message across?

'Suicide Club' starts out with quite the opening scene. It's dark, unique, shocking and mysterious. At that point there was hope for the film. Sadly, that was going to be the highlight and it was all downhill from there.

This was a weird one. I really don't know what they were going for. I've never seen so much blood used in individuals scenes. It was comical. It was almost like a reminder to say, just in case you forgot this is a movie here is a ridiculous quantity of blood which looks nothing like actual blood.

There's a concept here that I could see working if done differently. Mass random suicides under mysterious circumstances could certainly work for a horror film. But in this case everyone was so happy during the suicide scenes that there was no tension or dread at all.

This one didn't work for me. It's not one I'd recommend. 4/10.

A grim vision of the future of the internet, manifested. But, as a Sion Sono film, is still very weird and out-there. What's with the musical number from the blonde weirdo Genesis?

Everybody is being influenced by some website and because of some rumors. It's fomo combined with teenage anxiety and impressionability. But at the same time, when suicides come in such big numbers, all at the same time, is the exterior influence actually the murderer? I know there is real pressure in Japan to succeed. That drives people to make harsh decisions regarding their life. Burnout is a big thing in Japan. Or was, not updated enough on that situation.

I think Sono wanted to raise awareness.

This weird low budget Japanese film asks, Are you connected to yourself? To understand the concept of this movie you have to understand Japanese culture a bit. In Japan, everything is much more group related and being solo means you're likely to be cast aside. The story starts with a memorable scene in which over fifty high school students jump to their deaths in front of an oncoming train. A series of suicides follows which baffles investigators. I won't say much more on the story in risk of giving anything away. Reportedly shot for around $250,000 on 35mm is impressive and certain scenes were shot without formal permission. Ironically, the train station at the opening of the film where teenagers die has had some real life suicides associated with it. Spooky. The film isn't perfect and it's a bit hard to keep track of certain characters sometimes but the overall effect is pretty powerful. It did stir up some emotion in me. Check it out!

Suicide Club is a typically energetic and hyper quirky cinematic treat from Japan. What you may need to know to really enjoy this happy hell-ride is that for 'director' read 'performance artist'. Director, Shion Sono is better known as the man behind many a controversial and largely impromptu public performances 'sans camera'. The other thing you may need to know is that the train station featured at the beginning of the film was notorious for suicides. So much so that Japanese officials allowed a special 'suicide tax' to be levied on the families of those people committing suicide at this station (and others like it) to deter disillusioned salarymen from continuing create train delays.

According to Sono, he shot alot of the scene as he would direct as performance pieces. Without formal permission, he grabbed his actors and had them pile into the station and do their thing. I doubt there are many 'Hollywood' that would even contemplate such a risk, let alone pull it off with such energy and vision. This type of Japanese cinema is a bittersweet candy bar. Dont try and savour it, just enjoy the rush cause you may start to feel and little sick at some point soon.