Rinjin 13-gô

If you are expecting horror, forget it. If you are expecting "psychological thriller," forget that too. In fact, if you are expecting anything halfway moving, gripping, or attention-grabbing in the least, FORGET ALL ABOUT IT.

The film has a decent premise but unfortunately displays the absolute worst traits of a certain strain of Japanese horror films which, as another reviewer mentions, owe a lot to Miike's more exasperatingly BORING experiments, such as that "Ichii" crap.

The problem here is that this movie move's at a snail's pace. That would have been alright had there been some kind of payoff, but there is not. Characters stare at each other for MINUTES ON END inexplicably in the middle of a @#$# conversation, children see dead, bloodied bodies and simply stand there aloof like scarecrows before casually walking away--countless reactions are completely fake and unrealistic. The film was a great idea but any kind of dramatic effect is robbed from it by the stupid SILENCE and stilted dialogue which plagues the entire film.

If you think boring crap such as "964 Pinocchio" and the "All Night Long" series were "disturbing," you'll probably like this film too. If you're looking for a REAL MOVIE, you'll wish you hadn't given it the chance in the first place, especially considering it's nearly two hours long. (If they had had haflway normal dialog and half-way HUMAN reactions among characters, the film would've been an hour and a half).

If you're looking for good Asian horror/revenge/drama, see the Korean "Oldboy." As far as "Rinjin 13-gô" goes: AVOID.

This movie is a pretty harsh look at how bullying and loneliness can affect someone's life. It's one of the best horror/revenge flicks I've ever seen.

What we have here is a story about a young boy who is abused by his fellow classmates. Due to this abuse he has grown up with a split personality. Which is his bad, vengeful, stronger side. The movie is basically about him coping with the emergence of his Mr. Hyde.

The movie plays incredibly well. Some may have issues with the long scenes, but for me the movie was shot incredibly well. It's this type of movie that makes me roll my eyes at these WB flicks or even TV shows. The cinematography, direction and music was nothing less than awesome. Whenever they show his alter side, it was nothing but pure badass, creepy goosebumps. There really is not much to complain about. It would have been nice to maybe get to know the characters a little more. Maybe to understand why Juzo went so kaka cuckoo. The other slight complaint is the ending. It's a tad confusing, but either way you think how it ended...it works.

This was a damn treat. A serious revenge/horror/thriller flick that delivers on pretty much all cylinders. I think I might start wearing my down vest again.

2005 Japanese horror film. The boy, who was bullied in his childhood, raises a monster inside him with a feeling of revenge. When it grows up, this monster takes action to take revenge. But which type of truth is difficult to understand. The one with no marks on his face or the one burned with acid? Also, why do these far eastern movies always end with uncertainty? Is this a legal requirement? It's a mediocre movie in my opinion.

I'm happy to have caught this one at the International Rotterdam film festival 2005 a few months ago. I actually enjoyed myself very much. It was a special screening which the director joined and introduced with a nice little speech. He basically said that a lot of film festivals rejected it because of its harsh violence and that Rotterdam is the first to be open to it. In other words; I was in for a big treat.

All in all, the movie isn't overtly violent. However, that doesn't take away that it's very good debut of the director, not to mention a good adaptation of a manga. It's a nice slow paced psychological movie that toys with the troubles of a man who has suffered a lot in his younger years and is now living with the after effects. It's a very dark movie with horror and drama elements about a young man being tormented and teased most of his younger school years. Years later, he has taken refuge in his little house where he has bad dreams, fantasies and is alone a lot. Then he gets a new job at a construction site and some new neighbors: turns out that the man of the family moving is his new employer and is fact, the same guy who used to make his life miserable. To make it short, it's payback time, but not a Kill Bill, Sin City type payback with slashing, one-liners and lots of action (which is also good btw), but a more slow-paced and build-up, tensed, psychological and slow payback. This approach proves to be very effective for the themes the movies tries to flow along: teen abuse, trauma, social pressure. The movie turns out to be an interesting study of human behavior and social schizophrenia. btw, The alter ego or second personality of the young guy is one of the scariest mo-fo's ever on screen, mentally but definitely physically, up there with the likes of Freddy Kruger, Hannibal, and whatnot. Horrific? Think of a very very very very scary looking guy you never wanna meet in this life or the next, that has been tormented most of his life and is completely immune to any moral, social of ethical code. It gets pretty horrific from there.

After the movie there was a short Q&A session with the director in which we could ask questions. The crowd wasn't too anxious and due to the bad information provided by the organization, half the audience was already gone. Regarding the violence, he thinks that a lot of people rejected the movie not because of the 'goryness' or explicit images of the violence but more because of the type of violence, the effects and motivations of that violence and the effects of it. I couldn't totally see that in the movie: a lot of the violent image are disturbing in a surreal sense, not so much in a shocking sense.

It's a shame that the people who control what we can and cannot see in theaters and festivals are passing up this film, and to be honest, I don't really get it. I can give you 25 other movies which are much more violent. But it probably has to do more with the realness of it all. Either way, I hope that after the release in homeland Japan, second of April, the movie will get more attention and hopefully this hidden gem will get a wider release across the globe.

I have just watched the film, and there is not much I can say without spoiling some of it for you. Let's just say that is a revenge film, and like many Japanese films of its type, insanity plays a part. The film starts when a young man, Juzo, gets a job at a construction company. We learn that Juzo spent much of his school years hiding from bullies (and from the introduction, also being tortured in some VERY shocking ways). The cruel attacks by his supervisor at the site begin to affect Juzo, bringing more and more of his school memories to the surface, and the desire for REVENGE.

*The Neighbour Number 13 (Rinjin jusan go)* That's all I can say really, as I don't want to spoil or diffuse this film. I am pretty sure if you do a search you will find a couple of reviews on the boards, from the cinema release, but beware of spoilers: the story is everything in this film, there are few twists and turns, and some sections will leave you stumped.

I liked this film: it is very stylishly shot, and the use of colour is fantastic in some scenes. I have never read the original comic that this film is based on, but I can only assume that the film's many lapses into the surreal are faithful to the source: there is even an animated section of the film, and identifying the reality in this film is not always an easy thing to do.

There are some very still sequences that reminded me of Kitano's films (Hanabi or Brother in particular), and some of the more insane scenes are definitely like adding a pinch of Miike to the mix. While there is a fair bit of violence in the film, most of it occures offscreen, though the fate of one character is shown particularly graphically.

One aspect of the film that I am sure is from the source material, as it seems to be a very manga thing to do, is the depiction of some of the more grosser things in life, ie: bodily excretions, both liquid and solid are shown in this film, when I am sure few Hollywood films would not. It's nothing too graphic, but it was enough to make me squeal "Ewww gross!" like little girl. tongue.gif So in the end, I quite enjoyed this film. It is stylish, tense and atmospheric. This director's style, reminds me in some ways of Kitano's older work, in that I felt sometimes that was just following the characters around. Some scenes are just not trimmed down to keep the action flowing, and I like that. Like I said, there are some quiet moments, but they are often filmed in a kind of detached manner, and filled with tension, possibly reminiscent of Kiyoshi Kurosawa.

The Neighbour Number 13 is a film that would be best watched with friends, and discussed over SEVERAL pints of beer - or at least Cokes and Gummi bears tongue.gif While it isn't amazing, it is very interesting and looks fantastic. If you have bought all of your essentials and you are looking for a sidedish, I can fully recommend this film.