The movie starts out with 54 school girls gleefully jumping in front of a train. This sets the tone for the type of campy gore that is featured throughout the movie. I don't particularly like gore, but I like movies that make me think, and the plot definitely kept me thinking/scratching my head in confusion.
The story is set up as a mystery involving a website, a pop group, and a bag, that are linked to a wave of seemingly random mass suicides. The story is really much bigger than a simple mystery plot. There are a lot of esoteric scenes that turn this movie into an unapologetically ambiguous social commentary (If all of your friends jumped off of a bridge, would you???). The mystery does eventually get solved, but the resolution just leads to more questions. My rewatch value score is high, because my confusion over parts of the story was so high. I honestly think the concept was much stronger than the actual story, and individual scenes were stronger than the plot as a whole. I usually hate movies that put metaphor before plot, but this movie still manages to be so entertaining. The subject matter is serious, but many of the scenes have more of a dark comedy feel, and did I mention it's sort of a musical?
I had to give the soundtrack a 10 because it left such an impression. I love how disturbingly catchy Dessert's songs were, and I still want the "mail me" ringtone. I have no idea why the Genesis' character starts randomly singing, but his song was also stuck in my head afterwards. I admit that a couple of the songs made it onto my iPod.
This movie is a hard one to recommend. It took a second viewing for me to realize that I actually liked it, and I do now own it. If you can handle a little gore, and and feel like watching something unconventional, I'd say give it a try. Join the club ; )
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Suicide Club is being described as a horror movie and while it does contain elements which justify the classification, it shocks with an irrational absurdness rather than by depicting nightmarish events.(Gore is present but not the central attraction.)
If I were asked to describe Suicide Club in three words it would be the following: creepy, chaotic and surreal.
The actors’ performances are convincing, but as locations are changed rapidly and attention is paid to multiple characters while none is detailedly introduced, a sole character’s portrayal is of no importance.
The music is generally appropriate, but surprisingly, positively contradictious at times.
Suicide Club also contains two full-length songs, one of them as bizarre as possible.
Why should you be watching this?
Although Suicide Club was promoted as a movie on its own, it leads to more questions than answers.
It’s part of a jigsaw and can be seen as the threshold to a ridiculously witty story which unravels in “Noriko’s Dinner Table”.
I highly recommend watching both movies, while Suicide Circle serves its purpose as a foundation, it does not fail to entertain.
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I'm sorry folks, I almost couldn't watch this one. To be honest, I'm not all that impressed with myself that I could. What does that say about me? I still skipped past a couple of the more gruesome moments. Just couldn't watch. Thank God, I think if I hadn't been so disgusted I would have lost faith in myself somehow. If you can watch this without feeling horror (and no not the scary kind), then you need to take a good long look at yourself.
ACTING:
Mixed reviews on the acting. It's truly possible that some of the bad acting was intentional -- it actually fit the scenes in some strange way. In most of the movie, the acting was actually pretty good--so I'm a little divided on what to say there.
TECHNICAL EFFECTS:
For the time when the film was made, the gore was pretty gory and the blood and guts appropriately freaky. In modern film-making it would probably be considered cheesy, but it successfully wigged me out. I dunno, I'm a little sensitive to this and am easy wigged. All together, I'd say well-made for its era, if perhaps a bit behind the times now.
RE-WATCH VALUE:
No. I'm can maybe accept watching it once for the plot, but desiring to watch it a second time is probably a sign of sadistic tendencies.
STORY/MUSIC (They were too intertwined to discuss separately): This will be a little long because the topic is personal to me.
There are only two types of people I can see enjoying this film (please don't actually enjoy it--seriously). 1) People who get a perverse kick out of watching people/animals die in gruesome ways and 2) People willing to suffer through the revolting scenes for the sake of a good philosophical discussion. And this was a brilliant film from a thematical point of view.
See, the main topic of this film is Suicide, and the various people effected or involved.
It analyzes the victims and the many reasons driving people to this traumatic point of no return--lack of self-confidence, sense of pointlessness, peer pressure, relationship issues, murders disguised as suicide, etc. Even those who seemingly go for no apparent reason whatsoever.
At the same time, intermingled within the plot are the bystanders, families, police responders, and general members of society. The film captures so perfectly the modern sense of unconnectedness; many people feel watching tragic things happen to other people. People are watching the events unfold show a range of responses from cultish enthusiasm, total disinterest, dispassioned interest, and a passionate desire to become one of the club. The characters demonstrate both social unconcern about the deaths that are happening and the utter fascination many have with the topic of death and the afterlife. People are concerned about everything except the actual loss that has occurred. Although the Genesis scene (you'll see) comes across as mad and rather weird, it is truly a brilliant work of psychological art. It horrifically depicts the psychotic mindset of those people who become so caught up in the beauty and dream-like view of death's supernaturalism that they have already lost any living humanity.
The movie leaps between extremely realistic and graphic to slightly fantastical and almost in-sensitive. But that simply adds to the theme and the power of its message! For example, the use of cheery, thoughtless, innocent, teenage pop music as the background for many of the more graphic scenes. And the use of children to pose some of the more difficult questions. Suicide is a dark, horrible, destructive event. It is a thing of horror and it is very, very real. But so often we approach the topic or view such events in a distant, unconcerned viewpoint. Oh How Tragic, as we move on. It's like we are watching a movie that has no impact on our lives and does not affect our own innocence at all. People don't realize the magnitude of what each life lost really means to this world. This film seeks to warn against such hypocrisy. Which is why it pulls in important messages later in the film.
For example, the question - "What is your connection to you?" It's true. Suicide will only stop when people start to find the value of themselves from within. This movie asks you to stop looking outside of yourself for completion, mercy, validation, forgiveness, support, and a future. The world may give it to you or the world may not. Fate (and the human race) can be a b****. If you are relying on your answers to life to come from outside, it may never come. I love the part where the person says: "If you die, your connection with your wife will remain. So will your connection with your children. But if you die, you will lose the connection with yourself." That is very, very true. The memories will remain amongst those left alive. They will always remember how important you were and how you changed their lives. But suicide happens when a person loses that connection with themselves--when they forget how important they and the people in their lives are. Find your value from within and never let it go.
There is also the fact that we, the viewers watched it. In a way depicting precisely one of the main problems the movie is talking about. Many people have an unhealthy fascination with suicide, almost sadistically intrigued in the topic. Others simply view it with passing notice, as something not affecting themselves and thus unimportant. When there is a murder, we are concerned because of the danger it poses to ourselves. But with suicide the assailant is gone. So we move on, going about our lives as though nothing happened. But, as the kid asks "Why couldn't you feel the pain of others the way you feel your own? . . . You are the true criminal." What if it was your son or high school daughter or wife or husband? Would you feel the same way then? If the answer is yes, then something is wrong. If the answer is no, then now is the time to change.
This film was intended to address a growing problem in the world today. It is no coincidence that it begins with the death of so many young people jumping in front of a train. That is a very, very real threat in Japan. I remember taking the train once in Yokohama, when it stopped. The announcement was that we were being re-directed due to issues with the track. The woman next to me said it was probably "another suicide, whenever we have one, they have to change to another route" Seriously, this happens often enough, there is a standard operating procedure that residents are familiar with? I've seen and felt the effect of suicide myself through the loss of my father. It's a very real issue and I think this film does a great way of capturing all the flaws in the current way we treat this problem.
Is the film bloody? Yes. Is it gruesome? Yes. Is it entertaining? No. Is it something we should enjoy watching? No. But does it offer a good message, one that more people should take a moment and hear? YES.
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To describe this story as disturbing will be not enough. Mine first reaction when movie had ended was - David Lynch makes normal and boring movies... Seriously! I don't want to even try to understand it. Movie worth watching although few scenes were a like from B-type horror movies.
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This movie could ave been great and well put together but sadly it is a huge let down. I would not recommend to watch it.
I also don't think the tag "Horror" suits this movie. Because it does not really have any horror vibes.
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Okay so here's what I honestly think. This film is just a brutal, gruesome look at the reality of suicide.
It also tells us to have a connection with ourselves before anyone else which yes, it's profound but personally think it's not as powerful a sentiment as it's supposed to be considering its the movies philosophy.
Because if you're this connected to yourself that you don't need anyone else, then isn't that the opposite of the other message of the film which is to not be selfish and self serving?
And even this is a matter of opinion, so I'm not at all dismissing the creator for it but what did bug me was that one antagonist who is quite obviously Tim Currys character from Rocky Horror and if he was trying to pay homage I don't know but it just didn't fit and kept bugging me.
But, all those problems aside this film is still very much a masterpiece. Yes, it's depressingly gory but then gore is not of the itchi the killer variety it's not supposed to shock, or give glamor, but create the same creepy, surreal, hypnotic vibe this film is set to give. Which wilk make you feel like you just witnessed a group of girls get mangled under the train .
But like I said this movie does it not to be some splatter gruesome edgy movie, it does this to connect you to the characters and the story.
It was definitely brilliant in so many ways but it's disturbing like nothing so please bear that in mind.
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