All in all it is movie worth attention. It even has few twists, I enjoy this kind of movies so I expected it since I like to think deeply trough all details so people who like a little gore or heart warming moments or just some twists in general this movie is for you. It might sound weird how I mentioned heart warming moments I don't want to spoil but the movie is really nice that has all kind of moments. Friendships, love, rivalry, grudge you will see all kind of emotions here that are served well.
Sorry I am bat at reviewing without spoiling but just couldn't let this have no review because maybe some people need a push to watch this and are debating too long so if you're just considering I am here to tell it's worth your time.
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Convoluted and unconventional definitely gruesome and doesn't pull any punches. It's kind of stylistically gives a post-apocalyptic feel like 1984 and Battle Royale, it's going to depress you. I loved the usual eccentricity of Japanese fiction and there's a touch of dark humor as well. Basically, Zera wants to create a society where there are no adults and he has help from a demonic entity who warns him against an uprising and certain death from 'adults' and 'traitors.' And this fear drives him to be ruthless toward everyone and creating a society aka Lychee Light Club to control other young boys. These boys are not allowed to fornicate, or do anything that goes against Zera's orders. All so they are forced to become Zera's minions, including a gigantic machine named Lychee that is programmed to be human and find girls and be Zera's killing machine. But when one of the boys starts raising his voice against Zera's insane level of cruelty, he starts finding other boys who share his distaste of Zera and his rules. At the heart this film shows how evil people try to control others by instilling fears and taking away their basic human rights like being able to find pleasure, in sex and otherwise. How they're propelled by their own fears and end up becoming heartless. And the other recurring motif is of beauty and ugliness, and how no matter how beautiful someone might be, they will eventually get tarnished if nothing the people who were so taken by their beauty alone will see them as ugly when they find something better. That's the superficial nature of beauty worship. Was this review helpful to you?
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Sublime and Grotesque
This movie is what I'd describe with the Kantian Sublime: the greater the displeasure (fear) the subject feels from experiencing the (fearsome but non-threat) object, the more the subject will be captivated by it and that much greater will the eventual pleasure of the experience be as well.In this case, this movie is the object, and there truly is an abundance of elements to make the viewer uncomfortable, disgusted, afraid etc; but there's also allure in the gore, violence and power. What I love about Litchi Hikari Club is its ugly but absurdly fantastical world, rationally irrational violence and destruction of certain dualities like 'human, beauty, good' vs 'inhuman, uglyness, evil' etc. That's what makes it grotesque and through that chaos (as fiction) can the sublime be experienced, I think. (I'm aware my use of Kant isn't what he himself would've intended, that's intentional).
Outside of just the aesthetic, I love the deeper discomfort Zera and especially his ideology brings. Zera's actions, his cult and its ultimate failure very explicitly show the self-destroying and contradictory nature of fascism, but the movie also posits an origin point for fascism; a desperate attempt to escape the dystopian material conditions. Obsession with youth also stems directly from fear of the depressing existence that adult life of work is, so devoid of meaning that death is idealized as an escape -- this renders murder moral, while also driving Zera to desperate plans of revolution (taking over the city). In this sense, the commandments (fascism) and kidnapping of a girl could also be an attempt to create meaning (a god), while Tamiya, maybe also Daff and Kaneda, find their meaning to adulthood in love -- so does Jaibo, though his love also requires him to paradoxically reject it as meaning. When it comes to Litchi the robot, I initially wanted to read hm/it (?) as a critique of humanism but at the moment I think it's rather a reaffirmation: it's very humanist how 'becoming/being human' is required of Litchi to gain higher cognitive skills, awareness of self as a subject and be both capable of and worthy of empathy; the line between human and inhuman is drawn starkly.
I can't speak of the stage-plays but the movie makes a more coherent whole than the manga; meaning it improves on the smoothness of the storytelling but unfortunately loses some of the chaotic clutter that was charming about the manga. Though, the atmosphere and condition of the city came across way more starkly in the movie -- environmental design was well done, as were the practical effects.
Overall, I love the themes that Litchi Hikari Club explores, there's so much I'd be interested in analyzing more in-depth (Jaibo and meaning, for one). Drawn in by the fascination with the sublime, staying for the philosophical over-analyzing.
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Well that was... something?
I enjoyed it overall. Japanese horror is always a bit unhinged and morally disturbing, so I was not too taken aback but yeah, it was a shitshow hahahah. It kind of reminded me of Grand Guignol.I haven't read the manga and I felt a bit confused at some point, but it was nothing to bothersome. Stuff like the reason for Zera's goal and crazyness, for exemple.
I loved the acting, the cast did a really great job, especially Tamiya, and the characters were all great (I mean, as characters, not as people obviously). One thing tho, at the beginning they introduce the characters with one clear stereotypical role/personality each: like there's the nerd, the emo, the stupid, etc... so I thought they were going to be caricatures, but then they dropped it and those roles were no longer portrayed at all throughout the movie. Which I think is great, I would have hated caricatures, but then why introduce them like that in the first place?
I was also confused with how they handled Daff. The whole Tamiya, Daff, Kaneda thing was super wholesome, and I was expecting them to die and feel sad about it. And you can see it's what the director tried to do: make you sad about the original hikari club getting crushed. But then why have Daff do such a shameful thing? I mean, just touching a woman and wanking to it already made me lose all sympathy I had for him, but they made it even worse by showing everything, in the most humiliating/shameful way. So in the end I was like "Poor Kaneda and Tamiya for losing what they loved the most, but Daff you can die idc." Which isn't what the director was aiming for I would guess.
The colorimetry was awesome, it was really beautiful to watch. And I'm not a fan of gore but it was ok I guess, and although it wasn't very realistic it was not too ridiculous either. Except for the guy who got thrown against the wall, I laughed so hard at that one.
Anyway, don't watch it if you don't like being morally challenged and if you don't like gore, otherwise, go for it!
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La escenografía muy acertada, los efectos especiales, el reparto (me hubiera gustado que sea el mismo de la puesta Teatral o del Musical, me cuesta elegir entre los tres jajajajaja), la música increíble (pero también faltaba la participación de Hakuei ya que el fue quien empezó el proyecto).
De todas formas adoro esta película porque fusiona lo japonés con el humor francés y ese toque del Grand Guignol lo hace asombrosa, el contexto y sobre todo la parte amorosa que es demasiado inclusiva en todo sentido.
Super recomendable. ♥
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