I am a student at UCLAN, Preston, studying Japanese and Business Studies. I will be on my year abro...
I am a student at UCLAN, Preston, studying Japanese and Business Studies. I will be on my year abroad in Nagoya, Japan, at the Nagoya University of Foreign Studies until Summer 2004, when I return back to Preston.
Member since:14.07.2000
Reviews:27
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I am in my first year of a Japanese and Business Studies BA (Hons). My friends and I have watched a number of Japanese films over the year to help us with understanding the people a little more and of course practising our language skills. There is no way we can keep up with the film, but it is nice to pick up on certain snippets and plot points.
The basic story is that the Japanese youth have spiralled out of control. In a bid to keep order, the government have introduced an annual "game" in which the members of one highschool class have to kill each other until only the victor remains. Although the film starts with the "hero's welcome" of the previous year's winner, the scene is really set when the chosen class are drugged and awake to find themselves in another classroom, surrounded by military and with bands around their necks.
Beat Takeshi, as a teacher, enters to explain - they are on a remote island and the only way off is to kill all the other students. The bands on their necks allows the military to keep track of the pupils - any attempt to remove them, they explode (thus decapitating the wearer!); any attempt to leave the island, they explode, and if there is no outright winner after 3 days, they all explode.
After a comical video brief, the students are dispatched with packs containing a weapon - some get lucky, with guns or crossbows, others get knives, others aren't so lucky and end up with useless items - I don't want to spoil the film by going in to any further details! The killing begins from the outset, and we get to see some very interesting developments in the way people react to the "challenge" - some lunge into it with frenzied bloodlust, others stay in their school friendship groups and support each other... but under such circumstances how long can trust last?
Every day we are given a tally of deaths and the number left to go. Takeshi pops up frquently with his usual subtle, even silly, comedy turns to add a touch of humour and light relief into this macabre film.
Some say there is no depth to this film, that it is not an analysis of the social situation in Japan; my friend, however, strongly believed it to be a harsh criticism of the Japanese education system which places a high emphasis on competition within the class and is very dog-eat-dog. It depends how much you know of Japanese culture and how much you read in to it.
The DVD has little in the way of bonus features - some stills, a trailer preview of another film - but a gag reel wouldn't be appropriate to this film. It is the film itself that makes the DVD worth buying - I am not one for horror or violence, and this film turned my stomach many times, but I am looking forward to watching it again to look deeper into the film and of course, see how much more Japanese I can pick up!
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Production Year: 2002 - Action/Adventure - Director: Vincenzo Natali - Original Language: English - Classification: 15 years and over - Starring:Lucy Liu, David Hewlett, Anne Marie Scheffler, Joseph Scoren, Matthew Sharp, Jeremy Northam
Production Year: 1964 - Action/Adventure - Director: Cyril Endfield - Original Language: English - Classification: Parental Guidance - Starring:Stanley Baker, Jack Hawkins, Ulla Jacobsson, James Booth, Michael Caine, Nigel Green
Hmmn...somehow, I think I'll miss this one even though you really made it sound interesting *grins* -Sarah
starsaber90 30.05.2002 11:19
Looks like an interesting film there, though not my time. At least you're not doing what one of my friends is to learn Japanese, and gourging yourself on Anime :)
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Advantages: Original storyline, emotionally involving, relevant to today's fears of escalating juvenile crime Disadvantages: A couple of unclear plot quibbles
blinderben 22.11.2002 (22.11.2002)
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