Suicide Club

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!

Shinjuku Station in the evening rush hour. High school girls throng the packed platform, dominating with their raucous chatter, jangling bags and provocatively short skirts. As the commuter rapid approaches, something bizarre happens - 54 girls join hands and step reverentially on the platform edge. Given the title of the film, it is no big stretch to guess what happens next.

A veteran detective (Ryo Ishibashi) and jaded younger colleague (Masatoshi Nagase) suspect a grand plot, but are thwarted in their attempts to investigate by weary seniors. Clues are supplied by The Bat, a more web-savvy mysterious informant. Can the detectives uncover the conspiracy and prevent more suicides? That is as much narrative analysis as the story can bear, as it veers off course in the second half into surrealism, MTV theatricals, and heavy-handed symbolism. "There is no suicide club" declares a juvenile voice on the phone, continually clearing its throat. Whether there is or isn't is a question never fully resolved.

Don't be taken in by reviewers who tell you that you have to be Japanese to understand this film - my Japanese students and friends are as baffled by the story as anyone else. Sion's film never quite lives up to that opening sequence in Shinjuku Station, but it compels you to go with it to the end, and provides a few thrills along the way. It is a shame it does not all quite pull together. But there are enough digs at Japan's shallow celebrity culture, crippling generation gap, obsessive consumerism, and indeed freakishly high suicide rate to make this worth watching.

In short, great visuals, shame about the script.

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.

SUICIDE CLUB works better as a thematic piece exploring conformity and suicide in Japan than a proper thriller, despite attempts to graft a traditional detective story to the wafer thin plot. It's a lot less coherent than the other Sion Sono movie I've seen, EXTE, which was a lively twist on the classic Japanese ghost story, whereas this is a unique and occasionally unfathomable beast.

Basically, the story is about mass suicides taking place in Japan, usually carried out by gangs of high school girls. There are a handful of very shocking moments in the movie, most notably the opening train station sequence, which are hard to get out of the mind once seen. Plus, a later moment in a kitchen of all places is one of the grimmest and most unpleasant I remember seeing in a movie.

Elsewhere, we get Ryo Ishibashi (AUDITION) playing a cop investigating the deaths, although this sub-plot doesn't really get very far. Instead SUICIDE CLUB sometimes feels like a jumble of abstract ideas, throwing in references to AUDITION, J-pop, social alienation, and family dynamics. The main story finishes around the hour mark and the film just sort of dawdles along aimlessly for another half an hour after that point. It does contain some remarkable and harrowing imagery, so I didn't dislike it, but I just wish it had been less abstract and more concrete.

Just saw the movie at the Brussels Fantasy Film Festival and was quite stunned by it.

Although some questions remain unanswered, the story depicts some of the most problematic issues of the Japanese society.

The suicide phenomenon among young people is related to the unlimited attraction for new trends and the lack of communication between young people and there parents.

A well directed, enjoyable (gory ) movie, with convincing actors.

I give it a 8 out of 10.