Film four -- Battle Royale
Sep. 22nd, 2006 02:33 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
jackEvery year a japanse school class are selected, and put onto an isolated island, where they are forced to fight to the death. They're issued basic supplies and a "weapon" each -- the weapons range from the useful to the brutal to the ironic to the lateral to the useless -- and sent out at minute intervals. They have explosive collars that kill them if they break the rules, or more than one is left at the end.
I hadn't heard of it before, but it's a weird Japanese film that I definitely liked. However, I'm not articulate enough to say why. Somehow it just spoke to me in a way that other similar films didn't.
Perhaps I don't know what the message of the film is, but agree with it?
Somehow, it just all felt right, despite not making any more sense objectively than other films.
And people tried all sorts of reasonable things one would do in that situation, they just didn't work. And the good guy wore white and the bad guy black. And were cool. And the kids felt real. And the teacher had a marvellous world-weary paternalistic evil to him.
Worth seeing.
I'm assured the sequels aren't -- I don't know anything about them, but it doesn't seem an idea which lends itself to more. The sequel to Hyperion (not quite finished yet) seems to have used up all of the "sequel which actually does successfully answer questions raised by the iconic original" fu available this millennium -- I don't think anyone else need try. ETA: The sequel is finished by Director Kinji Fukasaku's son. It apparently has shades of September 11th.
I hadn't heard of it before, but it's a weird Japanese film that I definitely liked. However, I'm not articulate enough to say why. Somehow it just spoke to me in a way that other similar films didn't.
Perhaps I don't know what the message of the film is, but agree with it?
Somehow, it just all felt right, despite not making any more sense objectively than other films.
And people tried all sorts of reasonable things one would do in that situation, they just didn't work. And the good guy wore white and the bad guy black. And were cool. And the kids felt real. And the teacher had a marvellous world-weary paternalistic evil to him.
Worth seeing.
I'm assured the sequels aren't -- I don't know anything about them, but it doesn't seem an idea which lends itself to more. The sequel to Hyperion (not quite finished yet) seems to have used up all of the "sequel which actually does successfully answer questions raised by the iconic original" fu available this millennium -- I don't think anyone else need try. ETA: The sequel is finished by Director Kinji Fukasaku's son. It apparently has shades of September 11th.