Batoru rowaiaru (2000)

User Rating:

8.0/10   

Director:

Kinji Fukasaku

Writers:

Koushun Takami (novel)
Kenta Fukasaku (screenplay)

Release Date:

16 December 2000 (Japan)

Genre:

Action | Sci-Fi | Sport | Thriller

Tagline:

Could you kill your best friend?

Plot:

In the future, the Japanese government captures a class of ninth-grade students and forces them to kill each other under the revolutionary "Battle Royale" act.

Plot Keywords:

Game | Battle | Death | Teacher | Japan

Awards:

7 wins & 7 nominations

Cast

Tatsuya Fujiwara	...	Shuya Nanahara - otoko 15-ban
Aki Maeda	...	Noriko Nakagawa - onna 15-ban
Taro Yamamoto	...	Shôgo Kawada - otoko 5-ban
Chiaki Kuriyama	...	Takako Chigusa - onna 13-ban
Sosuke Takaoka	...	Hiroki Sugimura - otoko 11-ban
Takashi Tsukamoto	...	Shinji Mimura - otoko 19-ban
Yukihiro Kotani	...	Yôshitoki Kuninobu - otoko 7-ban
Eri Ishikawa	...	Yukie Utsumi - onna 2-ban
Sayaka Kamiya	...	Satomi Noda - onna 17-ban
Aki Inoue	...	Fumiyo Fujiyôshi - onna 18-ban
Takayo Mimura	...	Kayoko Kotôhiki - onna 8-ban
Yutaka Shimada	...	Yûtaka Seto - otoko 12-ban
Ren Matsuzawa	...	Keita Îjima - otoko 2-ban
Hirohito Honda	...	Kazushi Nîda - otoko 16-ban
Ryou Nitta	...	Kyôichi Motobuchi - otoko 20-ban
Sayaka Ikeda	...	Megumi Etô - onna 3-ban
Anna Nagata	...	Hirono Shimizu - onna 10-ban
Yukari Kanasawa	...	Yûkiko Kitano - onna 6-ban
Misao Kato	...	Yumiko Kusaka - onna 7-ban
Hitomi Hyuga	...	Yûko Sakaki - onna 9-ban
Satomi Ishii	...	Haruka Tanizawa - onna 12-ban
Asami Kanai	...	Chisato Matsui - onna 19-ban
Satomi Hanamura	...	Yûka Nakagawa - onna 16-ban
Yousuke Shibata	...	Mitsuru Numai - otoko 17-ban
Shirou Gou	...	Ryûhei Sasagawa - otoko 10-ban
Yuuki Masuda	...	Hiroshi Kuronaga - otoko 9-ban
Shigeki Hirokawa	...	Shô Tsukioka - otoko 14-ban
Tamaki Mihara	...	Izumi Kanai - onna 5-ban
Tomomi Shimaki	...	Sakura Ogawa - onna 4-ban
Yasuomi Sano	...	Kazuhiko Yamamoto - otoko 21-ban
Shin Kusaka	...	Yoshio Akamatsu - otoko 1-ban
Gouki Nishimura	...	Tatsumichi Ôki - otoko 3-ban
Shigehiro Yamaguchi	...	Toshimori Oda - otoko 4-ban
Osamu Ohnishi	...	Yôji Kuramoto - otoko 8-ban
Satoshi Yokomichi	...	Tadakatsu Hatagami - otoko 18-ban
Junichi Naitou	...	Yûichiro Takiguchi - otoko 13-ban
Tsuyako Kinoshita	...	Mizuho Inada - onna 1-ban
Mai Sekiguchi	...	Kaori Minami - onna 20-ban
Takako Baba	...	Yoshimi Yahagi - onna 21-ban
Haruka Nomiyama	...	Mayumi Tendô - onna 14-ban
Ai Iwamura	...	Onna no hito - won last Battle Royale
Ai Maeda	...	Shiori - Kitano no aijô (voice)
Minami	...	Keiko
Michiko Yamamura	...	Reporter
Suzuka Tonegawa	...	Young Mitsuko (in Special Version)
Taro Suwa	...	Middle-aged man (in Special Version)
Reiko Kataoka	...	Mitsuko no okâsan (in Special Version)
Takeyuki Hirai	...	Soldier
Tomu Asakawa	...	Soldier
Yûya Nakahara	...	Soldier
Takashi Komori	...	Soldier
Ryôta Nakamura	...	Soldier
Akihiro Ugajin	...	Soldier
Yôichi Murakami	...	Soldier
Tsuguharu Niizaki	...	Soldier
Jun'ichi Nashiki	...	Soldier
Hiroshi Kitagawa	...	Soldier
Hideaki Kawashima	...	Soldier
Umiji Tasaki	...	Soldier
Mitsuaki Tachikawa	...	Soldier
Hidetsugu Okumura	...	Soldier
Daisuke Yazawa	...	Soldier
Nobuki Baba	...	Soldier
Naoki Iwasawa	...	Soldier
Kôji Tokuhisa	...	Soldier
Mikiya Sanada	...	Soldier
Kazuhiro Yokokura	...	Soldier
Shigeki Homma	...	Soldier
Kazuo Araki	...	Soldier
Gôshi Matsuhara	...	Soldier
Akira Yoshizawa	...	Soldier
Kenzô Shirahama	...	Soldier
Kanji Okumura	...	Soldier
Shôji Takano	...	Soldier
Ryôji Sugimoto	...	Soldier
Hajime Yoneda	...	Soldier
Hideaki Kojima	...	Soldier
Nanami Oota	...	Mitsuko no tomodachi (in Special Version)
Ayana Noguchi	...	Mitsuko no tomodachi (in Special Version)
Tetsu Masuda	...	Kurasu 3A no sensei (in Special Version)
Kazutoshi Yokoyama	...	Basketball referee (in Special Version)
Kotaru Kamijou	...	Jô Kitô, Basketball player of Class 3-A (in Special Version)
Hirobumi Seki	...	Kôsuke Okiyama, Basketball player of Class 3-A (in Special Version)
Kiyoyuki Matsumoto	...	Shinichirô Tanaka, Basketball player of Class 3-A (in Special Version)
Gou Ryugawa	...	Lieutenant Anjo
Takashi Taniguchi	...	Nanahara no otôsan
Ken Nakaide	...	Hayashida-san - Kurasu 3B no sensei
Kanako Fukaura	...	Basugaido
Yûko Miyamura	...	Training Video Girl
Kou Shibasaki	...	Mitsuko Sôma - onna 11-ban
Masanobu Ando	...	Kazuo Kiriyama - otoko 6-ban
Takeshi Kitano	...	Kitano-sensei (as Bito Takeshi)

Directed by
Kinji Fukasaku

Writing credits
Koushun Takami		(novel)
Kenta Fukasaku		(screenplay)

Produced by
Kenta Fukasaku	....	producer
Kinji Fukasaku	....	producer
Kimio Kataoka	....	producer
Chie Kobayashi	....	producer
Toshio Nabeshima	....	producer
Masumi Okada	....	producer

Original Music by
Masamichi Amano

Cinematography by
Katsumi Yanagijima

Film Editing by
Hirohide Abe

Production Design by
Kyôko Heya

Production Management
Motoki Ishida	....	production manager

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Kenta Fukasaku	....	second unit director (uncredited)

Art Department
Yasushi Nakayama	....	designer: main title logo
Motomu Takaba	....	designer: BR logomark

Sound Department
Kunio Ando	....	sound

Special Effects by
Kikuo Notomi	....	armourer
Kikuo Notomi	....	pyrotechnician

Visual Effects by
Yoshiaki Nakaichi	....	digital effects artist

Stunts
Ai Iwamura	....	stunt double (uncredited)

Other crew
Makoto Ashikawa	....	stand-in
Haruhi Terada	....	voice trainer

Production Companies

• Battle Royale Production Committee
• Fukasaku-gumi (in association with)
• Toei Company

Distributors

• Bir Film (2003) (Turkey) (theatrical)
• Líder Films (2002) (Argentina) (theatrical)
• Manga Films (2002) (Spain) (theatrical)
• SND (2001) (France) (theatrical)
• Toei Company (2000) (Japan) (theatrical)
• Asian Cult Cinema (video)
• Astro Distribution (2004) (Germany) (DVD) (uncut version)
• Dutch FilmWorks (DFW) (2002) (Netherlands) (DVD) (VHS) (retail)
• Kinowelt Home Entertainment (2002) (Germany) (DVD)
• Palisades-Tartan Acquisitions (2008) (UK) (DVD)
• Starmax (2007) (USA) (DVD)
• Tartan Video (200?) (UK) (DVD) (VHS)
• Toei Video Company (2004) (Japan) (DVD)
• Transeuropa Video Entertainment (TVE) (Argentina) (VHS)
• Universe Laser & Video Co. Ltd. (2001) (Hong Kong) (DVD)
• Visual Filmes (2007) (Brazil) (DVD)

Other Companies

• Geiyu  stand-ins
• Gekidan Himawari  stand-ins
• Toei Academy  stand-ins
• Tohai  stand-ins
• Carrot  stand-ins
• Wakakusa  stand-ins
• Nac  stand-ins
• BA-TSU  school uniform design

Also Known As:

Battle Royale (International: English title)

Runtime:

114 min | Japan:122 min (director's cut) | South Korea:120 min | USA:121 min (director's cut)

Country:

Japan

Language:

Japanese

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.78 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Certification:

Taiwan:R-18 | Malaysia:(Banned) | Portugal:M/18 | Germany:18 (JK/SPIO) (cut) | Canada:18A (Alberta) | Canada:18+ (Quebec) | Argentina:18 | Australia:R | Belgium:KNT | Canada:R | Finland:K-18 | France:-16 | Hong Kong:III | Iceland:16 | Ireland:18 | Japan:R-15 | Netherlands:16 | New Zealand:R18 | Norway:18 | Peru:18 | Singapore:(Banned) (original rating) | Singapore:R(A) (edited for re-rating) | Singapore:R21 (re-rating) (uncut) | South Korea:18 | Spain:18 | Sweden:15 | UK:18 | Germany:BPjM Restricted

Company:

Battle Royale Production Committee

Trivia:

Although this movie is filled with lots of shooting rampages, only two cast members in two scenes were shot using squibs (small fake blood packs to simulate bullet piercing): Takayo Mimura, who played Kayoko Kotohiki, and Takeshi Kitano, who played Kitano-sensei.

Goofs:

Factual errors: Bags that are given to students aren't big enough to fit some of the weapons (e.g. crossbow, sickle, etc).

Quotes:

[first lines]
Reporter: This year Zentsuji Middle School number 4's Class E was chosen from among 43,000 Ninth grade classes. This year's game, said to be more blistering than the last - - Oh look there! There she is! The winner's a girl! Surviving a fierce battle that raged two days, seven hours, and 43 minutes - the winner is a girl! Look, she's smiling! Smiling! The girl definitely just smiled!

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Thank You for Smoking (2005)

Soundtrack:

Shizuka na hibi no kaidan wo

A film that the US, would never, could never make...

This film is film that I believed had to be made, and it was only a matter of time before it was. Yet it was a film that the US mainstream could never have conceived making.

Firstly to get it out of the way I will say that I loved this movie, although at no point did I feel comfortable while watching it. It had the power and emotional content, that while not necessarily apparent in the dialogue was visible on screen at all times.

I am truly glad that this film has come out of mainstream Japanese cinema. It would have only been made in the US by independent film-makers who would have basked in the glory of its controversy and felt oh-so-smug that they had created it, while shoving a moral in your face. While I actually have no problem with US Indie film I do feel that a Western background would have comprised on visceral content, and upped the content of cheap moral points.

For those who say the violence was "cartoon-style" and laughable must have been watching a different film. Whilst this film is heavy in black humour I can clearly say that the deaths are shocking in the extreme, and there is no relenting from the beginning to the end. Only occasionally does the camera pan away from the final deed. The only deaths that have a dark humour content to them, are those involving Kitano (Beat Takeshi) and the "lone" vigilante (those who have seen the film will know what I am talking about). Other sections, such as the "Training Video" are equally comedic, and absurd. Yet other deaths are shocking in the extreme, and show how the slightest suspicion can have disastrous consequences for groups that only have trust to keep them together, a truly shocking scene in the Lighthouse reinforces this.

The fact that this film employs Children as the main protagonists of the story is the key to the whole impact of the film. We have all seen films like The Running Man where adults fight adults for survival and it seems that much less shocking, albeit that film was handled in a completely different manner. Children have the innocence that makes the brutality of this film that much more shocking, adults in the same situation would have had the reaction from audiences of cheering at the screen as the hero dispatches yet another victim. This could never and would never have been the case with this film.

To another commentator who felt that this film sticks with you less than Scream, I simply fail to find this to be anywhere close to the truth. The deaths in Scream although bloody are nothing but pastiche of those films that Scream is mimicking, ultimately throwaway deaths that up in brutality in order to out-do the last one that have one or two psychotic perpetrators, who eventually get their comeuppance. In this film their are no victims and besides one exception there are no villains amongst the children. They simply HAVE to play the game or die.

Well I encourage all those who feel they can stomach it to go and see this film or find it available somewhere (as I believe it has been banned in the US). It is not truly a film denouncing the evils of Reality TV or showing us the future of that trend of Broadcasting, that is merely a plot device to place the children in this situation. The nature of the film lies in its deconstruction of Friendships, Trust and our views on Innocence. Go and see it not as a spectator of this BR spectacle but as one of the participants and remember what was important to you when you were at school, and whether any of those rivalries, hatreds and friendships would have been enough for you to decide who deserves to die and who deserves to live.