Suicide Club (2001)
"Jisatsu sâkuru" (original title)

A detective is trying to find the cause of a string of suicides.

Director:

Shion Sono

Writer:

Shion Sono

Stars:

Ryo Ishibashi, Masatoshi Nagase, Mai Hosho

2 wins & 1 nomination.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Ryo Ishibashi	...	Detective Toshiharu Kuroda (as Ryô Ishibashi)
Masatoshi Nagase	...	Detective Shibusawa
Mai Hosho	...	Nurse Atsuko Sawada (as Mai Hôshô)
Tamao Satô	...	Nurse Yôko Kawaguchi
Takashi Nomura	...	Security Guard Jirô
Rolly	...	Muneo 'Genesis' Suzuki
Joshua	...	Slave Boy
Masato Tsujioka	...	Genesis' Gang
Kôsuke Hamamoto	...	Genesis' Gang
Kei Nagase	...	Genesis' Gang
Yôko Kamon	...	'The Bat' Kiyoko
Maiko Mori	...	Kiyoko's Sister
Sayako Hagiwara	...	Mitsuko (as Saya Hagiwara)
Takatoshi Kaneko	...	H.S. Boy on the Roof
Mika Miyakawa	...	H.S. Girl on the Roof

Storyline

54 high school girls throw themselves in front of a subway train. This appears to be only the beginning of a string of suicides around the country. Does the new all-girl group Desert have anything to do with it? Detective Kuroda tries to find the answer, which isn't as simple as one could hope.

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Plot Keywords:

suicide | high school | train | police | student | 

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Taglines:

Sore de wa minasan, sayonara [Well then, goodbye everybody.]

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Genres:

Crime | Drama | Horror | Mystery | Thriller

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for disturbing thematic elements, strong violence/grisly images and some language

Details

Country:

Japan

Language:

Japanese

Release Date:

6 April 2002 (USA)

Also Known As:

Suicide Club

Filming Locations:

Shinjuku Station, Shinjuku, Tokyo, Japan

Box Office

Budget:

$250,000 (estimated)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Omega Project, Biggubîto, For Peace Co. Ltd.

Technical Specs

Runtime:

99 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

The Bat's computer is a black Apple Macintosh PowerPC 5500/225. This model was already discontinued in 1998.

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Goofs

When the students jump to their death on the school roof, you can clearly see crew-members throwing buckets of fake blood at the window.

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Quotes

Medical Examiner: There are several bodies here. We'll pry them apart later.

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Connections

Followed by Noriko's Dinner Table (2005)

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Soundtracks

"Raito wansu"
Written by Haruko Momoi
Performed by Dessert

User Reviews

Not for the Japanese-ignorant

A user on this board commented that much of this film is lost in translation. This is true. From what I've seen, the overwhelming majority of users on this board are either American or European. Also, the majority of the reviews of this film are negative, and the only explanation from these negative reviews are that the film "doesn't make sense" or lacks a "solid plot."

LOL

Of course it doesn't make sense to you. You're watching it as an American. You cannot watch this film with an American lens. You're right - it doesn't make sense. But if you watch this film with a Japanese lens it makes PERFECT sense.

First, you cannot watch this film within a Christian/existential context. You must watch it from a Buddhist/Shinto perspective. This is the predominant religion in Japan.

Watching this as a Shinto/Buddhist you'll find that a lot of the images take on new meaning. Shinto is an animist religion that WORSHIPS NATURE

• pay attention to the animal symbols that repeatedly crop up in the

film (did you wonder why there are baby chicks running rampant during that creepy "shaving" scene?). Also, pay attention to the colors. Yellow means something much different to the Japanese than it does to Westerners.

Also, Japan has an incredibly powerful youth culture. Western societies, especially the United States, tend to dismiss youth as a time of decadence, immorality, and lack of direction. The Japanese hold their youth in reverence - they believe it's an incredibly precious time of life. In fact, just as the US has "mother's day" and "father's day," the Japanese have "children's day!" This movie is making a statement about childhood and the value of childhood.

And, last but not least - reincarnation. Reincarnation is accepted as a fact of life in Japan. Keep that in mind when the kids from the Dessart Group are talking all "cryptic" and "nonsensical." ^_^

I won't go into detail on what sort of meaning the film takes within the native Japanese framework. I will tell you this, though: the plot IS coherent from start to finish. There aren't any "plot holes." No more so than you'll find in the greats of American cinema, such as "Citizen Kane" or "Pulp Fiction."

With these things in mind, "Suicide Club" is not as enigmatic as it might seem. Of course, this information doesn't dismiss the other complaints: gratuitous violence and the J-pop performances.... Which, I'd argue, are just more American-biased complaints.

Sayonara! Randy