Suicide Club (2001)

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

Director:

Sion Sono

Writer:

Sion Sono

Stars:

Ryo Ishibashi, Masatoshi Nagase, Mai Hosho

1 win & 2 nominations.

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.

---

Plot Keywords:

teenage girl | suicide | high school | student | death | 

---

Taglines:

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

---

Genres:

Crime | Drama | Horror | Mystery | Thriller

---

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.

---

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.

---

Quotes

Radio Announcer: There's mass confusion on the platform. This is unprecedented.

---

Alternate Versions

Two different R1 versions of the film exist, an R rated version and an unrated version. Not only can they be differentiated by the unrated version having a red stripe on the cover, but they have different pictures on the sides of the DVD cover (the unrated having a picture of Mitsuko). There are six additions to this version of the film.

• In the subway scene in the beginning, the shot of the girl hitting the tracks is extended long enough to show her head getting run over by the train.
• In the school sequence, the ear is now shown being pushed off the roof of the building.
• In the suicide montage the portions showing the woman cutting off her own fingers is extended dramatically, and there are a few more lines added to the background song to accommodate this.
• In the scene showing the introduction of Genesis, there are two added parts of him stepping on a cat, and then crushing a dog under his foot.
• In the scene of Kurota's suicide, the gunshot has been extended long enough to show the bullet actually going through the back of his head.

---

Connections

References The Messenger: The Story of Joan of Arc (1999)

---

Soundtracks

Sore dewa minasan sayônara
Written by Mitsuru Kuramoto
Performed by Mitsuru Kuramoto featuring Non-chan

User Reviews

Performance Art playing it for real.

Suicide Club is a typically energetic and hyper quirky cinematic treat from Japan. What you may need to know to really enjoy this happy hell-ride is that for 'director' read 'performance artist'. Director, Shion Sono is better known as the man behind many a controversial and largely impromptu public performances 'sans camera'. The other thing you may need to know is that the train station featured at the beginning of the film was notorious for suicides. So much so that Japanese officials allowed a special 'suicide tax' to be levied on the families of those people committing suicide at this station (and others like it) to deter disillusioned salarymen from continuing create train delays.

According to Sono, he shot alot of the scene as he would direct as performance pieces. Without formal permission, he grabbed his actors and had them pile into the station and do their thing. I doubt there are many 'Hollywood' that would even contemplate such a risk, let alone pull it off with such energy and vision. This type of Japanese cinema is a bittersweet candy bar. Dont try and savour it, just enjoy the rush cause you may start to feel and little sick at some point soon.