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.

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Plot Keywords:

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

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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 pop group "Dezaato" receives different romanji spellings throughout the movie, probably on purpose. Even though it actually means "Dessert", it's also spelled "Dessart", "Dessret", and "Desert" in the movie.

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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

Genesis: I'm Charles Manson of the information age!

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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.

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Connections

References The Trial of Joan of Arc (1962)

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Soundtracks

Mail Me
Written by Haruko Momoi
Performed by Dessert

User Reviews

hit-and-miss take on Japanese malaise

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.