Big Bang Love, Juvenile A (2006)

A visually stylish tale of two male prisoners bonded by emotion, love and murder.

Director:

Takashi Miike

Writers:

Ikki Kajiwara (novel) (as Ato Masaki), Hisao Maki (novel) (as Ato Masaki)

Stars:

Ryûhei Matsuda, Masanobu Andô, Shunsuke Kubozuka

3 nominations.

Cast

Credited cast:
Ryûhei Matsuda	...	Jun Ariyoshi
Masanobu Andô	...	Shiro Kazuki
Shunsuke Kubozuka	...	Sumio Yukimura
Kiyohiko Shibukawa	...	Makoto Tsuchiya
Jo Kanamori
Ken'ichi Endô	...	Assistant to the detective
Renji Ishibashi
Ryo Ishibashi	...	Warden Tsuchiya
Rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Soji Arai	...	Prisoner 'A' (as Sohee Park)
Shirô Kazuki
Ken Mitsuishi	...	Prison warden
Jai West	...	Deranged Prisoner

Storyline

An unknown future. A boy confesses to the murder of another in an all-boy juvenile detention facility. More an exercise in style than storytelling, the story follows two detectives trying to uncover the case. Homosexual tension and explosive violence drives the story which delivers some weird and fascinating visuals.

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Plot Keywords:

murder | violence | avant garde film | bare chested male | surrealism | 

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Genres:

Drama | Fantasy

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Certificate:

Unrated

Details

Official Sites:

Official site [Japan] Shochiku Films

Country:

Japan

Language:

Japanese

Release Date:

26 August 2006 (Japan)

Also Known As:

Big Bang Love, Juvenile A

Box Office

Budget:

$10,000,000 (estimated)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Eisei Gekijo, Excellent Film, Maki Production

Technical Specs

Runtime:

85 min

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

User Reviews

A Meditation on Gohatto? Gohatto Updated?

With Ryuhei Matsuda playing a featured role, I was constantly reminded of Oshima's Gohatto (Matsuda's debut film). In fact, I'm not so sure that this movie isn't a meditation on Gohatto, a sort of futuristic spiritual version. There are a lot of similarities, despite the completely different genres and storytelling techniques of the two films. Both take place in closed male societies, both have beautiful murderers, obsessive love, and mystery. And they both have Ryuhei Matsuda.

Gohatto is a more traditional film (compared to this one, anyway), and the symbolism is not so heavy-handed as it is here. There's no rocket ship or pyramid or all that those two things imply. There is an awful lot going on in this film, probably a little too much.

The mix of stage-play theatricality with cinematic realism is a little distracting, and it put me on guard against excessive artiness. And let's face it, there is excessive artiness. That's not to say the movie isn't beautiful to look at--it is.

And it's worth seeing. But if you haven't seen Gohatto, see it. Gohatto is to 46-Okunen No Koi as the velvet glove is to the sledgehammer.