Friday 29 July 2011

Jisatsu Sakuru - Suicide Circle

2002 by Sion Sono - Japaneese

The synopsis of this movie was quite strange and unique that I didnt had to think twice before my decision to watch it. But there is a kind of scary feeling, an unbelievable shock which cannot be explained, as we watch this movie.

A large group of school girls, jump in front of an approaching train and commit suicide. More suicides occur and the detectives are clueless about what is happening. 

This movie is surealistic, spectacular, chilling but yet can leave us terribly confused. It does create lot of questions about the suicides around, but there are no answers at all. There are more suicides and again there are more, and there are some side stories as well, but at the end we do not have a clue about what and how. At least for me, that is the case. If anybody know otherwise, I would be really grateful to know the truth behind this plot.

Forget about the answers behind the suicides or the motivation behind some killer group and also ignore some really bloody gory scenes, this is still an excellent cinematic experience. There are wonderful moments, both terrifying and touching, in this movie which actually tells a lot about the director. For eg, there is a scene of a group of school students jumping out of their school building killing themselves. Three are left behind and they too follow in spite of requests by teachers and friends from the back. Then there is this scene of a girl friend lying down on the chalk marks (of the dead body of her killed boy friend) which was really touching and beautiful.

But I would still say at the end of the movie I was quite confused and was still trying to find out the truth. In that way it was a bit disappointing. But there is no question about the uniqueness of this movie. Of course, there was Fight Club, which was world famous, but this is quite in a different level than Fight Club. The only reason, why this movie is not famous around could be, that it is from Asia.

Suicidal rate in Japan was quite high actually. So there is definitely some reason behind this plot, though it might look exaggerated or fanatasical for an outsider. I would really like to talk with some Japaneese people about this movie. So I would rather not want to judge this movie as good or bad. There is definitely something cultural in this movie, the knowledge of which would help one understand it better. Let me just leave it as quite an intriguing experience, about which I would really like to know more.