Schoolgirl Suicide

Jisatsu Sakuru
Suicide Club
(Shion Sono, 2001)

3 Stars

I woke this morning rather in the mood for some bizarre Japanese horror. Not really surprising, what with being in Japan and being rather fond of horror films. But there you go. The bizarre thing is, it’s rather tricksy trying, as an Englishman, to watch Asian films over here, as none seem to come with that oh so handy feature known as the subtitle. So god bless YouTube and its entirely legal selection of fillums.

Shion Sono’s notorious Jisatsu Sakuru is a rather strange experience, taking the viewer through pretty much every genre imaginable; horror, detective drama, techno-thriller, and that all too important Eighties David Bowie Style Musical. Like I said, it’s a weird one.

The film begins with the shocking mass suicide of 54 girls at Ueno subway station in Tokyo. It is, I must say, one of the most powerful opening sequences I’ve seen in a while. Certainly since Lars Von Trier’s Antichrist. From there, we are plunged into the world of the inevitably ill-fated detective Kuroda, played with staunch valour by Japanese legend Ryo Ishibashi (Ju-on, Brother) as he attempts to uncover the cause of the bizarre suicides that follow.

I must say, the first hour of the film is great, four or five star stuff, with some intriguing plot twists, excellent direction, and some painfully watchable death sequences (notably the scene in which a young mother happily butchers her own hand… Lovely, lovely Japanese…). Thereafter however, with the appearance of “Genesis” (a weird Bowie-esque figure played by Japanese singer Rolly), the film just seems to descend into nonsense. A godawful Labyrinth-esque sequence preceeds a bunch of inexplicable psycho-babble that in no way explains what has actually been going on. As such, as we reach the end of the film, the viewer is left utterly clueless as to the cause of the bizarre happenings. Apparently it’s all explained in Sono’s follow-up Noriko No Shokutaku, but the bored teenager in me rather needs some closure in the first film thankyouverymuch. Same reason I don’t like Lost.

In all, however, I did enjoy Suicide Club. And it has, like the Japanese music industry itself, re-enforced my distrust of J-Pop. Cutesy twelve years olds giving subliminal messages encouraging suicide? Only in Asia…