Battle Royale

I think the guy was Beat Takeshi? Which reminds me... (another thread)

The Beat Takeshi dying and then answering the phone I think was a direct commentary on the society which he represented. A hamfisted way of saying that it was already emotionally dead, so that he could answer the phone to his daughter when he was dead because it made no difference. Like many futuristic cautionary tales (70's sci-fi flicks in particular) the leap of imaginatiuon to get from now, to they society and this decision is pretty hard to swallow. Fun though.

Series 7: The Contenders is better.

But what doesn't make sense is that none of the kids seem to have heard of it happening before. Perhaps Battle Royale just needs to sack its publicity director.

I didn't really care about the social comment angle of it though. I just liked it cause there were all those kids going nuts.

Since when does hollywood give a fuck if something's profound. They would probably have a problem with the anti-government angle of the original Battle Royale. But if the script was reworked so the kids were taken hostage by Extremist Bearded Terrorists and forced to fight, then rescued by Firemen - I think we got ourselves a deal.

I fear we are missing out on some important nuances of Japanese culture in our readings of this film (poss. in the 'surely it's no good if they let the winners back into society?' complaint).

DG - sure you understand the power of arbitrarily wielded power in instilling the fear of god in people. I mean look at God.

It can't be arbitrary all the time, but a bit of it keeps people on their toes.

and whether the battle royale is effective or not doesn't mean it couldn't happen in the imagined world of the film - it's all just the old "a sick society gone horribly horribly wrong" thing like Rollerball or Running Man or whatever.

Anyway I don't think you can expect much in the way of logical consistency from a film where someone gets shot, dies, gets up and takes a phone call and dies again.

Japanese population go crazy and discover they really enjoy watching random schoolkids killing each other, hence a TV show hits the ratings high. The public demand more...

There. HAPPY NOW!!!

Internal logic as an idea sucks anyway (almost as much as the idea of some form of arbitrary exteranl logic does).

I don't understand this statement at all. Internal logic as an idea sucks? Wouldn't external logic just be the laws of nature as we understand them to work in real life? How is that arbitrary? Maybe I just misread your point.

Kitano's resurrection, as I tried to say above however clumsily, is an indication that the film isn't meant to be naturalistic.

BTW, there's a sequel in the works.

I think the real context is resurgent japanese militarism, the revival of imperial traditions, etc. and BR isn't to "punish" youth so much as toughen them up and teach them to be STRONG and the sweet flashback/death thing gets used all the time in Japanese stuff esp. w/r/t WWII and the whole thing is about the impending sense of moral tragedy and defeat and pure cruelty of the imperial mindset.

I mean... kids sent out to die? It's like a crude crude metaphor for a draft!

The uncle who was the 60s radical shoulda been another clue.

mind you, the tivo episode guide things gives it 1 star out of 5.

it is wrong 8)

andy

7)

julio

*;-)*

Liz, I am so glad I'm your favorite Beat Takeshi pimp :)

Don't get sterling's point abt 'teaching them to be strong' since only one of the kids is meant to come out of this game.

I thought that by putting kids into this situation it was meant to put a focus on all the school cliches: the drama that sgs describes or the athetic girl, who falls in love with 'the loner'- who is in love with someone else, spending time in the movie trying to find her and tell her. And then all the little groups (and how trust between these break down, as seen in the lighthouse scene).

There are a few holes in the plot, as described elsewhere on this thread, not least as to how they found a boat to get away from the island.

anyway: best teen movie ever!

I can't see how the sequel could be any good, but I will go to the cinema to watch it.

Kitano was great.

And yes, he was. I wonder what he and Noriko were saying to each other in her dream. We need a Japanese lip-reader to answer this question.

IMDb Multi-title Search
Here are the people credited in the following movies..

1. Batoru rowaiaru (2000) [battle royale]
2. Zatôichi (2003)

Takeshi Kitano
Actor: Batoru rowaiaru (2000)
Actor: Zatôichi (2003)
Director: Zatôichi (2003)
Writer: Zatôichi (2003)
Editor: Zatôichi (2003)
Katsumi Yanagishima
Cinematographer: Batoru rowaiaru (2000)
Cinematographer: Zatôichi (2003)

so, er, no. 8) that said, the cast for zatoichi is pretty minimal but 'fat kid with cross bow' is probably one of the 12 people listed.

Battle Royale almost made me cry, such a sad film.

I'm with jel. I found it very upsetting, almost to the point where I couldn't watch it anymore.

Battle Royale II: Requiem (Cat III)

Wr/Dir: Kenta Fukasaku, Kinji Fukasaku

Stars: Tatsuya Fujiwara, Ai Maeda, Shugo Oshinari, Riki Takeuchi

What's it about?: Shuya Nanahara (Fujiwara), having survived BR1 (or at least the BR that took place in that film) is now the leader of a terrorist group who declare war on Japan in order to stop BR. Unfortunately, this leads to a more brutal BR being developed where students are sent to kill him and destroy his group.

Is it any good?: It's no secret how much I loved the first one, and I've been awaiting this one eagerly (despite the so-so reviews it's had thus far). So, was I let down?

It's clearly nowhere near as good as the first one. Riki Takeuchi's Sensei is a gurning, amphetamine-chewing buffoon compared to Takeshi Kitano's understated psychotic in the first film, and Shugo Oshinari as the male lead of sorts, Takuma, has only one facial expression and one acting style (shouty disgruntled teenager). Fujiwara wasn't much of an actor in the first one and he hasn't really improved much here.

The plot at times is absolutely unimpenetrable - and this comes from somebody who's sat through 'Suicide Circle' and 'Happiness Of The Katakuris'. A dozen untrained kids can get into a terrorist hideout? The Japanese government would really bring the entire weight of their armed forces to bear on a tiny island, just because "that country" threatens them? Perhaps the most damning indictment is that the BR premise barely last through the first hour...

"That country" becomes crucial at several times. Opening with a dramatic shot of the Tokyo skyline (focussing in on twin towers then pulling out) being destroyed by Wild Seven, has been seen by some as a 11/9 trivialisation - but then this is subverted as the terrorists turn out to be the sympathetic characters who eventually find freedom in Afghanistan (it's never made explicit, but the location is commonly agreed on), and "that country" (obviously America) threatens to bomb Japan unless the heads of Wild Seven are handed over, with the Prime Minister of Japan presented as a puppet to the government of "that country" who cannot disagree with them for fear they'll attack.

But, at the end of it all, it's still a lot of fun to watch. Although caricatures, the main cast are at least watchable. The initial assault scenes are, although obviously influenced stylistically by 'Saving Private Ryan', as proportionally better against budget as the ones in that film. And the whole things rumbles along under it's own tenuous logic, entertaining all the way. It's at least as good as 'Pirates Of The Carribbean', and shares many of the same features - one distinctive lead, hamming it up outrageously, while the rest of the cast follow in his wake; fight scenes grounded in the real world, and showing decent physical acting skills; and a contrived plot held together by flashback containing a number of holes, and a similar number of unexplored diversions.

If you saw and enjoyed the first one, then you'll probably like this. As long as you're not an American.

omg the mushiness is why it's so awesome

-- N. (nickdastoo...), February 20th, 2002.

Retroactive Classic.

hey, pretty good. not nearly as squeamish as i'd thought, i'm sorta surprised anybody could take this one seriously because once takeshi lets them go 90% of it is standard slasher movie / gangster movie setups and payoffs. well, except everybody is a slasher.

Yeah I love this movie. The sequel tho sucked balls.

the plot hole that bothers me most is when kitano declares the bandana kid the winner, and then apparently sends away all of the soldiers without himself or the winner? so at odds with the first scene with the winner being escorted out with military escort, news crews, etc.

FINALLY SAW THIS MOVIE

IT RULED

^

Just watched this for the first time, god damn it's fantastic. One of those movies where there are a fair number of plot holes, unexplained stuff (what was the point of showing that first winner at the start of the film?) and you have to make a lot of logic leaps, but it doesn't really matter because the camp and melodrama are so fun. Also I'm not a fan of gore or senseless violence but for some reason I was ok with this? Maybe because it's all so farfetched..

I wouldn't do it because not enough people would have fresh enough memories of all the characters w/o rewatching, but I think it'd be fun to do a poll of all the students in the battle (I'd obviously vote for Mitsuko, who's a much more interesting psychopath than the evil transfer student)