Suicide Club (2001) User Reviews

Not like anything else

[Anijo · 8/10 · 5 September 2007]

I really like 'Suicide Club'. This is a movie that manage to be sometimes scary, and from start to end pretty unpredictable & nerve wrecking. This is not achieved through the basic horror/ thriller formula but rather by using this format in a very personal and original way. Instead of using some crazy person or a monster as a killer with a defined purpose, director Sion Sono puts his characters (and us as viewers) face to face with death more as it actually is: something we all carry with us, but nobody can understand and nobody can escape. So as the story begins, the police that try to investigate the sudden occurrence of mass youth suicide can't rely on previous experiences. How do you stop violent death when the killer actually is inside the mind of the victims? And if you don't know how or why this happens, can you even protect yourself? This is in many ways a much more fascinating & disturbing concept than the extremely over-exploited serial killer running around with a knife/gun/axe or whatever.

In conjunction with the suspense there's some quite poetic parts which touches on the everlasting question: if you can't find a reason behind death, can you really find any reason to live? In this hi-tech, constant mass communication world maybe a lot of us are spending our time trying to escape from such profound questions by engaging in mindless distractions & superficial relations, never contemplating that these actions might be just as empty & worthless as a non-existence. One notion that the movie conveys is that since death is the only inescapable thing inside all of us, we won't find the true core of life anywhere else. We have to search deep within ourselves.

I rate 'Suicide Club' 8/10. For me it was both entertaining & thought provoking.

Good, but not entirely coherent

[nikkuchan · 6/10 · 7 February 2005]

First of all, I looked at another comment by someone named rrobins2-1, who said that this movie is "not for the Japanese ignorant," that it has a lot to do with Buddhism and Shintoism, and that it's perfectly understandable from a Japanese point of view.

Mr. rrobins2-1 obviously doesn't know what he's talking about. I have lived in Japan, I speak the language, and I know that his comments are ignorant, which is ironic because that's what he claims others are. First of all, many Japanese people don't follow any religion, nor do they know a great deal about them. Second, every Japanese person I spoke to said the same thing about the movie: "I didn't understand it." So much for that perfectly understanding Japanese point of view. Anyway, now that that's finished, on to the review:

The beginning parts of the movie show a lot of promise. Teenagers are killing themselves, and being happy about it to boot. The police are looking into it, believing that it's more of a murder, and someone is causing it. Throughout the movie, you see their futility in trying to figure things out, and the scenes that feature mass suicide are very intense and well-done, but there ends up being so many different things in the movie that don't amount to anything, and their is no real conclusion to the film.

First off, there's a girl who informs the police of a website that's connected to the suicide. She attempts to find out the cause of the deaths. It seems that she would be an important character, but she's not in very much, and she doesn't do anything. This goes with all the characters. There are many characters in the movie, but none of them are developed, and many times you're left wondering why they're in the movie to begin with. There's a weird Rocky Horror-esquire musical performance about halfway through the movie, which many people believe is way out of character for the rest of the movie. Anway, I don't want to spoil anything, so I will just say that the story doesn't end, and with the way things stand at the end of the movie, it's impossible to understand how these people were convinced to kill themselves the way they were.

Going through all the stuff in the movie quickly: There's the mass suicides, Cops that are out of touch, a giant roll of stitched together human flesh of the people who have or will commit suicide, a weird j-pop band who's name is misspelled numerous times throughout the movie, the weird, gay cultist who sings wants to be famous, coughing children who know everything about the situation and give cryptic clues about it. All of these, as well as the stuff I neglected to mention, either come out of the blue, or are barely in the picture (or both), with no explanation (and almost no clues), leading you to wonder what they are doing in the first place. I know it's supposed to be a satire, but if half the people who watch it don't understand it, how are you supposed to get your message across?

Pretty intense

[simon_booth · 7/10 · 21 February 2003]

SUICIDE CIRCLE is another Japanese movie that's gaining notoriety for pushing the limits of film violence ever further. In recent years we've had AUDITION, BATTLE ROYALE, VERSUS, ICHI THE KILLER and now this.

One day in May, 54 Japanese happy and healthy school girls line up along the platform of a Shinjuku subway station and simultaneously throw themselves under a speeding train, in an opening sequence quite unlike any other. Gruesome hardly begins to describe the scene. Thankfully the low budget doesn't allow them to show the carnage in *too* much detail. A little later in the day, two nurses throw themselves out of a hospital window for no particular reason.

The police are mystified - the body count is rising and no particular connection between the victims is apparent... no motive or pattern. But a phone call tips them off to a strange website that counts the suicides... before they happen. This raises the question - are they really suicides at all.

SUICIDE CIRCLE is part horror movie, part detective mystery, part social criticism, part philosophy and mostly very strange. The director apparently normally directs gay porn for a living, so it's not surprising that he brings a different set of rules to his feature film than the average movie maker. The film is decidedly confrontational, presenting a complicated structure that opens up lots of questions and rarely lets out any answers. Why would these people commit suicide? The film challenges you to look for the answer inside yourself, rather than handing you some neat solution. The movie perhaps suffers from being too obtuse, but not at least from being too conventional.

The movie has been compared with BATTLE ROYALE, which is not entirely unreasonable given the themes and overall shock factor. SUICIDE CIRCLE is definitely not in the same class, but then it didn't have a director with the talent and experience of Kinji Fukasaku. Like BATTLE ROYALE, the violence and gore is likely to be the thing that gets the movie the most infamy. Not quite as much on display here, but some seriously OTT blood and guts in places. Not for the faint of heart or stomach. The acting is probably the place where the quality gap is widest between the two movies - Fukasaku gets fantastic performances from his entire cast, but Sono Sion gets average to downright poor performances from his. He's sometimes directing kids as young as 5 or 6 though, which has got to be harder work.

Various things like the acting keep SUICIDE CIRCLE from being great work, but it is definitely an interesting and unique one. Plenty of blood and guts and a little bit of food for the mind as well. The message and meaning here isn't sufficiently deep (or clear) for me to recommend the movie to anybody that would have a hard time getting past the shock moments to appreciate it. For those who like a little carnage with their breakfast, though, this is the latest one to watch, and is somewhat recommended.

Not for the Japanese-ignorant

[rrobins2-1 · 23 September 2004]

A user on this board commented that much of this film is lost in translation. This is true. From what I've seen, the overwhelming majority of users on this board are either American or European. Also, the majority of the reviews of this film are negative, and the only explanation from these negative reviews are that the film "doesn't make sense" or lacks a "solid plot."

LOL

Of course it doesn't make sense to you. You're watching it as an American. You cannot watch this film with an American lens. You're right - it doesn't make sense. But if you watch this film with a Japanese lens it makes PERFECT sense.

First, you cannot watch this film within a Christian/existential context. You must watch it from a Buddhist/Shinto perspective. This is the predominant religion in Japan.

Watching this as a Shinto/Buddhist you'll find that a lot of the images take on new meaning. Shinto is an animist religion that WORSHIPS NATURE - pay attention to the animal symbols that repeatedly crop up in the film (did you wonder why there are baby chicks running rampant during that creepy "shaving" scene?). Also, pay attention to the colors. Yellow means something much different to the Japanese than it does to Westerners.

Also, Japan has an incredibly powerful youth culture. Western societies, especially the United States, tend to dismiss youth as a time of decadence, immorality, and lack of direction. The Japanese hold their youth in reverence - they believe it's an incredibly precious time of life. In fact, just as the US has "mother's day" and "father's day," the Japanese have "children's day!" This movie is making a statement about childhood and the value of childhood.

And, last but not least - reincarnation. Reincarnation is accepted as a fact of life in Japan. Keep that in mind when the kids from the Dessart Group are talking all "cryptic" and "nonsensical." ^_^

I won't go into detail on what sort of meaning the film takes within the native Japanese framework. I will tell you this, though: the plot IS coherent from start to finish. There aren't any "plot holes." No more so than you'll find in the greats of American cinema, such as "Citizen Kane" or "Pulp Fiction."

With these things in mind, "Suicide Club" is not as enigmatic as it might seem. Of course, this information doesn't dismiss the other complaints: gratuitous violence and the J-pop performances.... Which, I'd argue, are just more American-biased complaints.

Sayonara! Randy

hit-and-miss take on Japanese malaise

[LunarPoise · 6/10 · 4 February 2012]

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.

Suicide Club

[M0n0_bogdan · 7/10 · 23 August 2023]

A grim vision of the future of the internet, manifested. But, as a Sion Sono film, is still very weird and out-there. What's with the musical number from the blonde weirdo Genesis?

Everybody is being influenced by some website and because of some rumors. It's fomo combined with teenage anxiety and impressionability. But at the same time, when suicides come in such big numbers, all at the same time, is the exterior influence actually the murderer? I know there is real pressure in Japan to succeed. That drives people to make harsh decisions regarding their life. Burnout is a big thing in Japan. Or was, not updated enough on that situation.

I think Sono wanted to raise awareness.

Coherent, or?

[scobbah · 6/10 · 30 May 2006]

When I'm writing this, I still feel a bit confused about the flick. Checking out the IMDb message board was of very little help, as it seems most of us feel equally confused when the credit rolls.

The flick features another appearance of Ryo Ishibashi (who played Aoyama in Takashi Miike's international breakthrough, Ôdishon), who is a great actor indeed. Even though his role in Jisatsu Saakuru is a bit laid back compared to the one of his in Ôdishon, I can't help to take notice of him and there's just something about him and his charisma that I like.

Furthermore, the plot is the major source of the unavoidable confusion. The flick kicks in with a mass suicide committed by a group of young schoolgirls, who decides to jump and kiss the rail in front of the moving train. While the police investigates the matter, more suicides are being committed. One cannot recognize if the director, Sion Sono, is a mastermind or simply had a hard time making the plot coherent, since it is at times a bit difficult to draw the connections. The latter phenomenon about drawing connections in the story is something that one could perceive as something entirely up to the flicks viewer, as fairly little is revealed by the director.

Anyhow, it's well worth a shot and I'm looking forward to see more flicks by Sono.

Honshu: The Dessart Island

[ferbs54 · 7/10 · 21 March 2013]

There are two types of film review that I find it particularly difficult to write. The first is for a movie that I have fallen head over heels in love with, with fear that my gushing words of praise will do little to do the picture justice. And then there is the review for a film that, despite repeated watches, I just cannot wrap my poor aching cerebrum around; in short, one that I just cannot fully understand. Shion Sono's 2001 offering, "Suicide Club," is, sadly, of that latter ilk. And that's a real shame, because for the film's first 2/3 or so, I was wholly involved, slack jawed, and keeping up very nicely, indeed. And then come those final 30 minutes or so, which, judging from some other comments that I've read, have served as a stumbling block of sorts for many other viewers besides myself....

The film opens with as memorable and horrifying a spectacle as any I've ever seen, when no less than 54 plaid-skirted, white-bloused, giggling high school girls--from 18 different schools, as it turns out--hold hands, count to 3, and jump in front of an oncoming train at Japan's Shinjuku Station; the resultant spurting of blood from the tracks is not to be believed, dousing everyone and everything in sight. (These blood-spraying FX, by Yoshihiro Nishimura, would be exponentially multiplied in the Nishimura-directed "Tokyo Gore Police" seven years later!) Before long, a fad of "suicide clubs" erupts all over the country, as scores of schoolkids and adults gleefully do themselves in, in increasingly bizarre and horrendous manner. Insofar as the film has a main character to speak of, I suppose it would be Detective Kuroda (played with great charisma by Ryo Ishibashi), who, along with his fellow cops, tries to get to the bottom of these recent death cults. We also meet a young lady named Kiyoko, aka The Bat (pretty Yoko Kamon), who is investigating a strange website that might have something to do with the suicides, and another young gal named Mitsuko (Sayako Hagiwara), who comes to suspect that the deaths may be related to an adolescent pop group (it's actually composed of 12-year-old kids) named Dessart...but one that is occasionally spelled (on screen, not via the subtitles!), perhaps deliberately, "Dessert," "Desert" AND "Dessret"!

"Suicide Club" is a handsome-looking film, well directed by Sono, and, as mentioned, truly horrifying in parts. In addition to its opening train station sequence, the picture dishes out the horrifically memorable scene in which another gaggle of schoolkids jumps off their school's roof and makes big splats on the sidewalk below. The picture's horrible centerpiece, however, comes, appropriately enough, at its exact midpoint, when, to the insipid strains of a Dessart tune that might be suitable as the theme song for some kind of "Pokemon, Jr." show, we see, in montage, four girls hanging themselves; a street chef ODing; a young girl crisping her head in an oven; a comedian sticking a knife in his throat while on stage; and, most horribly, a beautiful young mother slowly and happily cutting off her fingers and hand in front of her little girl! (And don't even get me started on that roll of human skin, and the bloody ear lying on the building ledge!) Yes, it's some pretty sick stuff, but still understandable, still lucid. Things begin to turn decidedly bizarre, however, when The Bat is kidnapped by the owner of that mysterious website, a dude who goes by the handle Genesis. In a segment that seems to want to outdo the strangeness quotient of Dean Stockwell lip-synching "In Dreams" in the David Lynch cult classic "Blue Velvet" (as if that bloody ear weren't "Blue Velvet" homage enough!), Genesis--think of a Japanese Ziggy Stardust and you'll have a rough image--performs a droning number that is absolutely unforgettable, and one that features the line "I want to die as beautifully as Joan of Arc inside a Bresson film"! Despite even this bit of grotesquerie, I continued to follow right along, however. It was only when Detective Kuroda speaks to that ominous, constantly throat-clearing kid on the phone, who asks the cop "If you die, will you lose the connection with yourself?," that I began to lose it myself. At this point, the film turns extremely existential/deep/philosophical/New Agey, to head-scratching effect. Perhaps it has something to do with cultural differences, or maybe something gets lost in translation, or it could be that I'm just a little slow on the rebop, but I just could not figure this last section out, despite multiple viewings. Those rolls of skin, the butterfly tattoos, how Mitsuko comes to realize the significance of the numbers on the Dessart kids' shirts, as well as their finger positions...all a baffling conundrum to me. So, well made as "Suicide Club" is, the film remains something of a disappointment for this viewer. I was happy to note, however, that, grim, depressing and horrifying as this film often is, it DOES try to conclude on a happy note, with those cute Dessart kids singing "We'll Find Life Again"...a tune that probably prevented a few thousand viewers from jumping out of their own apartment window!

One of the best films of the 2000s

[BrandtSponseller · 10/10 · 18 March 2005]

A suicide epidemic is sweeping Japan, even among hordes of teenaged girls who are making pacts with each other and offing themselves together. As Detective Kuroda (Ryo Ishibashi) and crew investigate, they begin to suspect that maybe there's more to it than simple suicide.

In terms of sheer spectacle, surrealism and the impact of its scenes, Suicide Club is simply an amazing, groundbreaking film. As for "what it really means" (assuming we could even agree on how that could be determined), it is wide open for interpretation. Everyone is likely to have their own, and not a few will probably insist that their interpretation is the "right" one. I don't think mine is the "right" one--I don't even agree that there would be a "right" interpretation. But at any rate, my current take on the film is that it is an extremely twisted, broad-ranging exegesis on many facets of Japanese culture (and to an extent, it can be applied to other cultures, as well) that is issuing sharp criticism at the same time that it is showing reason for hope.

Suicide Club is a very dense film. By that I mean that it is packed full of meaning, symbolism, references and such. An analysis of each scene would be interesting and informative, but it would take far more than 1000 words (the space IMDb allows). At the same time that much of it may be intentionally cryptic, designed to open up the interpretational field, I think that much of the film is more transparent than its often David Lynch-like surrealism would suggest.

For example, in the late 20th/Early 21st Century, and especially in 2001, the year before Suicide Club was released, a big news story in Japan (and elsewhere, including BBC and CNN reports) was their relatively high suicide rate. 33,000 Japanese had killed themselves in 2000. The Japanese government's Ministry of Health developed a special program to combat the phenomenon. At the same time, there is a cultural history of suicide being "honorable" in Japan, at least in some contexts, yet contradictorily, suicide has also been looked at as strongly taboo by the Japanese, as something not even to be talked about. Japan is also a culture where a more cyclical view of time and nature is common. The major Japanese religions are Buddhism and Shinto. Many species of Buddhism accept reincarnation, and Shinto has a potential "life after death" as kami. In the midst of all of this, The Perfect Suicide Manual by Wataru Tsurumi was on Japanese bestseller lists for years in the late 1990s. So suicide is certainly a complex, pressing issue in Japan.

Writer/director Shion Sono offers his own thesis for the root of the problem, on the way providing a strong cultural critique of Japan (and by conceptual association, similar cultures in other industrialized nations). The criticism is perhaps surprisingly conservative in light of the graphic bloodiness of the film's images, but we could see Suicide Club's brutality as partially an embrace of reality versus sweeping the truth under the rug, and partially a Natural Born Killers (1994)-styled self-indictment of the media age's contributions to the problem.

A major theme is "disconnect". Many are wrapped up in their work, in gadgetry and other pursuits so that they lose their connections to their families and even themselves as authentic human beings. It is significant that Sono shows many suicide victims with interlocked hands, achieving a kind of emotional/spiritual/"kamic" unity before taking the plunge. Another corrupt attempt at achieving the missing connection is realized in long strands of human skin that are bound together and found near some suicide victims. Kuroda, who is investigating the epidemic, is relatively disconnected from his immediate family. They need help, but he only notices when it's too late.

Pop culture is initially portrayed as shallow or decadent. Near the beginning of the film, the young girl pop group has a big hit with a vacuous song about e-mailing or calling them. (Did I hear someone mention "Kim Possible" (2002)?) The name of the group is alternatively written in English (via posters, video and the subtitles) as "Dessert" (sweet and appealing, but bad for you if overindulged and consisting of "empty" nutrition), "Desert" (a seemingly barren wasteland, or an abandoning) or "Dessart" ("Dessert" + "Art"). Near the middle of the film, A Ziggy Stardust-styled glam-punk is shown depravedly indulging in sex and violence--an even more extreme version of Malcolm McDowell's Alexander de Large from A Clockwork Orange (1971). Later he becomes a self-styled Charles Mansion-ish celebrity, and he is blamed for having a connection to the suicides, in a typical media/pop culture scapegoating. At one point, the suicides evolve from their initial spirit of a unifying pact to a fad to be indiscriminately mimicked, whether one does it alone or not. It seems that in such an environment, even suicide is not immune from corruption.

The film only begins to reach a resolution once characters are lectured on their unwitting alienation/inauthenticity/dissociation from their core values. Children, either as perceptive innocents or wise reincarnates are the primary instruments of this reeducation. Even "Desert" contributes, as they sing a song about piecing together jigsaw puzzles. Later, when they decide to literally desert their pop stardom, they do so with a farewell song that's no longer shallow, but full of poignancy and hope. (By the way, all of the music in the film is excellent--I would love to see a CD soundtrack released.) This is a rare film that might be difficult to enjoy without a taste for this kind of deeper analysis, but there are plenty of visceral and surreal delights for horror fans. Those with weaker constitutions may have difficulty stomaching this material, but Suicide Club is an absolutely brilliant film--all of the technical and artistic aspects are exemplary. This is one of the best films of the 2000s.

Real Horror comes from within

[chingkevin · 7/10 · 23 May 2016]

The opening scene proved this film is going to be easy to digest, it is telling you that this film is going to challenge you, provoke you and disgust you! If you are not prepared, please don't watch this film.

The unique aspect of this film is that it doesn't have a specific protagonist, at least not in the traditional manner. This is likely to be one of the reason why some people find this film rather confusing. However, I think it worked well in terms of presenting the film in a wider aspect, showing us what suicide means in different situations, scenario, relationships, but what is more important, is what it means to you.

"What is your connection to you?"

The real horror from this film comes from the inside, inside the audience's mind, which is what real horror is about. The film explores a lot of theme, but what created the horror was the depiction of humanity. It shows how we are so numb because of how society programmed us, do we even know ourselves? We are also drawn to this fake hope, when you discover that you know nothing about yourself, that is when the real despair and horror comes.

This film is not perfect, but more importantly, the idea came across, it transferred the really strong sensations and this is what art is about.

Spirals downhill after a good opening scene

[jtindahouse · 4/10 · 29 September 2022]

'Suicide Club' starts out with quite the opening scene. It's dark, unique, shocking and mysterious. At that point there was hope for the film. Sadly, that was going to be the highlight and it was all downhill from there.

This was a weird one. I really don't know what they were going for. I've never seen so much blood used in individuals scenes. It was comical. It was almost like a reminder to say, just in case you forgot this is a movie here is a ridiculous quantity of blood which looks nothing like actual blood.

There's a concept here that I could see working if done differently. Mass random suicides under mysterious circumstances could certainly work for a horror film. But in this case everyone was so happy during the suicide scenes that there was no tension or dread at all.

This one didn't work for me. It's not one I'd recommend. 4/10.

Suicide Club: one please!

[gto0227 · 10/10 · 22 February 2005]

I thought this was a great film. So great in fact, that I wrote to the director and he replied.

The movie is clearly a reflection of one particular social problem in Japan. NO! it isn't suicide! Suicide is one solution to the problem but it isn't the problem itself. If you need help understanding the film, I have three suggestions. 1) forgot focusing on the cute girls jumping in front of the train. Instead notice who exactly is dying 2) pay attention to the relationships between individuals, particularly related individuals 3) pay attention to the lyrics of the songs. Two songs very clearly tell you what the social problem is. Two songs also very clearly offer solutions to the problem. The movie ended correctly. Listen to the last song carefully.

The plot is basically this. Define "the problem" and show how deep it permeates the society. Show one solution again and again. Finally, propose a different solution.

Character development was clearly there too but it is Japanese character development so what is not said is just as important as what is said. Note the actions, listen to the soundtrack. Don't depend only on the dialogue. And DO LISTEN TO THE LYRICS OF THE SONGS!

The most touching scene was the girlfriend in shock trying to deal with the loss of her boyfriend and finally walking past the chalk outline of her dead boyfriend still sketched out on the sidewalk. She missed him so much that she lay down on the outline. Hollywood would never do a scene like that because the soundtrack that supported her mood, thoughts and actions clearly did not require any dialogue. I don't think Hollywood actors are capable of performing without the crutch of snappy dialogue anymore.

The scariest scene for me was the group of students that suddenly decided to outdo the deaths at the train station by jumping off the school. Three students backed down and refused to jump. But after they realized what had just happened, (there was a lingering pause to let it sink in in real time) one felt guilty and dragged another down with her. The last felt so guilty that she went anyway even after being begged not to by friends and teachers. Talk about peer pressure! If you understand Japanese schools, you can understand how real that scene was. In fact, when the movie was first shown in Japan, students were prevented from seeing it because adults were concerned about them getting the wrong idea.

If you were confused by the police officer's suicide, review his earlier behavior. Particularly, what time does he come home, how knowledgeable is he about his family, and how concerned is he about his family? And who exactly died just before he commits suicide?

If you are confused about the cryptic phrase "Are you connected to yourself?", try replacing it with "Do you still believe in yourself?"

As for the ending, well, if you don't have a family that you can trust and you put all your hopes for the future in your boyfriend and he died without explaining why, what would you do?

Lastly, I read all 7 pages of reviews previously submitted. Quite a few people just didn't get it. OK, what is the big failing? Well, I'd say that American films typically choose well-known songs as supporting material to set a mood. You know the words to the song so you know what idea they are supporting, might even hum along while watching the film. But what if the director chooses unknown songs? Will you pay attention? What if song lyrics replace dialogue? Will you even notice?

Well, are you connected with yourself?

[PaulyC · 7/10 · 11 November 2012]

This weird low budget Japanese film asks, Are you connected to yourself? To understand the concept of this movie you have to understand Japanese culture a bit. In Japan, everything is much more group related and being solo means you're likely to be cast aside. The story starts with a memorable scene in which over fifty high school students jump to their deaths in front of an oncoming train. A series of suicides follows which baffles investigators. I won't say much more on the story in risk of giving anything away. Reportedly shot for around $250,000 on 35mm is impressive and certain scenes were shot without formal permission. Ironically, the train station at the opening of the film where teenagers die has had some real life suicides associated with it. Spooky. The film isn't perfect and it's a bit hard to keep track of certain characters sometimes but the overall effect is pretty powerful. It did stir up some emotion in me. Check it out!

Horrible, Poor taste and without any kind of coherence

[Lady_Targaryen · 1/10 · 24 October 2007]

Japan, Tokyo. Fifty-four high-school students commit a collective suicide, jumping from a platform in a subway, making the police take the case. The problem is that their suicide doesn't have any big reason, making the detectives think that maybe a suicide cult can be involved with the deaths. While the detectives try to find a link between the 54 dead girls,a hacker called ''The Bat''calls the police and reports a strange link between the suicides and a website she found, which has nothing but red and white dots. She agrees to help the police solve the crime. From there on, many cases of high-school students dying will be only increasing and a strange connection with a girl band called "Dessert" will be made.

The reason why I started to watch 'Jisatsu saakuru' was that I was curious about the movie's review, that made it looks very interesting. The beginning of the movie, showing high-school students committing a collective suicide in a subway was also something very unusual, so I was thinking that I was going to watch a great horror/thriller movie. What a HUGE disappointment! This movie is AWFUL! One of the worst things I already watched in my entire life! It is totally pointless, with so many things in the plot that doesn't have any sense in connecting the story with the facts, that even when the movie ended, neither me, my father or my boyfriend got what the story was about or what the director/writer wanted to show. (Not to mention the sick scenes with people and animals being sadistically killed and raped inside a white sack while a band sings! What the hell was that?) I would never recommend this terrible movie to anyone normal and with good movie taste.

Ps: No, this movie is not perfectly understandable from a Japanese point of view. A lot of Japanese didn't get the message as well!

Performance Art playing it for real.

[bojkowski · 18 January 2004]

Suicide Club is a typically energetic and hyper quirky cinematic treat from Japan. What you may need to know to really enjoy this happy hell-ride is that for 'director' read 'performance artist'. Director, Shion Sono is better known as the man behind many a controversial and largely impromptu public performances 'sans camera'. The other thing you may need to know is that the train station featured at the beginning of the film was notorious for suicides. So much so that Japanese officials allowed a special 'suicide tax' to be levied on the families of those people committing suicide at this station (and others like it) to deter disillusioned salarymen from continuing create train delays.

According to Sono, he shot alot of the scene as he would direct as performance pieces. Without formal permission, he grabbed his actors and had them pile into the station and do their thing. I doubt there are many 'Hollywood' that would even contemplate such a risk, let alone pull it off with such energy and vision. This type of Japanese cinema is a bittersweet candy bar. Dont try and savour it, just enjoy the rush cause you may start to feel and little sick at some point soon.

This movie commit suicide. It had potential to be good, but end up, being a total mess. What a letdown!

[ironhorse_iv · 6/10 · 24 October 2015]

In Japanese culture, there has always been a morbid curiosity when it comes to the topic of suicide. The reason for this, is because, it's so intertwined with their country's history; both in ritual honorable ways, or in disturbing cowardice habits. It's an intriguing topic that Japan can't ignored. So, it was no surprised, that a movie was create to help, explore, why people commit to, such tragic acts. Suicide Club, also known as Suicide Circle, tells the story of a team of police detectives, trying to unravel the mystery on why 54 high school girls commit suicide, by throwing themselves in front of an oncoming subway train. What, they don't know, is this appears to be only the beginning of a string of suicides around the country. Can the detectives figure out, what's going on, or will the death toll, rise to new heights? Watch the movie to find out, if you want to! Without spoiling the movie, too much, suicide has always never easy topic to discuss. However, this movie doesn't know, how to tackle, such a complex topic like that. Written and directed by Sion Sono, the movie is not as thought-provoking as it could had, because the movie plays it, over the top, offensively silly. In this movie, a number of characters take their own lives in the most gruesome and outlandish ways. It's M Night Shyamalan, 2008's 'Happening' type of action, bad. I really couldn't take, this movie, seriously. All the suicides show in the film, are highly exaggerated, cheesy gory and goofy-looking. It doesn't help that the English subtitles are somewhat amusing, due to the language-barrier. Not only that; but the musical numbers by the 'Rocky Horror Show' reject, Genesis (Rolly Teranishi) & the preteen J-POP band, Dessert was somewhat jarring. It really doesn't match, well with semi-gritty approach of the rest of the film. The movie is directionless. There wasn't any realistic strong characters to follow. The detectives are really clueless in their jobs, and rarely any help in the movie. The whole sub-plot of the teenager hacker named 'the Bat' AKA Kiyoko (Yoko Kamon) trying to find the source of a web-site, keeping tabs on all the deaths is really out of place, and seem like, a waste of time. The people committing the suicide really doesn't add much, to the backstory nor does the movie never explain, why they suddenly felt, like killing themselves. It's seem very unrealistic that such a mass of suicides is even that possible. While, yes, there has been a rapid increase in suicides in Japan since the 1990s. Nevertheless, the number of suicides committed has been declining, since then and has been under, a few thousand, in three consecutive years. Also, the vast majority of people, more likely to kill themselves in Japan, are older men, not young women; movie! Although women attempt suicide about three times more often than men, men complete suicide about three times more often than women. The reason for this, is because, historically, Japan has been a male-dominated society, with strong family ties and correlating social expectations; however, in the 21st century, it brought about the death of the "jobs-for-life" culture has left these heads of families unexpectedly struggling with job insecurity or the stigma of unemployment. While there is a common perception that suicide rates are highest among the young, the elderly, in fact, have the highest suicide rates, everywhere with hanging being the leading method of suicide worldwide. A lot less, gory or bloody, than the film wants us to think. Honestly, what is this movie trying to convey with its message? Its seem like movie tries really hard to hint, that it might have to do with something with a subliminal message in music or a supernatural mind control that popular fab does, however, it's come across, way too vague, and without any kind of coherence. Even the Japanese DVD that come with extras that kinda explain the symbolism from each scene is little to no help. However, I do have a theory in what the movie message was. In my opinion, it was about 'connection' and how you live life. It's about the bonds, we share with our family, our friends, and even strangers. Basically, if one choose to dies, it break the chain, and a little part of us, die, a little, because of it. The movie shows, how people dealt with this lose. One can choose to follow, and continue the cycle of death, by return, killing themselves, or one can choose to break the cycle, and choose to live for themselves or for others. So in the end, it's a question of attachment. This is somewhat, what represented by the skin-roll. I just wish, the movie explain more. I really didn't like, that movie had to, had a prequel, 2005's Noriko's Dinner Table, just to help explain this. I know, that two versions of the film exist: an R-rated and an unrated version. The unrated version has six gory additions. The extended cut is somewhat, harder to watch, due to the disturbing imagery. Overall: I know, Japanese society's attitude toward suicide movie has been termed "tolerant"; however, as an Asian-American westerner, I find the movie, somewhat offensive and tasteless. I like movie about suicide that may help save some people's lives. In my opinion, this movie doesn't do that, well. Instead, of helping people, this movie makes suicide look fun by making it seem like it mostly painless to complete. In my opinion, films like this, can only triggers disturb copy-cats to followers. I have to say, the movie doesn't do much, but shamefully exploits suicide. Sadly, I wish this movie was about the three 19th century detective fiction short stories by Robert Louis Stevenson, instead.

A violently surreal and confusing story

[Endless_01 · 7/10 · 18 November 2021]

Suicide Club managed to create a cult reputation during its years of release, establishing itself as a rather special film in the genre and evocative, full of disturbing moments and a story that, despite being confusing, creates a palpable sense of mystery and an unsettling atmosphere.

The film has an interesting story, if somewhat nonsensical at times, but shows high doses of mystery combined with a deep symbolism that adheres to Japanese culture, combining popular narratives and making use of tropes that were common during the 90s and early 2000s of Japanese cinema, especially the use of supernatural plots combined with technology. On the other hand, the story at times falls under its own weight and becomes too complex, in the sense that it doesn't seem to get anywhere. I think that rather than offering a traditional story, this is a collection of ideas that seeks to narrate something without the need to focus on the classic development of a movie, creating surreal and violent scenes with a strong focus on death.

Suicide Club was much better than I expected. I thought it would be a simple gore movie with a mystery, but it manages to combine a handful of unique and distinguishable elements that give it a quite terrifying and unique personality. Add to that good performances and a solid cast, plus strong cinematography, and we have a solid horror film with a deep context. Recommended.

Better than The Happening

[siderite · 7/10 · 16 September 2014]

The film starts with 54 schoolgirls happily counting to 3 and jumping in front of a subway train. Skulls crushed by train wheels and blood spattered over the other people on the platform, the train having difficulty breaking due to human fat on the tracks, etc, in the background a carnival happy musical background. Yeah, it's that kind of film. However, the film has a lot of subtlety and metaphorical messages throughout. So, no, it's not a j-horror thing, but a very shocking Japanese film, with a moral at the end.

Back to the story, there are a lot more people just happily killing themselves. The police are stumped and, up to that moment, it all seemed a lot like The Happening, without some heroic dude as the main character. The ending disappointed me, though. I understood the whole idea of the film, which I don't intend to spoil here, but frankly the feel at the end was a huge WTF. Also the main culprits looked ridiculous. All revolutionaries have a really funny look, but this was going over the top. Indeed, the entire movie was.

Bottom line: Still better than The Happening, even if made with a fraction of its budget, it gives you the same kind of confusing feeling at the end. I always hold that a movie is not very good if at the end you have to google what the hell it meant. This is one of those movies I have been a bit too stupid to fully understand. So, maybe it's me, but maybe it's the movie.

A powerful cinematic meditation on suicide.

[Wetbones · 10/10 · 9 January 2004]

When trying to make sense of this film one must consider the circumstances under which it was made and what inspired the director to do it in the first place.

Shion Sono started writing the script after a close friend of his killed himself. Nobody had any idea why he did it. He seemed perfectly OK and then one day he was dead by his own hand. There was no suicide not, no explanation, nothing.

SUICIDE CIRCLE, the film, is a cinematic meditation on the theme of suicide. Several times in the film it is mentioned how you have to be "connected" to yourself and not only to your job, your family and your other duties. There's also a reason that happy, laughing, cheerful, young, beautiful people off themselves apparently for no reason at all. Note the shots when the cop is on the subway and he looks at all those people who look dead tired and depressed. Each one of them could kill himself anytime. The end is also about this, the cop character has to give up trying to figure out who will kill himself because ultimately this is something up to the individual and outsiders can only have so much influence on it. In a way Shion Sono excuses himself from not preventing his friend's death with this ending.

The film is ambiguous in many places and does not provide any easy answers. It only gives ideas, offers perspectives, theories and hints. And that's what I like about it. Actually I watched this film for the first time only a few months after getting pretty close to ending my life myself. I thought it was a very intelligent and respectful film about the subject matter and much better than any heavy-handed, whiny, "politically correct" Hollywood film or those horrid movies of the week on TV.

Watch me die.

[dogspit · 6/10 · 8 January 2004]

This is an odd little movie that I could not stop watching. Though I will not likely see it again, I would recommend seeing it once. The violence is cartoonish at best, blood splattered everywhere, but the story of a wave of suicides is enough to keep your interest. If you have a somewhat dark sense of humor you will like this film.

Harrowing and jumbled

[Leofwine_draca · 5/10 · 12 February 2016]

SUICIDE CLUB works better as a thematic piece exploring conformity and suicide in Japan than a proper thriller, despite attempts to graft a traditional detective story to the wafer thin plot. It's a lot less coherent than the other Sion Sono movie I've seen, EXTE, which was a lively twist on the classic Japanese ghost story, whereas this is a unique and occasionally unfathomable beast.

Basically, the story is about mass suicides taking place in Japan, usually carried out by gangs of high school girls. There are a handful of very shocking moments in the movie, most notably the opening train station sequence, which are hard to get out of the mind once seen. Plus, a later moment in a kitchen of all places is one of the grimmest and most unpleasant I remember seeing in a movie.

Elsewhere, we get Ryo Ishibashi (AUDITION) playing a cop investigating the deaths, although this sub-plot doesn't really get very far. Instead SUICIDE CLUB sometimes feels like a jumble of abstract ideas, throwing in references to AUDITION, J-pop, social alienation, and family dynamics. The main story finishes around the hour mark and the film just sort of dawdles along aimlessly for another half an hour after that point. It does contain some remarkable and harrowing imagery, so I didn't dislike it, but I just wish it had been less abstract and more concrete.

"Because the dead shine all night long"

[kiden104 · 10/10 · 15 April 2004]

Shion Sono's "Suicide Club" is not standard fare. In many ways, I agree with the fact that this film is not for everyone. It is in reality a love it or hate it venture. However, I would suggest that anyone who holds love for the medium of film give it a try. Sitting down to watch this film, I had no idea of the journey upon which I was about to embark.

From the opening mass suicide and the subsequent dark hall patrol of a Tokyo night guard, "Suicide Club" starts with the notion that the film is to be a gore-fest and another dimly lit horror movie. But shortly into the film, such is disproved. A rash of mass suicide plagues Tokyo detectives when they are confronted with the reality that these are not your average end-my-suffering suicides. Are the suicides really suicide? Are they in fact murders? And how do a bizarre website and a preteen girl band fit in? These questions all come into the forefront as writer/director Sono explores some nonfiction issues as well.

"Suicide Club" is not only a social commentary, exploring fads and Japan's disaffected youth, but also a prodding statement on existence itself. What if all the ways in which we have been taught to define ourselves has been wrong? How do we connect with others while remaining connected to ourselves? Furthermore, as an American audience, we have much to gain from Sono's work. "Suicide Club" shows us what would happen if the Japanese had helmed "The Rocky Horror Picture Show"; "Suicide Club" brings the sort of respect to Japanese cinema that "Battle Royale" and "Audition" did. But mostly, it exposes us to a harsh reality -- the limitations of American cinema. The fiercely original and highly intense "Suicide Club" could never be made stateside.

In the end, "Suicide Club" does not leave you with a clear answer to any of the questions that it poses. The film does indeed jump to subplots and twists and turns, leaving some chaos and confusion in its wake. But such is the nature of the topics Sono confronts. "Suicide Club" will not give you a 94 minute break from reality; rather, it will use 94 minutes to prompt you to redefine reality. (Four Stars)

membership: optional, meeting place: somewhere high off the ground

[canadude · 6/10 · 13 April 2004]

I have to ask myself: why do I keep watching these movies? Obscure, little films, generally unrated because of violent content and with bizarre, nonsensical plots. Suicide Circle belongs to the worst kind of those films - in fact, it almost borders on the offensive to the mind and sensibilities.

The story, about a series of suicides that suddenly take Japan by storm, can't make up its mind whether it wants to be serious or not. Or maybe I just can't pinpoint it. It features a terrifying opening where 54 schoolgirls (I know, it doesn't sound very terrifying) jump underneath a subway train and get sliced by it (we are later told that the train couldn't stop because it slipped on human grease - I guess the carcasses of those schoolgirls melted quickly on impact). Blood splatters everywhere, but not like it would in a normal movie (because, this is definitely not that), but *explodes* all over the metro station, splattering the faces of all the unsuspecting onlookers in the expressionist style of Jackson Pollock, but without his precision.

In any case - you start to wonder why. I mean, it's not every day that 54 schoolgirls hold hands, count to three and commit ritual suicide. Introduce a bunch of detectives, a nonsensical subplot with an Internet nerd who leads the police to the answer (if you could call it an answer), terrible musical interludes by a six or seven-member band of 12.5-year-olds (as we are told in the movie) who sing songs about love via email. All in all, a deranged assortment of weirdness abounds.

*minor, minor spoilers* But is the movie serious or not? Well, the cartoonish violence points in a not-so serious direction. Further, there are scenes that are simply so absurd, they're hilarious. Take for instance a moment when a bunch of school kids are just talking and chillin (on the roof of the school, conveniently) and what have you, and then all of a sudden they start talking about how cool suicide is and how cool those schoolgirls were who committed it. Next thing you know, they're all standing on the edge of the roof counting to three. Cut to: two kids chatting in the cafeteria by a window and then BLAM! An ejaculation of blood, and one p***ed off janitor, who, in one particularly revealing scene, has to scrape an ear with some hair attached to it off the window.

And who could forget the scene where a beautiful girl (and I mean, really a gorgeous creature) walks down the street and suddenly her boyfriend's body lands on top of her, leaving her with a concussion and a bloody ear - a somewhat failed suicide attempt. So, yes, you want to say, the answer is self-explanatory. The film is a joke.

But is it? There are scenes of serious family drama. I don't want to reveal too much, but some sequences in Suicide Club are definitely intended sincerely and seriously. Mixed with the hilarity of contrasting scenes, this causes an implacable unevenness. And, with suicide as a topic (especially as a social phenomenon), this causes the movie to border on being offensive.

Still, I got through it. It was relatively uninteresting, even if my unflattering descriptions make it sound exciting as a freakshow. It's not. It's a badly written story, with ridiculous dialogue, terrible acting, and horrifying attempts at social commentary. If this film, in its more serious moments, actually tries to attack the issues of growing social nihilism in Japan, or the existential questions of "to be or not to be," then it serves more as a symptom, then an exploration. It's a boring splatter film, or a failed social drama, or a incoherently dumb thriller, or all of the above. The forcefully moralizing ending is a particularly painful experience.

Needless to say, I don't recommend the film, but if you do watch it count the times the main cop character bows his head in despair and shakes it. It's like his signature or something.

Thought provoking... to an 8-year-old maybe

[rooprect · 2/10 · 23 July 2006]

Pedantic. Sloppy. Melodramatic. Pretentious. Desultory. Ambling. Incoherent. Gratuitous. Childish. Plagiaristic.

Just

Plain

Stupid.

Capitalizing on the success of Battle Royale (2000), mediocre director Sion Sono whipped together a low budget rip off with a not-very-inventive twist. Instead of high school kids killing each other, they're killing themselves!

Having read all the quasi-intellectual reviews here on IMDb, I was looking forward to seeing this movie. With all the supercilious chatter of Japanese culture, Shinto and Buddhism (three subjects which I have studied in-depth), I thought that this would be definitely worthwhile. WRONG. Never have I been so let down. People, PLEEZ, don't build this flick up to be anything more than it is: a cheap splatter flick without much of a theme. Oh sure, it makes several juvenile swats at philosophy. For example, some kid says over and over (5 times, I believe): "If you die, will you be connected with yourself?"

Ah yes, I'm stroking my beard at the profundity of that question. For all of 3 seconds. Now lets get back to the movie and watch a leather-wearing she-male step on puppy dogs' heads whilst singing some inane lyrics to a lame chord progression. (I believe the words he was singing were: "Because the dead... because the dead... because the dead... shine all night long.")

Yes, don't even get me started on how puerile the music was. I can't believe the number of people on IMDb who seem to find some poetic depth in the lyrics. But you be the judge. Here are the lyrics. Tell me if there is anything profound about it (and the movie):

"The world is a jigsaw puzzle The world is a jigsaw puzzle The world is a jigsaw puzzle Somewhere there's a fit for you!"

omg. How Buddhist. How Shinto. You dumb Americans will never understand the depth of our Japanese culture. (/sarcasm)

Folks, if you want real Japanese culture & philosophy, I'd suggest you stick to the classics: Akira Kurosawa, Masaki Kobayashi, and (if you prefer the more modern stuff) Hideaki Anno, Katsuhito Ishii. Stay away from tripe like SUICIDE CLUB, which is little more than David Lynch on a bad day with a low budget. You've been warned!

Frustratingly Vacuous.

[treelzebub · 6 November 2004]

Okay, admittedly I have not seen a lot of Japanese films, and maybe it is just from my Western point of view that I cannot understand a single thing this movie is trying to get across. To me, it seemed full of non sequiturs, and lacking in any sort of unified plot direction and character development.

I came out of this movie almost willing to throw myself in front of a subway. I do not expect every movie to have a standard, linear plot. In fact, I especially enjoy those movies which relate a story in a new fashion, using new techniques and interesting visuals. Maybe I missed the point, but at the end of the movie, not one of the questions has an answer to be found.

Who is really behind the "Club," if it's the random glam rock guy, then why do the suicides continue, who the hell are half of the people that show up in the last half of the movie, what is Dessart's involvement, what is the meaning of the phone calls, etc etc etc.

From my perspective, the filmmakers were going for a sort of Lynchian motif of a puzzle to be placed together by disjointed images and dialogue--which I am completely interested in. The result, however, seems full of holes and hot air. If anyone can tell me why I should like this movie, I'll be happy to watch it again with an open mind.