''Suicide Club'', known in Japan as , is a 2001 Japanese

independent Independent or Independents may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Artist groups * Independents (artist group), a group of modernist painters based in the New Hope, Pennsylvania, area of the United States during the early 1930s * Independ ...

horror film Horror is a film genre that seeks to elicit fear or disgust in its audience for entertainment purposes. Horror films often explore dark subject matter and may deal with transgressive topics or themes. Broad elements include monsters, apoca ...

written and directed by

Sion Sono Sion may refer to * an alternative transliteration of Zion People * Sion (name) or Siôn, a Welsh and other given name and surname, including a list of people and fictional characters with the name * Shion or Sion, a Japanese given name Plac ...

. The film explores a wave of seemingly unconnected

suicide Suicide is the act of intentionally causing one's own death. Mental disorders (including depression, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, personality disorders, anxiety disorders), physical disorders (such as chronic fatigue syndrome), and s ...

s that strikes Japan and the efforts of the

police The police are a constituted body of persons empowered by a state, with the aim to enforce the law, to ensure the safety, health and possessions of citizens, and to prevent crime and civil disorder. Their lawful powers include arrest and t ...

to determine the reasons behind the strange behavior. ''Suicide Club'' gained considerable notoriety in

film festival A film festival is an organized, extended presentation of films in one or more cinemas or screening venues, usually in a single city or region. Increasingly, film festivals show some films outdoors. Films may be of recent date and, depending upon ...

s around the world for its controversial, transgressive subject matter and overall gruesome presentation. It developed a significant

cult following A cult following refers to a group of fans who are highly dedicated to some person, idea, object, movement, or work, often an artist, in particular a performing artist, or an artwork in some medium. The lattermost is often called a cult classic. ...

over the years, and won the Jury Prize for "Most Ground-Breaking Film" at the 2003

Fantasia Film Festival Fantasia International Film Festival (also known as Fantasia-fest, FanTasia, and Fant-Asia) is a film festival that has been based mainly in Montreal since its founding in 1996. Regularly held in July of each year, it is valued by both hardcore ...

. This film has a similar premise to M. Night Shymalan's The Happening.

Plot

The film takes place over six days, with footage from a fictional pop group "Dessert" opening and closing the film. The story begins with a concert held by Dessert, in which they perform a

J-Pop J-pop ( ja, ジェイポップ, ''jeipoppu''; often stylized as J-POP; an abbreviated form of "Japanese popular music"), natively also known simply as , is the name for a form of popular music that entered the musical mainstream of Japan in the 1 ...

song titled "Mail Me". In

Tokyo Tokyo (; ja, 東京, , ), officially the Tokyo Metropolis ( ja, 東京都, label=none, ), is the capital and largest city of Japan. Formerly known as Edo, its metropolitan area () is the most populous in the world, with an estimated 37.468 ...

on May 27, 54 teenage schoolgirls commit

mass suicide Mass suicide is a form of suicide, occurring when a group of people simultaneously kill themselves. Overview Mass suicide sometimes occurs in religious settings. In war, defeated groups may resort to mass suicide rather than being captured. Su ...

by throwing themselves in front of an oncoming train. Shortly after, at a hospital, two nurses commit suicide by jumping out of a window. At both locations, rolls of skin are found, with the skin in the rolls matching that removed from the bodies of the dead. Three detectives—Kuroda ( Ryō Ishibashi), Shibusawa (

Masatoshi Nagase is a Japanese actor. He is best known in the West for his roles in Friðrik Þór Friðriksson's '' Cold Fever'' and Jim Jarmusch's ''Mystery Train''. Nagase was described by Todd Brown of Twitch Film as "one of the great unsung heroes of Japane ...

), and Murata (

Akaji Maro is a Japanese actor, Butoka, and theater director. Early life In 1943, Maro was born in Sakurai, Nara, Japan. Career Maro's film career began in 1980. As an actor, Maro has over 42 film. In 1972 Maro is the founder of Dairakudakan Tempute ...

)—are notified by a

hacker A hacker is a person skilled in information technology who uses their technical knowledge to achieve a goal or overcome an obstacle, within a computerized system by non-standard means. Though the term ''hacker'' has become associated in popu ...

named Kiyoko (Yoko Kamon) of a link between the suicides and a website that shows the number of suicides as red and white circles. On May 28, at a high school, a group of students jump off the roof during lunch, sending the city in search of a "Suicide Club". By May 29, the suicide boom has spread all over

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

. Mitsuko is on her way home when she gets hit by her boyfriend, Masa, who has thrown himself off a roof. Mitsuko is taken to the police station for questioning, where the police strip-search her and discover that she has a butterfly tattoo. On May 30, the police receive a call from a boy who warns that on that evening at 7:30, another mass suicide will take place at the same platform. The detectives organize a stake-out in order to prevent the event but there is no suicide. Meanwhile, individual and smaller-scale group suicides continue all over Japan, claiming many lives, including Kuroda's entire family. Kuroda receives a call from the boy who had warned about the 7:30 suicide, and Kuroda shoots himself after. Kiyoko is captured by a group led by a man named Genesis, whose hideout is a small subterranean bowling alley, where he resides with four glam-rock cohorts. During her capture, Genesis performs a song while a girl in a white sack is brutally raped and killed right in front of them. Kiyoko e-mails the authorities information about Genesis. On May 31, the police arrest Genesis, and it is assumed the leader of the "Suicide Club" has been caught. On June 1, Mitsuko goes to her boyfriend's home to return his helmet, where she notices pop group Dessert's posters on the wall and recognizes a pattern on the fingers of the group that corresponds to the letters on a

telephone keypad A telephone keypad is a keypad installed on a push-button telephone or similar telecommunication device for dialing a telephone number. It was standardized when the dual-tone multi-frequency signaling (DTMF) system was developed in the Bell Syste ...

spelling out the word "suicide". The boy from earlier calls to tell her there is no "Suicide Club" and invites her to a secret concert. On June 2, Mitsuko sneaks into the backstage area and sees a group of children in the audience, who ask her questions. Mitsuko impresses the children so they take her to a room where a strip from her skin is shaved off; it is the spot where the butterfly tattoo was. A new roll of skin ends up with the police, and detective Shibusawa recognizes the strip as the one with Mitsuko's tattoo. That evening, he sees Mitsuko at the train station and grabs her hand but she pulls away. She stares at Shibusawa as the train pulls into the station, and again after boarding the train. As the train pulls out, the ending credits begins, in which Dessert announces their disbandment and offer appreciation toward their fans' support, before performing their final song, "Live as You Please".

Cast

* Ryō Ishibashi as Detective Kuroda *

as Detective Shibusawa *

as Detective Murata * Saya Hagiwara as Mitsuko * Yoko Kamon as Kiyoko/Kōmori-The Bat * Rolly as Muneo "Genesis" Suzuki * Hideo Sako as Detective Hagitani * Takashi Nomura as Security Guard Jiro Suzuki *

Tamao Satō is a Japanese actress, voice actress, television personality and model from Funabashi, Chiba, perhaps best known for her role as Momo Maruo in the 1995 Super Sentai series ''Chōriki Sentai Ohranger'', as well as co-hosting ''O-Sama Brunch'', a T ...

as Nurse Yoko Kawaguchi * Mai Hōshō as Nurse Atsuko Sawada *

Kimiko Yo is a Japanese actress. She was given Best Supporting Actress awards at the 2004 and the 2009 Yokohama Film Festival ceremonies. She won the award for best supporting actress at the 32nd and at the 33rd Japan Academy Prize (film), Japan Academy ...

as Kiyomi Kuroda *

Mika Kikuchi is a Japanese actress, voice actress and singer affiliated with BLACK SHIP. Biography In 2000, Mika made her stage debut as Janet in the Japanese version of the musical Annie. She also had small roles in Suicide Circle and Battle Royale II: ...

as Sakura Kuroda * So Matsumoto as Toru Kuroda

Critical reception

Jonathan Regehr of

Screen Anarchy Screen Anarchy, previously known as Twitch Film or Twitch, is a Canadian English-language website featuring news and reviews of mainly international, independent and cult films. The website was founded in 2004 by Todd Brown. In addition to films, ...

gave the film a rating of 6/10, calling it "an unbalanced movie". Dai Green of HorrorNews.net wrote that the film "may not register entirely in first run, but it will certainly leave a mark". Virginie Sélavy of ''Electric Sheep Magazine'' wrote that "''Suicide Club'' has been described as 'muddled' and Sono criticised for not making his satire of pop culture and denunciation of the media clear enough. But the ambiguity of the film is precisely what makes it interesting".

Prequel

As of early 2006, the film has one

prequel A prequel is a literary, dramatic or cinematic work whose story precedes that of a previous work, by focusing on events that occur before the original narrative. A prequel is a work that forms part of a backstory to the preceding work. The term " ...

and a proposed follow-up. ''

Noriko's Dinner Table is a 2005 Japanese psychological horror film, and a sequel to the independent horror film '' Suicide Club'' (2002), written and directed by Sion Sono. ''Suicide Club'' concerns the mass suicide of 54 schoolgirls and how it leads the law to a sha ...

'' (''Noriko no Shokutaku'') depicts events from before and after the happenings of ''Suicide Circle'' and gives more insight on its predecessor. In 2006, Sono said "I always wanted to make a trilogy but in reality it is very difficult."Offscreen: An Interview with Sion Sono
/ref>

Print publications

Novel

'' Jisatsu Saakuru: Kanzenban'' (自殺サークル　完全版, translated as ''Suicide Circle: The Complete Edition'') was written by

in April 2002. The book deals with the themes of ''Suicide Club'' and ''Noriko's Dinner Table'', bringing the two plots closer. So far no plans for an English edition have appeared.

Manga

manga Manga (Japanese: 漫画 ) are comics or graphic novels originating from Japan. Most manga conform to a style developed in Japan in the late 19th century, and the form has a long prehistory in earlier Japanese art. The term ''manga'' is u ...

of the same title and written by

Usamaru Furuya is a Japanese manga artist. Biography During elementary school, Furuya enrolled in the Osamu Tezuka Manga Correspondence Course and by the time he reached high school he had discovered a darker, more underground style. He graduated from Tama A ...

appeared at the same time of the movie's Japanese DVD release. Although Furuya's intention was to faithfully reproduce the film's plot, Sono asked him to write his own story. As a result, the ''Suicide Club'' manga is much more straightforward and easier to understand than the film, and features much more solid character development. It deals with the same opening scene, but there is a twist: out of the 54 suicidal girls, a survivor is reported: Saya Kota. Her best friend, Kyoko, must now unveil the secret of the Suicide Club and save Saya from falling deeper into it.

References

External links

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Suicide Club (Film) 2001 films 2001 horror films 2001 independent films 2001 LGBT-related films 2001 psychological thriller films Films about suicide Films directed by Sion Sono Films set in Tokyo Films shot in Tokyo 2000s Japanese-language films Japanese horror films Japanese independent films Japanese LGBT-related films Japanese psychological thriller films Lesbian-related films Manga series 2000s Japanese films