Suicide Club

Suicide Club!!! I would have to say that this is my favourite Japanese cult classic so far. This goes TOTALLY against the grain of Sion Sono's normal array of gay porn films. What a refreshing concept. Many thanks go out to my little sister for letting me borrow it.

Any movie that starts off with 54 cute school girls clasping hands and jumping onto subway tracks in front of a fast moving train is worth watching. On one hand, you just know it's going to be good, but on the other, you just know it's not going to get any bloodier than that.

Suicides are popping up all over Tokyo and it's up to Detective Kuroda (and a couple other detectives whose names escape me) to find out why. None of them seemed depressed. The suicides were sudden, and booming. Things seem to go nowhere until Kuroda is tipped off by someone known only as The Bat, who shows them a website with dots representing the boys and girls who've done themselves in (and the dots appear before the suicides!). What does the site have to do with all the deaths? And does the hottest sensation j-pop band of adorable girls Dessert have anything to do with them?

There are many bloody scenes accompanied by the cute music of Dessert, and there's even a wanna-be copy cat killer who goes by the name Genesis (j-pop artist Rolly), who kidnaps The Bat and makes her tell police it was him, while he serenades her with a song. My sister found this part disturbing. She was talking about when Genesis kicked a sack (containing a dog) until it stopped yelping and was all bloody, while I replied, "I know, his voice is terrible!" His voice isn't really that bad, and in fact, the song he sings frequently gets in my head for days.

The ending is full of holes, which I wasn't particularly happy with, but after a couple times of watching it, I found that I could piece together things that were missing.

Bloody: 10/10. Funny: 7/10. Story: 8/10. Ending: 5/10.

Russian Ark

I picked up Русский ковчег (Russian Ark) from Blockbuster the other day, with my friend Kelly (thanks for putting it on your tab, Kelly).

I watched it, and I was bored stiff.

Don't get me wrong! It's a beautifully crafted film and its credentials are amazing! But as I have been told before, it tries the patience of Americans. People who are from Russia, have taken a Russian history class, or have been to the Hermitage Museum might find it far more interesting, but in my point of view, it was like sitting in a historical art lecture for three hours.

People who loved it, people familiar with Russian culture, have said that we've seen two different movies.

Why this movie is amazing:
It has 2000 actors and is shot in 33 rooms of the Hermitage Museum. The costumes are simply amazing. The most impressive part is knowing that it is the longest single shot in film history, and on top of that, it is the first movie EVER to be shot in one single take! Three hours in one take! Traveling from room to room, from a modern set to a historical scene... You have to see it to believe it!

Why this movie is dull:
It's 3 hours of walking around an art museum, and not everything was translated, so sometimes, you have no idea what they're saying.

I give this movie a 4/10 for interesting, and a 10/10 for impressive costume design and 100/10 for the amazing feat of shooting the movie in only one take!

The Pillows

The Pillows are my favourite Japanese band, so I simply must do a review of sorts (more like all-out praise). To be honest, I only have a couple albums of theirs that aren't licenced to the rad mini-series Furi Kuri (FLCL).

I have introduced many people to this band and nobody so far hasn't absolutely loved them. The guitars aren't overpowering, and they use so many different techniques with their guitars, too. They play so melodically, and then bam! They rock the casbah hardcore.

The Pillows are one of those bands you can play while you're hanging out with a group of people, or all alone. They're loungey, without being classically lounge. They only sometimes sing, and when they do, it's crazy amazing! Their melody is stunning, and they don't even try. I pop in one of their CDs every time I have guests, or when I'm sitting on the couch reading... simply put, it's music to listen to.

Ultimate amazing band: 1000/10.