Cool News
Jive Guy gives us a peek at that bizarre and controversial Japanese film BATTLE ROYALE!
Hey folks, Harry here having just returned from the Alamo Drafthouse where Tim and I were conspiring to contact and get this film screened here in Austin at the Drafthouse, when lo and behold they screen the baby in Los Angeles at the lovely and beautiful EGYPTIAN THEATER! Now in some ways this is one of the KEY films that should have been being played at Sundance, but alas... It doesn't seem to be. Well, lean back and listen... cuz this is a film that doesn't leave you passive with the brain in the off position.
Hey Harry, got some "ain't it cool news" for ya.
Just got back from the U.S. Premeire of a subtitled version of Japanese
director Kinji Fukusakus 'Battle Royal' at the Egyptian Theater in Hollywood,
Ca. I must say that this was truly one of the most unique films I have seen
in a long while, which is surprising because very few films live to their
trailers. The sypnosis of the film is as follows;
In Japans not so distant future a class of 42 9th grade students are
selected and taken against their will to a vacated island where they are
given supplies and one weapon each where they must follow this simple order:
terminate each of their classmates. They are given three days to do it, if
there is more than one survivor by the end of the third day, every teen will
be killed via an explosive dog collar around their necks. There can only be
one winner, with the ultimate goal at stake..... Freedom. Among the weapons
are deadly devices such as gernades, knives, sickles, shot guns, uzi's, hand
guns, and cross bows, to metal lids, scanners, and binaculars. To keep the
pace moving, every hour or so a danger zone in the island is announced on a
loud speaker, meaning any collar in the zone perimeter within that hour will
explode. The Government calls the game 'Battle Royal."
'Battle Royal' is obviously not for any viewer. The whole concept and the
very graphic deaths that the teenagers cause upon eachother can truly be
disturbing. I think I truly hit the nail on the head when I say the film is
"Lord of the Flies' meets "Evil Dead 2', in the fact that even though the
content and theme of the film are dead serious, director Kinji Fukusaku adds
a lot of satire in his future world very reminiscent of Paul Verhovens
'Robocop' and 'Starship Troopers,' i.e, the whole 'BR' concept is a big media
spectacle like 'The Running Man,' with Ah-Nold.
I seriously doubt the film will get any sort of U.S realse after this
tour, I can honestly say that it's one of the top five most violent films
I've seen. The friend I saw the film with was quite shooken up after seeing
it but I wouldn't rank "Battle Royal' as high as "Henry: Portrait of a Serial
Killer," on the disturbing factor, or even half way there. And I doubt most
of the crowd did either. Most of the crowd, which consisted of all adults,
found the film fun. Don't get me wrong, 42 9th grade students graphically
shredding eachother with all sorts of weapons isn't delightful or satisfying,
I mean, there's even a scoreboard after each death ("26 to go"), but neither
is a platoon of Marines getting picked off by hundreds of 'Aliens', yet
there's still that butterfly in your stomach that guiltfully anticipates each
and every second.
It was absolutly exciting and interesting seeing how these kids react
once they're on the island. Some align, some declare all out war, and a few
refuse to fight. Fukusakus son, whose name escpaes me at the moment wrote the
film, and did a wonderful job at dislaying the fact that these kids are still
kids, despite the heavy situation. These are kids who have crushes on
eachother, not savages.
Not since 'Frequency' have I sat in awe for a whole 90 minutes without
taking my eyes off the screen. Right from the opening music and cool credits
till the very end, 'Battle Royal' delivers and manages to dish out shock
after shock with its 'take no prisoners' style. Though disturbing, the
originality of the 'Battle Royal' concept and the stunning performances by
the youngsters manages to keep you locked into the film wondering just how it
will turn out. I don't want to spoil anything, but if you're expecting a
large group of teens to come out of this alive think again, remember, this
isn't an American movie where there has to be a sunny bright ending. It'll
never happen, but I would only wish for an American version where we get to
see the gruesome WB teen stars or maybe Freddie Prinze Jr. and Kirsten Dundst
battle it out, oh that'd be great.
Anyhow, the director and writer of the film are taking the film to
Cleveland, New York, Toronto, and Oregon next (sorry, no Texas!) so if you
live in these areas I highly recommend that you find it and see it since you
may never get the chance to again. The film is very controversial in Japan
right now, but the director said that our aduience had the response to the
film that'd he'd been looking for since it came out. He didn't mean it to be
taken as serious as a heart attack, and if you watch the film with that in
mind, it shuld be fun. No one asked if the film would ever reach America on
tape or DVD so I hope this is covered in future screenings.
A very unique, original, kick ass, and thought provoking film.
* * * * * out of 5
-JiveGuyWell, it ain't at Sundance... but damn I feel the buzz....
Hi Harry! (Call me Mpyre)
I just got back from the LA screening of "Battle Royale" and I immediately
checked your site for any reviews and I agree with your posting from Jive.
There's other points about the film I'd love to add:
-The version shown was subtitled in English.
-My friends and I were blown away by the rich photography and aggressive
sound. The Egyptian shook from the first scene with the helicopter. It really
changed our view of Japan's film industry and their level of quality.
-Two notable characters, called "transfers" in the flick seemed like
ultra-cool anime characters brought to life.
-This movie SHOULD NOT BE REDONE by Hollywood. The Japanese teenagers are
perfect in their roles. I would cringe if any WB actors did their own
version. It would be like suggesting that Jet Li films should be redone with
Van Damme.
-Battle Royale SHOULD BE distributed in the US ASAP. The buzz during the
viewing was pretty intense. I haven't seen anything as disturbing and fun on
the screen in a long time. This film, if released, will touch a nerve in pop
culture.
-The screenwriter (the director's son) was a huge fan of Star Wars as a kid
and his mark is all over the film--Battle Royale catches all the nuances of
Japanese teenage life from crushes to cruel cliques. My buddy got us passes
to the screening because he grew up with the young screenwriter (about 28-30
years old)
-The director, in a post-screening Q & A, said that the film was what he was
destined to direct.
-Call me a sick-f*ck, but I've always enjoyed cool, audience-wrenching death
scenes in films like Starship Troopers or Scream. Battle Royale seriously
delivers. I've never heard so many audience reaction shouts in a long time.
[Possible Spoiler.......] Three words to remember: Exploding neck collars....
Hope you see this soon, Harry. If you use this, edit it to your delight. My
buddy will be showing the director's son around this weekend untile Sunday
and I'll try to see if he can ask him about the film's future in the US.
Mpyre
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+ Expand All
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The type of tough, challenging movie that should have been made in America in the post-Columbine/reality TV age.
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Nothing realy, just that I'M first for once.... But I really dig the asian violence, so much more ...violent...
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i really want to see this film! i don't know why americans are so goddam sissy when it comes to movies! that stupid ratings systems is ridiculous. everything has to be sugar coated & a bright sunny ending sh*t! it's like most of the films that comes out of hollywood are neutered by the film sensors.
thank god there are other people outside america where they still have guts to make a RAW movie! -
Does anyone have any idea whether this film is gonna be shown in London? As long as they keep it to the arty cinemas there shouldn't be a problem. Especially as the reactionary moral-majority Daily Mail readers are too stupid to watch movies with subtitles.
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I've been following this for a while, ever since the unusual Kubricks showed up on Hobby Link Japan's website. What a phenomenally sick, perverse and yet totally radical idea. But so were Animal Farm, Watership Down and Lord of the Flies.
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C'mon--someone's gotta know. Maybe I'm a sick fuck, but I really want to see this (the trailer is awesome--check it out on the French Premiere site).
A little help, anyone? -
Any one know when this is going to hit Manhattan? I'll definetly drive in to see this. It's been a long time since I've been challenged by a movie.
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when canadians try to pretend they're so much different than americans, when they're really not?
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mmmmm......could be unbearably Tacky.
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yeah, i agree with that canadians really aren't that different...you complain about american censorship, when in canada noted holocaust denier Ernst Zundel is attacked by the government as well as the media and society for his thoughts and writings. I don't agree with Zundel, but at least he could publish his shit in the usa. Hypocritical canucks.
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Couldn't find the French Premiere site link for the trailer, but here's a different link:
http://www.vitshield.com/mp3/br_trailer01.mpg -
...and the director gave a talk before and after the film. He stated that he received a R-15 rating in Japan(Similar to Valenti's NC 17.) but, because of the controversial scenes and the PTA and family groups getting all over him, he joking said that it should have been NC-50 rated; no adults. I can undertsand why because the film is marketed towards the 15-25 year old audience. That's why it broke records in Japan. Fuksaku shot a great opening scene "grabber" which leads into the titles. It was a pretty creative shot and the little girl they got for it was outstanding in her brief, but powerful performance. Though the kids are great actors, especially the two ringers that are thrown into the game, one a good guy with a score to settle, the other a total whack job that joined just for kicks. Beat Takeshi is his usual cool as the teacher who sets the kids up. He has some of the best dark humor dialogue. Overall, I felt that I've seen this movie several times before. Its a cross betwen "Most Dangerous Game", "Deadlock" with Rutger Hauer and Joan Chen, and a really bad movie with Michael Craig, Steve Railsback and Olivia Hussey called, "Escape 2000." Fukasaku, at seventy, looks great and proves he still has it in him as a director. I remember Roger Corman once said, "Directing is a young man's game." and I thought, what does age have to do with telling a story? But, Roger's been wrong before. "Battle Royale" has brilliant photography and story pacing, which was adapted from the book for the screen by his son. Would I want to see this movie again? No. Would I recommend this movie? Yes, but, for a younger audience and older, die hard Beat Takeshi fans.
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Fukasaku also directed The Green Slime, of all things . . .
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I'm gonna play a bit of devil's advocate here, but can someone tell me - why is this film challenging? What merit is there in showing kids blowing each other away? Isn't this what the the majority of 80's action films were - violence for violence sake. Granted, I haven't seen the film, but I really want to. Not to decry it, but to answer these questions. I guess that's the challenge - prove to me that there is a poignant and valid story behind the bloodshed.
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One little thing about the first reviewer's comments threw me off... "not since Frequency"? The ham radio hamfest? Hm.
I think that if you watch the trailer, you can see that this is not supposed to be 110% serious, there is a kind of circusy atmosphere there, dark. I won't translate the whole thing but the final tag is "Hey, have you ever killed one of your own friends?" In the main scene of the trailer, Beat Takeshi's telling them the rules of the game.
I can see how this would become very controversial in Japan, where mainstream society frets and wrings its hands over violence among children. Some kid snaps and attacks his teacher with a knife, or gets bullied too much.
Cool.
J -
The official site is at BATTLE-ROYALE.COM. You'll need a japanese plug-in if you want the pages to display correctly, but its not required to see the trailers or pics. Most of the site is in Japanese of course, but you should still be able to use the english navigation bars to find your way around to some really unsettling pics, great sound, and 2 versions of the trailer. The top version is the theater release (left is realplayer, right is windows media), while the lower is a quick tv spot. Ill try to post a translation later for both the trailers, as well as the dialouge that plays as you open each page of the site.
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Any review containing these words should automatically be discounted. What's next? "Not since the epic struggle of John Carpenter's Vampires..." Yikes.
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What up y'all? The above post stated that Battle Royal was coming to Cleveland. Given that I am filming a documentary about Japanese film and how it's content relates to it's makers and audience, I'm willing to eat, smoke, sleep with or admit to anything in order to see this flick when it comes to ohio. Any help or further info would be infinitely appreciated.
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I hate it when people dont get movies! Frequency was one of the most tense & thrilling movies i have ever seen.
I was glued to the screen, because every second of the movie was interesting and the story could have spanned into a million directions.
An excellent movie! Get the DVD with the deleted scenes:)
Nyrone (uk) -
Are you perhaps thinking of another film/book? I don't recall anything about Watership Down that would lead one to include it in a list of "phenomenally sick, perverse and yet totally radical" films or books. For that matter, I don't think Animal Farm really fits that description either.
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"Watership Down" was a parable relating to World War II, "Animal Farm" the Russian revolution and "Lord Of the Flies" anarchy without supervision. Pablolobo, check out the three movies I mentioned on my above post. They are closer to what "Battle Royale" is about.
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Yes, I know the US is going through a political problemo with in movies, but this sounds pretty dang creative, and would make a great double bill with SERIES 7. And yes...FREQUENCY was awesome!
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It'll be showing up here in Orygun! Yay! I am there.
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