The Suicide Club begins well with quite definitely the most extreme opening sequence of any film I ever saw. Fifty four schoolgirls line up on the platform of a subway station, and as a jolly tune plays, they join hands, count to three then throw themselves into the path of an oncoming train, which then races through the station spewing a veritable tsunami of blood over platform and commuters alike.
Opening aside, this is very much a movie of two halves. The first half, featuring more graphic and inexplicable suicides and following the course of several detectives investigating them is excellent. Somewhere past the half way point the narrative breaks down in favour of general weirdness and pseudometaphysical claptrap. There is a brilliant and truly surreal appearance by a sadistic glam rock artiste but the character is underused in one of many bizarre scenes that seem to have little real relevance to the story.
On the whole this is a film well worth seeing, particularly if you liked Battle Royale, Audition or Ringu, just don't expect any sense of closure or conclusion.
Opening aside, this is very much a movie of two halves. The first half, featuring more graphic and inexplicable suicides and following the course of several detectives investigating them is excellent. Somewhere past the half way point the narrative breaks down in favour of general weirdness and pseudometaphysical claptrap. There is a brilliant and truly surreal appearance by a sadistic glam rock artiste but the character is underused in one of many bizarre scenes that seem to have little real relevance to the story.
On the whole this is a film well worth seeing, particularly if you liked Battle Royale, Audition or Ringu, just don't expect any sense of closure or conclusion.