• バトル・ロワイアル (Battle Royale)

11/19/23 (Sun)

Fukasaku Kinji’s 2000 cult classic about kidnapped high schoolers with a mission to kill is like a manga on speed. Fukasaku is best known for Battles Without Honor and Humanity, where the violence is grounded in reality of a sort. He abandons any semblance of reality here to give us a head-spinning series of murders, suicides and humiliations as the plot itself – the violence is the film’s entire reason for being.

That said, he manages to create unique and sympathetic characters who, despite the ridiculous plot, largely feel real within the world they’re given. Not much point in delving too deeply into the story, which has the teacher take his kids forcibly to a deserted island and command them to start killing each other. Only the last man standing will be allowed to leave the island and return to real life. That sparks varying though equally intense reactions among the kids: some commit suicide rather than kill a fellow human being, others are happy to off their best friends to ensure their own survival, others try to hide and avoid dealing with the situation altogether. Regardless of their disgust for the idea of killing and their feelings for their friends, the survival instinct proves strong. The two main characters, played by Fujiwara Tatsuya and Maeda Aki, are helped by a war-tested renegade who has survived an earlier game (Yamamoto Taro).

There are a few parodic touches, like the peppy instructional video that basically wishes them a happy murder spree, but overall the tone attempts to be deadly (literally) serious, at least as much as a comic strip will allow. (It’s based on a novel, but the approach is closer to a cartoon, as when Kitano is shot at close range, lies briefly, then rises to make a phone call before dying.) That is actually the right approach with this material, since anything too realistic would only highlight its artificiality. Best to go with the flow and outdo the material in its outrageousness. The final section seems to be aiming for something more profound in presenting suggestive dreams by three characters, but that felt unnecessary (and was apparently not part of the film’s original release).

The acting isn’t the strong point. Kitano Takeshi is the standout as the teacher in a laidback performance that barely felt like acting. The character, also named Kitano, felt tailored for him, but I suspect he just ignored everything and did his usual shtick, which was perfect. Even when he casually throws a knife into someone’s skull or blows another’s head off, he never skips a beat. (Apparently the director told him just to be himself.) Yamamoto was also memorable as the brooding and cynical survivor of an earlier game, speaking a rougher dialect than the Tokyoites who he’s thrown in with, and Shibasaki Ko was intense as a girl who seems to be killing for the enjoyment rather than the necessity. Otherwise, the acting is as good as it needs to be, other than brief relapses into overkill like the girl who eats the poisoned curry.

The film is impressively consistent in pursuing its brutal vision. While I don’t see the point of it at all, it’s certainly well made and gets points for stopping to round out its characters in numerous cases. I can see why Tarantino reveres it.