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I'm pretty excited about next week's release of Casino Royale - which, by all accounts, successfully returns Bond to the early Fleming/Connery mold.
This week, however, I'm hung up on a different film Royale.
Anyone ever see the Japanese cult film Battle Royale? I finally got around to renting it this week, and now I can't seem to get it out of my mind.
The premise is weird enough, but you add in typical Nipponese sensibilities, and you have one bizarro bit of filmmaking.
A Japanese middle school class is kidnapped by a disgruntled former teacher and some quasi-military outfit to participate in a sadistic survival test on a deserted Pacific island.
The kids are all fitted with permanent metal collars, loaded with GPS locators, pulse monitors, microphones ... and an explosive devise. They are given a backpack with a map of the island, a flashlight, some bread and water, and a single, random weapon which could be anything from an AK-47 to an axe to a slingshot.
They have to kill each other off, leaving only one man standing, within three days - or all the collar-bombs will go off. They must keep moving - - every hour, one of the "zones" the island is divided up into is declared a Danger Zone ... and anyone located there will have their head explode.
Every four hours, there is an announcement over the Islandwide P.A. system listing the four upcoming Danger Zones and the identities of those killed in the preceding period.
In addition to the school kids, two other "ringers" are involved in the game - older boys, high school or college age - one of whom turns out to be a good guy who helps our heros, and the other a homocidal maniac.
The kids are released one-at-a-time to the wilds of the island, and from there it's a gory Lord of the Flies sociological experiment - - Japanese style.
Pathos, horror, humor, oddballness, and lots of blood - but done in a vaguely comical style. Why are the Nipponese so weird????
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