Suicide Club (known in Japan as Suicide Circle) begins with the grisly spectacle of 54 Japanese schoolgirls jumping in unison into the path of an oncoming train. This is only the first in a wave of mass suicides that sweeps across Japan, baffling the police and panicking the populace. Rumour has it that writer/director Shion Sono created Suicide Club after the real-life suicide of a close friend. Perhaps this is why the suicides depicted in the movie, while nasty, are treated with seriousness, something of a miracle given the absurdity of having large number of people kill themselves for no apparent reason and with little warning. The film suggests numerous possible explanations for the deaths. Are certain web sites responsible? What about the surrealistic Lynch-inspired sequence involving a cross dressing Manson wannabe and his cadre of psycho goths? Are the songs and videos of an all-girl J-Pop group delivering subliminal messages? Who knows. Suicide Club is spectacularly surreal and is wide open to interpretation. The film is an odd blend of mystery, social commentary, experimental freak-out, and all-out horror. And while the blend doesn't always work, it works well enough.
Jesse Gumbarge is editor and chief blogger at JarvisCity.com - He loves old-school horror films and starting pointless debates. You can reach out at: JesseGumbarge@JarvisCity.com
