Suicide Club (5 Stars)

Although Sion Sono had been making films for 15 years, it wasn't until he directed "Suicide Club" in 2001 that he became famous. I can't comment on his earlier films because none of them are available in English, but I can tell you that his films made since 2001 have established him as Japan's greatest director. That's my opinion, and I welcome anyone who thinks otherwise to try to change my mind.

What gained the attention of film fans and film critics alike was the opening scene, in which a group of happy, giggling Japanese schoolgirls link hands and jump in front of a train. 54 of them. The scene is so surreal that the viewer has to blink and ask himself if it's really happening. There are no suicide notes, no explanations. All that is left behind by one of the girls is a sports bag containing 200 strips of skin, each four inches long, sewn together and wrapped into a roll. The skin has been taken from the bodies of 200 different people. Investigation shows that the schoolgirls had each had a strip of skin removed, but there were only 54 of them, so who did the other 146 strips belong to? The same evening two nurses on night duty in a hospital jump out of a window, and one of them leaves behind a bag with another 200 strips of skin. Over the next few days there are repeated suicides all over Tokio. Some seem to be copycats, while others are part of a larger plan. The police don't know whether to treat the deaths as suicide or murder.

The film's style is a disturbing cross between David Lynch and Stanley Kubrick. The images are both shocking and fascinating at the same time. This is a masterpiece.