Tag (5 Stars)

"Life is surreal".

Yes, life is surreal, especially when you're a Japanese schoolgirl. You have to watch your classmates being slaughtered by the teachers with machine guns in front of your eyes. When you grow up you marry a pig while your friends laugh at you and call you a slut, making you so angry that you have to kill them. And all the time you have the feeling of deja vu, you've done it all before.

The film was directed by Sion Sono, who I consider to be the world's greatest living director. Whether you love him or hate him you have to admit that he pushes the boundaries of film making. The plots are never straight forward. You watch his films and you expect to be amazed. So often in his films a story starts quietly, but escalates to levels of insanity.

In my previous reviews I've carefully avoided giving spoilers of this wonderful film, since I doubt many of my readers have seen it yet. It's based on the science fiction novel "Riaru Onigokko" ("Running World") by Yusuke Yamada, which is also the film's original title in Japanese. Saying it's a science fiction film is a spoiler in itself, because that isn't apparent until the end of the film. If I tell you that the film has similarities with "The Truman Show" and "Dark City" I've already given you big clues to solve the film's mystery.

This is one of the best films I've ever seen. I would put it in my top five, at least. It's brilliant. I didn't intend to watch it today, but I was talking to a friend about it and couldn't resist the temptation. I could watch it every day and never get bored.