Kinji Fukasaku's last film was a production worthy of his lifetime achievements in the field, since “Battle Royale” caused much controversy; it was banned outright or deliberately excluded from distribution in several countries, but at the same time, it also influenced a great number of movies and many filmmakers, including Quentin Tarantino and “The Hunger Games”.
on Amazon by clicking on the image below
At the beginning of the new millennium, unemployment has reached 15 percent, with 10 million people left without a job, while school violence has reached unprecedented levels. In order to control the youth, the desperate government votes in the ‘Battle Royale' law, which states that each year, students from a randomly chosen class will be transferred to a secluded island where they will have to fight to the death, to the last person standing.
The story, which is based upon the homonymous novel by Takami Koushun,...
on Amazon by clicking on the image below
At the beginning of the new millennium, unemployment has reached 15 percent, with 10 million people left without a job, while school violence has reached unprecedented levels. In order to control the youth, the desperate government votes in the ‘Battle Royale' law, which states that each year, students from a randomly chosen class will be transferred to a secluded island where they will have to fight to the death, to the last person standing.
The story, which is based upon the homonymous novel by Takami Koushun,...
- 2/27/2024
- by Panos Kotzathanasis
- AsianMoviePulse
Battle Royale Review — Battle Royale (2000) Film Review, a movie directed by Kinji Fukasaku, and starring Takeshi Kitano, Tatsaya Fujiwara, Aki Maeda, Taro Yamamoto, Chiaki Kuriyama, Takashi Tsukamoto, and Sôsuke Takaoka. More than two decades have passed since this controversial yet seminal dystopian film was first released in Japan. The film sticks fairly close to [...]
Continue reading: Film Review: Battle Royale (2000): A Vintage Tale for Modern Times and Sensibilities...
Continue reading: Film Review: Battle Royale (2000): A Vintage Tale for Modern Times and Sensibilities...
- 5/11/2022
- by David McDonald
- Film-Book
During his long career as a filmmaker, Kinji Fuksaku shot many classics, including the “Battles Without Honor and Humanity”-features, “Street Mobster” and “Graveyard of Honor”, to name but a few examples. However, especially in the Western world, all of these were outshone by “Battle Royale”, his last full effort as a director – a feature whose influence can be felt even today with directors such as Quentin Tarantino calling it his favorite film or film-series such as “The Hunger Games” being more or less modeled after Fukasaku’s original. While there is no denying the film has its iconic moments, with some of them having become parts of popular culture in their own right, it is maybe at its most controversial when being regarded as a political parable, a reading even the director himself seems to have supported if his last interviews are any indicator. However, despite the success of...
- 4/24/2022
- by Rouven Linnarz
- AsianMoviePulse
One cannot question the legacy of Kenji Fukasaku. Although internationally most known for his Yakuza films, he is one of those filmmakers who can not be placed into a particular preferred genre. In this way he is a precursor to modern directors with widely ranged filmography, e.g, Sono and Miike. His 2000 release, a controversial adaptation of an equally controversial novel by Koushun Takami, has become a cult classic and is considered one of his late masterpieces. In multiple later films, literature and most frequently in the gaming industry, “Battle Royale” is a major influence.
In the near future, a devastating recession turns Japan into a turbulent nation. As a large number of adults become unemployed, juvenile delinquency reaches its peak. A frustrated authoritarian government passes the Br Act to curb the youth. Through the act, a random class is taken away to an uninhabited island, where...
In the near future, a devastating recession turns Japan into a turbulent nation. As a large number of adults become unemployed, juvenile delinquency reaches its peak. A frustrated authoritarian government passes the Br Act to curb the youth. Through the act, a random class is taken away to an uninhabited island, where...
- 11/20/2020
- by Raktim Nandi
- AsianMoviePulse
by Nick Schager
[This week's "Retro Active" pick is inspired by the battle royale within the new franchise du jour The Hunger Games.]
Generational conflict takes on gory dimensions in Battle Royale, Kinji Fukasaku's 2000 cult classic about a dystopian future where unruly kids are dealt with via death sport. Released to widespread controversy in its native Japan—and never given a proper American theatrical release, in part because of post-Columbine fears about its focus on murderous kids—Fukasaku's sci-fi actioner sets itself in a Japan overrun by unemployment and teen delinquency, a problem that the government combats by holding lotteries in which a random middle school class is selected to participate in a fight to the death. That's the unfortunate fate handed to Shuya (Tatsuya Fujiwara), Noriko (Aki Maeda) and the rest of their classmates, who—believing they're on a school trip—are secretly drugged, awakening to find that their substitute teacher Kitano (a menacingly placid Takeshi Kitano) is in fact a government agent overseeing their participation in Battle Royale,...
[This week's "Retro Active" pick is inspired by the battle royale within the new franchise du jour The Hunger Games.]
Generational conflict takes on gory dimensions in Battle Royale, Kinji Fukasaku's 2000 cult classic about a dystopian future where unruly kids are dealt with via death sport. Released to widespread controversy in its native Japan—and never given a proper American theatrical release, in part because of post-Columbine fears about its focus on murderous kids—Fukasaku's sci-fi actioner sets itself in a Japan overrun by unemployment and teen delinquency, a problem that the government combats by holding lotteries in which a random middle school class is selected to participate in a fight to the death. That's the unfortunate fate handed to Shuya (Tatsuya Fujiwara), Noriko (Aki Maeda) and the rest of their classmates, who—believing they're on a school trip—are secretly drugged, awakening to find that their substitute teacher Kitano (a menacingly placid Takeshi Kitano) is in fact a government agent overseeing their participation in Battle Royale,...
- 3/23/2012
- GreenCine Daily
A four-disc set aimed at those already fans of Battle Royale despite this being the first time it’s released in the Us, the release comes with perfect timing, now that the much anticipated The Hunger Games movie is about to open (I’ve already written about the similarities of the two films and source novels extensively here). It contains the original version, the extended “director’s cut,” the sequel, and a bonus disc.
The basic premise of this cult hit should be familiar to everyone by now: an entire 9th grade class is kidnapped by the government and forced to kill each other until only one student remains. Pretty straightforward, really. As with any heinous premises, the film follows a pacifist character who initially refuses to participate. In this case it’s Shuya (Death Note star Tatsuya Fujiwara in his breakout role), a boy who just wants the killings to stop,...
The basic premise of this cult hit should be familiar to everyone by now: an entire 9th grade class is kidnapped by the government and forced to kill each other until only one student remains. Pretty straightforward, really. As with any heinous premises, the film follows a pacifist character who initially refuses to participate. In this case it’s Shuya (Death Note star Tatsuya Fujiwara in his breakout role), a boy who just wants the killings to stop,...
- 3/22/2012
- by Arya Ponto
- JustPressPlay.net
Battle Royale Contest Giveaway Sweepstakes. This Battle Royale Blu-ray contest, giveaway, sweepstakes illustrates Battle Royale‘s release on DVD and Blu-ray on March 20, 2012. Kinji Fukasaku‘s Battle Royale stars Takeshi Kitano, Chiaki Kuriyama, Tatsuya Fujiwara, Aki Maeda, and Tarô Yamamoto. Battle Royale‘s plot synopsis: Based on the 1999 global best-seller by Koushun Takami, “In the near future, the economy has collapsed, [...]
Continue reading: Contest: Battle Royale (2000) Blu-ray & DVD: Kinji Fukasaku...
Continue reading: Contest: Battle Royale (2000) Blu-ray & DVD: Kinji Fukasaku...
- 3/20/2012
- by R.W.
- Film-Book
Battle Royale / Batoru Rowaiaru The Complete Collection Trailer. Kinji Fukasaku‘s Battle Royale / Batoru Rowaiaru (2000) The Complete Collection Blu-ray / DVD trailer stars Takeshi Kitano, Chiaki Kuriyama, Tatsuya Fujiwara, Aki Maeda, and Tarô Yamamoto. Battle Royale‘s plot synopsis: Based on the 1999 global best-seller by Koushun Takami, “In the near future, the economy has collapsed, unemployment has soared and juvenile crime has exploded. Fearful of their nation’s youth, the Japanese government passes The Br Law: Each year, a 9th grade class is sent to a remote island where they will be locked into exploding neck collars, given a random weapon, and forced to hunt and kill each other until there is only one survivor left.”
This movie is sensational. I have seen Battle Royale multiple times. I have not seen the Director’s Cut though. I have given this film to people as Christmas presents. If only we weren’t...
This movie is sensational. I have seen Battle Royale multiple times. I have not seen the Director’s Cut though. I have given this film to people as Christmas presents. If only we weren’t...
- 1/13/2012
- by filmbook
- Film-Book
Battle Royale aka Batoru rowaiaru often referred to an Asian treasure in the forums and has received great reviews from our community members: "A brilliant, disturbing film" by our very own Ossuary member SunlightGardener and "I love this movie--one of the most fun of the Asian movies I've seen" by Pumpboy The film is about a group of students that are selected to fight the Battle Royale. They are taken to an island, given survival bags, and told they have three days to murder every other student to become the winner. Battle Royale is directed by Kinji Fukasaku and stars Tatsuya Fujiwara, Aki Maeda and Tarô Yamamoto...
- 1/10/2012
- Best-Horror-Movies.com
Last month it was announced that Kinji Fukasaku's seminal horror/survival flick 'Battle Royale' (Aka 'Batoru rowaiaru') was getting the 3D treatment and prepping itself for a re-release into theatres this month across Japan. And the hunger for the ragtag bunch of school kids pitted against each other on the bloody island is still a keen experience for Us movie fans too as Anchor Bay have just acquired the North American distribution rights to 'Battle Royale 3D' and the sequel. It starred Tatsuya Fujiwara, Aki Maeda, Taro Yamamoto, Chiaki Kuriyama, Sosuke Takaoka, Takashi Tsukamoto, Yukihiro Kotani, Eri Ishikawa, Sayaka Kamiya and Aki Inoue. No word on whether it'll get a theatrical release stateside as yet....
- 11/11/2010
- Horror Asylum
Two days of nonstop teen vs. teen mayhem referenced by onscreen graphics that identify the three dozen-plus young corpses that pile up with the goal of only one combatant surviving, Japanese director Kinji Fukasaku's 60th film, "Battle Royale", has proved so controversial that media watchdogs in Japan have harshly criticized its brutality. The film received an R-15 rating, which prohibits viewers age 15 and under. The Japanese rating system, like the American one, is voluntary. Business has been brisk since its mid-December opening.
Before the U.S. premiere of "Battle" at the Egyptian Theatre in Hollywood on Thursday night, Fukasaku joked that his rating for the film would be "R-50", with viewers over the age of 50 denied admittance. Along with his son Kenta, who wrote the screenplay based on a 1998 novel by Koshun Takami, Fukasaku attended this sold-out opener to the American Cinematheque's 15-film retrospective of his work. Given the controversy elsewhere, the reaction afterward was positively tame.
During the movie, however, there was wave after wave of boisterous laughter during some of the most grisly action, and many showstopping moments by star "Beat" Takeshi Kitano got a big rise from fans. While some kind of domestic distribution makes sense, "Battle" is not likely to repeat its boxoffice success in Asia so far. Still, there is a following for Fukasaku (whose works include co-directing the Japanese segments of "Tora! Tora! Tora!" and extreme cult favorites like 1973's "Battles Without Honor and Humanity"), and "Battle" should have a lively ancillary career.
Alas, one does not confuse "Battle" with other difficult-to-watch films that it fleetingly reminds one of -- serious works of divergent cinema that many despise and others claim are masterpieces of the movie industry's darkest impulses, including "THX 1138", "A Clockwork Orange" and "Natural Born Killers". For comparison, one also could throw in a few clunkers such as "Quintet" and "No Escape" because Fukasaku's graphic sci-fi fable fleetingly indulges in convincing character development to go with its bleak assessment of humanity.
The story concerns a group of 42 ninth-grade students who are taken by the their teacher and a few trigger-happy soldiers to a small jungle island. Each is given a pack with supplies and weapons, running off into the night to be victim or killer. The near future, it seems, is not going well, with students by the hundreds of thousands revolting against elders in an economic depression. Like such genre nuggets as "Soylent Green" and "Silent Running", the leap from a hard-line fascistic government with a nasty attitude to some grand spectacle like the wholesale slaughter of girls and boys in their school outfits with various weapons is none too convincing. Certainly, some kids don't accept it and invariably fail to survive.
Leading the operation in another of his trademark off-kilter characterizations is renowned actor-director "Beat" Takeshi. His stone-faced character uncreatively is called Kitano and morphs from harried teacher to scout leader from hell. In one long, viciously executed sequence -- further enlivened by a jokey instructional video -- Kitano briefs the assembled, terrified students, all of whom have explosive neck collars that track their whereabouts and can deliver harsh punishments for straying into constantly shifting "danger zones" on the island.
With the help of a public address system, Kitano gives the rapidly dying-off lineup of students regular updates as to who is left, while the screenplay works in most of the onscreen violence that includes many deaths by firearms and hasty exits via poison, knives, hatchets, jumping off cliffs, crossbows and, as a warm-up, fatal head wounds when the collar is detonated. Once the battle has officially started, several bewildered participants are quickly dispatched in the struggle to get good weapons.
Many of the students, including Shuya (Tatsuya Fujiwara) and his girlfriend, Noriko (Aki Maeda), are given trick weapons, which help the them survive at crucial moments. Of the remaining major characters -- keeping in mind that the Fukasakus over and over try pretty hard to make one care about, say, five surviving girls in a lighthouse who blow each other to bits with guns -- a veteran of a previous Battle Royale, Kawada (Taro Yamamoto), rates as a good guy. Wild-haired loner Kiriyama (Masanobu Ando) is the most formidable player as he shoots a lot of bullets and takes no prisoners.
A special mention goes to witchy, throat-cutting Mitsuko (Kou Shibasaki), who makes it to the final 10, and athlete Chigusa (Chiaki Kuriyama), whose butchering of a sappy boy who loves her represents arguably the film's harshest moment. Of course, a chief attraction to theatrical audiences is to have loads of laughs over the black comedy aspects and not take it too seriously. The audience at the Egyptian was very accommodating.
Opting for a disappointing happy ending, the film has no special agenda beyond the Fukasakus' reliance on intense feelings of gloom and despair to imagine a cartoonish rite of passage that is briefly softened with several comfy flashbacks. Technical credits are tops. The spraying blood and many shredding bodies in the action sequences easily out-gross the last dozen or so Hollywood slasher movies.
BATTLE ROYALE
Toei Co.
Director: Kinji Fukasaku
Screenwriter: Kenta Fukasaku
Based on the novel by: Koshun Takano
Producers: Masao Sato, Masumi Okada, Teruo Kamaya, Tetsu Kayama
Executive producer: Ikuro Takano
Director of photography: Katsumi Yanagijima
Production designer: Kyoko Heya
Music: Masamichi Amano
Color/stereo
Cast:
Shuya: Tatsuya Fujiwara
Noriko: Aki Maeda
Kawada: Taro Yamamoto
Kiriyama: Masanobu Ando
Mitsuko: Kou Shibasaki
Chigusa: Chiaki Kuriyama
Kitano: "Beat" Takeshi Kitano
Running time -- 113 minutes
No MPAA rating...
Before the U.S. premiere of "Battle" at the Egyptian Theatre in Hollywood on Thursday night, Fukasaku joked that his rating for the film would be "R-50", with viewers over the age of 50 denied admittance. Along with his son Kenta, who wrote the screenplay based on a 1998 novel by Koshun Takami, Fukasaku attended this sold-out opener to the American Cinematheque's 15-film retrospective of his work. Given the controversy elsewhere, the reaction afterward was positively tame.
During the movie, however, there was wave after wave of boisterous laughter during some of the most grisly action, and many showstopping moments by star "Beat" Takeshi Kitano got a big rise from fans. While some kind of domestic distribution makes sense, "Battle" is not likely to repeat its boxoffice success in Asia so far. Still, there is a following for Fukasaku (whose works include co-directing the Japanese segments of "Tora! Tora! Tora!" and extreme cult favorites like 1973's "Battles Without Honor and Humanity"), and "Battle" should have a lively ancillary career.
Alas, one does not confuse "Battle" with other difficult-to-watch films that it fleetingly reminds one of -- serious works of divergent cinema that many despise and others claim are masterpieces of the movie industry's darkest impulses, including "THX 1138", "A Clockwork Orange" and "Natural Born Killers". For comparison, one also could throw in a few clunkers such as "Quintet" and "No Escape" because Fukasaku's graphic sci-fi fable fleetingly indulges in convincing character development to go with its bleak assessment of humanity.
The story concerns a group of 42 ninth-grade students who are taken by the their teacher and a few trigger-happy soldiers to a small jungle island. Each is given a pack with supplies and weapons, running off into the night to be victim or killer. The near future, it seems, is not going well, with students by the hundreds of thousands revolting against elders in an economic depression. Like such genre nuggets as "Soylent Green" and "Silent Running", the leap from a hard-line fascistic government with a nasty attitude to some grand spectacle like the wholesale slaughter of girls and boys in their school outfits with various weapons is none too convincing. Certainly, some kids don't accept it and invariably fail to survive.
Leading the operation in another of his trademark off-kilter characterizations is renowned actor-director "Beat" Takeshi. His stone-faced character uncreatively is called Kitano and morphs from harried teacher to scout leader from hell. In one long, viciously executed sequence -- further enlivened by a jokey instructional video -- Kitano briefs the assembled, terrified students, all of whom have explosive neck collars that track their whereabouts and can deliver harsh punishments for straying into constantly shifting "danger zones" on the island.
With the help of a public address system, Kitano gives the rapidly dying-off lineup of students regular updates as to who is left, while the screenplay works in most of the onscreen violence that includes many deaths by firearms and hasty exits via poison, knives, hatchets, jumping off cliffs, crossbows and, as a warm-up, fatal head wounds when the collar is detonated. Once the battle has officially started, several bewildered participants are quickly dispatched in the struggle to get good weapons.
Many of the students, including Shuya (Tatsuya Fujiwara) and his girlfriend, Noriko (Aki Maeda), are given trick weapons, which help the them survive at crucial moments. Of the remaining major characters -- keeping in mind that the Fukasakus over and over try pretty hard to make one care about, say, five surviving girls in a lighthouse who blow each other to bits with guns -- a veteran of a previous Battle Royale, Kawada (Taro Yamamoto), rates as a good guy. Wild-haired loner Kiriyama (Masanobu Ando) is the most formidable player as he shoots a lot of bullets and takes no prisoners.
A special mention goes to witchy, throat-cutting Mitsuko (Kou Shibasaki), who makes it to the final 10, and athlete Chigusa (Chiaki Kuriyama), whose butchering of a sappy boy who loves her represents arguably the film's harshest moment. Of course, a chief attraction to theatrical audiences is to have loads of laughs over the black comedy aspects and not take it too seriously. The audience at the Egyptian was very accommodating.
Opting for a disappointing happy ending, the film has no special agenda beyond the Fukasakus' reliance on intense feelings of gloom and despair to imagine a cartoonish rite of passage that is briefly softened with several comfy flashbacks. Technical credits are tops. The spraying blood and many shredding bodies in the action sequences easily out-gross the last dozen or so Hollywood slasher movies.
BATTLE ROYALE
Toei Co.
Director: Kinji Fukasaku
Screenwriter: Kenta Fukasaku
Based on the novel by: Koshun Takano
Producers: Masao Sato, Masumi Okada, Teruo Kamaya, Tetsu Kayama
Executive producer: Ikuro Takano
Director of photography: Katsumi Yanagijima
Production designer: Kyoko Heya
Music: Masamichi Amano
Color/stereo
Cast:
Shuya: Tatsuya Fujiwara
Noriko: Aki Maeda
Kawada: Taro Yamamoto
Kiriyama: Masanobu Ando
Mitsuko: Kou Shibasaki
Chigusa: Chiaki Kuriyama
Kitano: "Beat" Takeshi Kitano
Running time -- 113 minutes
No MPAA rating...
- 1/22/2001
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
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