Battle Royale (film)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Battle Royale | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Directed by | Kinji Fukasaku |
| Produced by | Kenta Fukasaku Kinji Fukasaku Kimio Kataoka Chie Kobayashi Toshio Nabeshima |
| Written by | Novel: Koushun Takami Screenplay: Kenta Fukasaku |
| Starring | Tatsuya Fujiwara Aki Maeda Taro Yamamoto Takeshi Kitano Masanobu Ando |
| Music by | Masamichi Amano |
| Cinematography | Katsumi Yanagishima |
| Editing by | Hirohide Abe |
| Distributed by | Toei |
| Release date(s) |  December 16, 2000 |
| Running time | Theatrical Cut: 114 min. Director's Cut: 122 min. |
| Country | Japan |
| Language | Japanese |
| Budget | $4,500,000 (estimated) |
| Followed by | Battle Royale II: Requiem |
| All Movie Guide profile | |
| IMDb profile | |
Battle Royale (バトル・ロワイアル Batoru rowaiaru?) is a film released on December 16, 2000, in Japan — based on the novel of the same name — released on April 22, 1999, in Japan. The film was directed by Kinji Fukasaku, and stars Takeshi Kitano and Chiaki Kuriyama. Like the novel on which it is based, it aroused much controversy.
A sequel, Battle Royale II: Requiem, followed. The music soundtrack for both movies were composed, arranged and conducted by Masamichi Amano, performed by the Warsaw Philharmonic Orchestra and features pieces of real classical music with some original composition.
Fukasaku has stated that the novel reminded him of his time as a 15-year old munitions factory worker, so he decided to create the film adaptation.[1]
Contents |
[edit] Plot
The plot of the film is fairly faithful to that of the novel, with a few key differences. The prologue is as follows:
- "At the dawn of the millennium, the nation collapsed. At fifteen percent unemployment, ten million were out of work. 800,000 students boycotted the school. The adults lost confidence, and fearing the youth, eventually passed the Millennium Educational Reform Act AKA: The BR Act..."
(It should be noted that for a Japanese audience, even in the late 1990s, after decades of very low unemployment and usually life-long work with a single company, a 15% unemployment rate would have called to mind a collapsed society)
The film centers around Shuya Nanahara (Tatsuya Fujiwara), a charismatic young boy. After his mother abandons him and his father commits suicide, he becomes disillusioned with life. The rest of his classmates are similarly disillusioned, and have little respect for authority. Shuya's best friend, Yoshitoki "Nobu" Kuninobu (Yukihiro Kotani), attacks their teacher Kitano (Takeshi Kitano), but runs away before he can be identified. Noriko Nakagawa (Aki Maeda), a sweet, reserved young girl who happens to witness the incident, hides the knife that Nobu has just attacked Kitano with. Kitano, frustrated, resigns.
The next year, as the students are nearing the end of their compulsory education, they embark on a class trip. However, the entire class is gassed, kidnapped, and taken to an isolated island, and fitted with metallic collars. Once there, the students are shocked to find that they are inside an abandoned school, and that Kitano (along with the government) is behind the entire operation. Kitano informs them that, due to their juvenile delinquency, they have been selected as participants in Battle Royale, a game where the students must kill each other until only one is left. If, after three days, a winner is not declared, everyone dies (by way of the explosive collars attached to each student's neck). (These instructions were delivered by a cute, smiling, chibi-like girl via a video, who behaves like a kindergarten teacher and refers to herself as their "big sister". This is one of the film's black humor.) To prove he means business, Kitano detonates Nobu's collar, killing him. One by one, each student leaves the school, having been provided with survival packs and a random weapon. Then the game begins.
Some students refuse to play the game. Shuya, grieving over Nobu's death, decides to take it upon himself to protect Noriko, Nobu's crush. The pair eventually team up with Shogo Kawada (Taro Yamamoto), a seasoned warrior with an agenda (he reveals that he is out to avenge the death of his girlfriend, who died in a previous game). Elsewhere, class president Yukie Utsumi (Eri Ishikawa) gathers up a group of girls and decides to hide in an abandoned lighthouse, while junior revolutionary Shinji Mimura (Takashi Tsukamoto) gathers his friends and plans to blow up the school (along with Kitano), thereby liberating the students.
However, some students are all too willing to play the game. They include a mute boy named Kazuo Kiriyama (Masanobu Ando), who has signed up for fun and kills without remorse, and a troubled femme fatale named Mitsuko Souma (Kou Shibasaki) who has taken it upon herself to win the game, using everything she has at her disposal, especially her sexuality.
Still other students accept their fate. While some commit suicide, a student named Hiroki Sugimura (Sousuke Takaoka) decides to make the best of his final hours, and seeks out his best friend, Takako Chigusa (Chiaki Kuriyama), and the girl he loves, Kayoko Kotohiki (Takayo Mimura).
One by one, each of the students die, until only Shuya, Noriko, and Kawada are left. Kawada reveals that he knows how to disable the collars, and fakes Shuya's and Noriko's deaths. Declared the winner, Kawada treks to the school. Kitano has since declared the operation a success, and is the only one there. Kawada confronts Kitano, and is soon joined by Shuya and Noriko. Kitano reveals that he has an unhealthy obsession with Noriko, and begs for her to kill him (as he is extremely unhappy, having been rejected by his family). Noriko refuses, but when Kitano raises a gun, Shuya shoots Kitano. Dying from his wounds, Kitano engages in a final, bitter conversation with his daughter over the phone, and then passes on.
The trio escapes the island on a boat, but Kawada succumbs to his wounds and dies. Shuya and Noriko make it to land, where they become fugitives wanted for murder. Together, they go on the run.
[edit] Cast
For a complete list of characters see List of characters in Battle Royale
[edit] Production
 |
Please help improve this article by expanding this section. Further information might be found on the talk page or at requests for expansion. Please remove this message once the section has been expanded. This article has been tagged since January 2007. |
Most of the film was shot on Toei's soundstages or in nearby Tokyo. The island itself was Hachijo-Kojima, one of the Izu islands.[2]
[edit] Differences between the original book and the film
Differences between the original book include:
- The program administrator's name and personality are varied.
- Kazuo Kiriyama is a transfer student in the film (playing voluntarily), whereas in the novel he was a member of the class. He also occasionally smiles sadistically, which his novel and manga counterparts are incapable of.
- Various students start with different weapons and die in different manners.
- The 'victory' deadline is changed from the book; in the film, the students are given three days to win, while in the book, the only deadline is that at least one student be killed every twenty-four hours.
- In the film, the "police state" overtones are toned down (but are still noticeably present), while the idea of a major social and economic upheaval being the cause of the story's events is introduced.
- The teacher develops an obsession with Noriko, a subplot absent from the novel.
- The school uniforms featured in the film are different than the ones featured in the novel.
- In the book Kazuo is possibly killed by Noriko after a large shootout and car chase, while in the film Shogo Kawada kills Kazuo
- There is a reference to the novel in the movie; Shinji Mimura's hacking software carries the icon of a super-deformed (chibi) basketball player, and it is called "The Third Man Software". In the novel, Shinji's nickname is "The Third Man" due to his position on the school basketball team.
- The BR logo is never seen in the book.
[edit] Distribution
[edit] Status of distribution in North America
Despite rumors to the contrary, the film is not banned within the USA as such a ban would be illegal under the first amendment to the United States Constitution. Rather, there has never been a distribution agreement for the film, due to its controversial nature and reportedly unreasonable distribution terms specified by Toei (specifically the price of distribution being somewhere between 1-2 million dollars and that it must be a wide release on the order of Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon). This, incidentally is not the first of Toei's controversial moves in regards to its properties and the Western market. These two stipulations put it outside of the range of most smaller movie distributors, and the larger distributors would not handle the film. Therefore, technically the film is not banned, but neither does a local distributor for it exist. It has been exhibited at film festivals in North America. Nonetheless, 'bootleg' copies of the film imported from China and Hong Kong have widespread availability on the continent, and a 'Special Edition DVD' of the film was carried to a limited extent by retailers such as HMV in Canada and Tower Records in the United States; the legal status of this edition is not clear. Also, the film's UK distributor, Tartan Films, has released an all-region NTSC DVD version of the film that is available in North America from specialty outlets. One widely available Hong Kong import is a special edition without English subtitles that contains both Battle Royale and its sequel.
Battle Royale is now available for rent using the Online DVD rental service Netflix and can be ordered online.
The creators of the sequel postponed the release of the DVD (originally scheduled for June 9, 2004) to later that year, due to 'current events' which at the time was the killing by an 11-year-old Japanese schoolgirl, known as Nevada-tan, of her classmate Satomi Mitarai. The killer was a fan of Battle Royale.[3]
[edit] Issues regarding translation
There are some minor issues with subtitling. Perhaps the most apparent is that the subtitles are often grainy and difficult to see on some editions of the film, particularly VHS and VCD versions. The situation is slightly better on some DVD copies, where the subtitles are programmed in rather than burned in, although the translations on the Special Edition DVDs varies greatly, for instance between the UK Tartan release and the Korean Starmax release.
In the lighthouse scene the breakdown of civility is conveyed using varying levels of expressed politeness in the Japanese language (keigo), however English lacks an equivalent and the subtitles fail to convey the subtle meaning.
[edit] Director's Cut
A director's cut has been released (referred to as "Special Version" in some markets), which has eight extra minutes of running time. Inserted scenes include:
- Flashbacks to a basketball game which is used as a framework for the entire story.
- A flashback that explains Mitsuko's actions.
- Three epilogues (referred to as "requiems"). The first is an extension of the basketball scene. The second is a vision of Nobu telling Shuya to take care of Noriko. The third is a scene between Kitano and Noriko, who talk casually by a riverbank.
[edit] Reception
Battle Royale was labeled "crude and tasteless" by members of Japanese parliament and other government officials after the film was screened for them.[4] The film created a debate over government action on media violence.
Battle Royale grossed ¥3.11 billion domestically.[5]
At the 2001 Japanese Academy Awards the film was nominated for best film, best direction, best script, best starring actor (Tatsuya Fujiwara), best soundtrack (Masamichi Oshima), and best sound recording (Kunio Ando). The film won best editing (Hirohide Abe), Tatuya Fujiwara and Aki Maeda won rookie of the year, and Battle Royale won the audience popularity prize for a film.[6]
The film has a 78% fresh rating at Rotten Tomatoes. The detracting critics point out the plot holes and that there is nothing but action. Critics who enjoyed the film were so awed by the action as to ignore the plot holes. Critics note its relation to the increasingly extreme trend in Asian cinema and its similarity to reality television.[7]
[edit] Remake
In June 2006, Ain't It Cool News website reported that New Line Cinema along with producers Neil Moritz and Roy Lee intend to produce an "Americanized" adaptation of the book. The remake rights have been bought, with release tentatively set for 2008. In a July New York Times article, Lee assured Battle Royale fans of his respect for the original work, and stated that despite earlier concern the characters would still be young teenagers and that he would draw additional plot elements from the novel.
[edit] References in pop culture
- In Fox's "The OC" Season 4, Ryan finds out Taylor bribed Roger, a gay anime nerd, to pretend to like her with a "Kitano action figurine" to make Ryan jealous.
- Also in the television show "The OC", a fictional film titled Yakuza Prep makes a few appearances and is based on the same storyline and characters of Battle Royale.
- The anime series School Rumble features a spoof of Battle Royale in episodes 2 and 3 of the second season. The main characters of the series all engage on a "survival game" to determine what the theme of their gig for the year's culture fest is going to be. They capture the spirit of the movie with School Rumble's unique comedic air, down to characters revealing their love for one another before dying and characters committing suicide mid-game.
- Two references to Battle Royale appear in Shaun of the Dead. First when Shaun and Ed are being attacked by a zombie in their flat, a stylized poster from Battle Royale is on their wall. Second when Shaun uses ties his tie around on his head, and the wrap looks much like the head wrap for Kawada in the film. Most American viewers would see the appearance of the tie wrapped around his head being a reference to the Rambo character from First Blood, but Simon Pegg himself states that it was a reference to The Deer Hunter. At one point in the movie, a few seconds of Pegg wearing the tie, cigarette in mouth, checking a switch in semi-darkness almost exactly parallel a few from Battle Royale.
- In the film Thank You for Smoking the main character's boss is named BR for what he did in Vietnam. As this is said red X's are drawn through the faces of a black and white photo to make the reference even more obvious.
- An episode of Invader Zim entitled Dark Harvest has Zim having a "hall pass" collar placed on his neck which will explode should he leave his school's grounds.
- In issue 9 of Warren Ellis' Global Frequency comic, a member by the name of Takashi, while speaking to a ex-comrade about his past in the organization, references Battle Royale as an actual event he investigated. He stated in anger, "You sent me to an island to rescue children trying to kill each other and turned on me..."
- Another film, The Condemned, starring Steve Austin and Vinnie Jones follows a similar plot, but with students replaced by death row inmates.
[edit] Trivia
- American director Quentin Tarantino wrote the characters of Gogo Yubari and her sister, Yuki, for his film Kill Bill Vol. 1. The role of Gogo was given to Chiaki Kuriyama, who plays Takako in Battle Royale. According to a fan website for Kou Shibasaki, who plays Mitsuko, Shibasaki was invited to appear as Yuki but was unavailable, resulting in that character being eliminated from the film. [8]
- Quentin Tarantino stated, in an interview, that he was told by Kinji Fukasaku that when Koushun Takami wrote the lighthouse girls part of the original novel, Takami was inspired by Reservoir Dogs. [9]
- In 2003, a pizza deliveryman named Brian Wells was killed by a time bomb explosive fastened to his neck, after being forced to rob a bank. The collar was similar to the ones used in Battle Royale. The bizarre affair was subject to much attention in the mass media, and remains unsolved.
[edit] References
- ^ Director's statement at the Internet Archive. Retrieved on 2006-12-30.
- ^ Battleroyalefilm.com. Retrieved on 2007-01-02.
- ^ Japan schoolgirl killer 'sorry'. BBC News. Retrieved on 2007-01-12.
- ^ Leong, Anthony (2001). Battle Royale Movie Review. Issue 33 of Asian Cult Cinima. Retrieved on 2007-01-08.
- ^ J. T., Testar (June 2002). Japan Goes to the Movies (PDF) 1. The Journal. Retrieved on 2007-01-08.
- ^ 24th Japanese Academy Awards (Japanese). Retrieved on 2006-12-29.
- ^ Korsner, Jason (2001-09-13). Battle Royale (2001). BBC. Retrieved on 2007-01-08.
- ^ Kou Shibasaki Fandom. Retrieved on 2007-01-03.
- ^ Japattack's interview with Quentin Tarantino. Retrieved on 2007-01-03.
[edit] External links
- Battle Royale at the Internet Movie Database
- Battle Royale at Rotten Tomatoes
- Official English-language Battle Royale website
- Review and analysis of the Battle Royale film
- Battle Royale American Remake Set Up
- Comparison of DVD releases
- (Japanese) Battle Royale at the Japanese Movie Database
- (Japanese) Battle Royale (Director's Cut) at the Japanese Movie Database
