Lesson Of The Evil...

[ReVulse]

Hasumi is a young, handsome and easy-going school teacher who is popular
with his colleagues and all the students. However, he is in fact a cold
and calculating psychopath. When the school has to deal with the issues
of bullying and cheating on exams, Hasumi has his own solutions to the
problems.

This Japanese thriller is directed by Takashi Miike, so you can guess its
not going to be your average movie. It's based on a novel, so I don't
know how much is from that and how much is down to his screenplay and
direction. The first half of the film is relatively tame with a focus on
some of the pupils in Hasumi's class and some hints at Hasumi's dark
nature. The second half of the film is an unrelenting bloodbath. As you
would expect, there are some surreal moments such as a videodrome-esque
talking shotgun with a creepy eyeball and the quite jarring and
unexpected introduction of an American character. The music choice is
also somewhat surreal with the song "Die Moritat von Mackie Messer" being
played at various points in the film. A couple of scenes are difficult to
watch and the blood soaked second half may disturb some people due to the
sheer cold-heartedness of it all. It's not as bonkers as some of Miike's
work and I really enjoyed it. Although, I could have done with fewer
scenes of Hasumi's naked body.

A definite recommendation.

--
#Andy#

[Mr Q. Z. Diablo]

In article <kqi3s3$v5$1...@dont-email.me>,

Does Nigel's copy come with subs?

[Kishin]

The one I got didn't, but I found them on opensubtitles.org. As
documented in another thread, my player won't do an MKV with SRT subs,
so I had to convert to an AVI. I've watched about the first 20 minutes
and plan to finish it up after dinner.

--

Kishin

[Lesmond]

On Thu, 27 Jun 2013 19:30:11 +0000 (UTC), ReVulse wrote:

Although, I could have done with fewer
>scenes of Hasumi's naked body.

Sold.

--
If there's a nuclear winter, at least it'll snow.

[Mr Q. Z. Diablo]

In article <kqiep8$f2h$1...@dont-email.me>, Kishin <no...@yobizz.ness>
wrote:

I've not tried opensubtitles.org. I might give it its chance with this
one.

If it's shit or broken English then I won't be trying again.

[Kishin]

The subtitles were fine, and I enjoyed the movie, too, though it just
reminded me of a typical day at an American high school.

I didn't find it as surreal as Andy did. From here, we get a bit
spoilery, so....



SPOILERS!














The American appeared to be in a dream/flashback to the teacher's time
in the US. It was earlier revealed that he had gone to Harvard
University, and later worked at a large, European bank in the US, and,
based it this scene, he appears to have teamed up with another
psychopath, who he ended up killing, during this period in his life. The
scenes with the eyeball in the shotgun were of the other psycho's eye,
and he was talking to his erstwhile partner. No so much surreal as just
the hallucinations of a psychopath. The rest of the film was played as a
pretty straight psycho mass murder.

The choice of music made perfect sense, too, as the lyrics told of a
murderer. It was driving me crazy for a bit, as I recognized the melody
but couldn't place it with the German lyrics (which are eventually
translated into Japanese subs (and thus the English subs, as well). But
we eventually learn that the song was done in English, jazz style, as
"Mack the Knife." Appropriate enough as the theme song for a serial killer.

I did chuckle a bit at the final title on the screen (in English), which
I won't spoil here.

--

Kishin

[ReVulse]

No shit? I can't believe you actually needed to spell that out - it was
pretty clear in the film.

> The
> scenes with the eyeball in the shotgun were of the other psycho's eye,
> and he was talking to his erstwhile partner.

Again, that was made obvious.

> No so much surreal as just
> the hallucinations of a psychopath.

Maybe you need to look up the word "surreal". Unless you actually think
guns speak and have eyeballs.

> The choice of music made perfect sense, too, as the lyrics told of a
> murderer.

So do hundreds of other songs.

> Appropriate enough as the theme song for a serial
> killer.

Yes, a song from a 1920's German musical is an obvious choice for a 21st
century Japanese serial killer.

--
#Andy#

[Kishin]

You're the one who said, "jarring and unexpected introduction of an
American character." I didn't find it jarring, or, given the previous
exposition, unexpected.

>> The
>> scenes with the eyeball in the shotgun were of the other psycho's eye,
>> and he was talking to his erstwhile partner.
>
> Again, that was made obvious.
>
>> No so much surreal as just
>> the hallucinations of a psychopath.
>
> Maybe you need to look up the word "surreal". Unless you actually think
> guns speak and have eyeballs.

As I noted, the rest of the film was played straight. There were only
these 2 hallucinations (and maybe the dream sequence) that might be
considered "surreal," and nothing on the order of a Cronenberg film.
Generally, when I hear the word "surreal" used to describe a film, it's
because the whole FILM is surreal, as, say, "Hausu" is, not just 2 brief
hallucinations.

>> The choice of music made perfect sense, too, as the lyrics told of a
>> murderer.
>
> So do hundreds of other songs.
>
>> Appropriate enough as the theme song for a serial
>> killer.
>
> Yes, a song from a 1920's German musical is an obvious choice for a 21st
> century Japanese serial killer.

Perhaps not, but "Mack the Knife" might, as he spent time in the US and
was exposed to that there. The German original was just an extension of
that. "Mack the Knife" was a big hit in the US, and remains in the US
cultural consciousness. A few years ago, it was used in a McDonald's
commercial, adulterated into "Mac Tonight," with a crescent moon-headed
character shilling late night burgers.

--

Kishin

[ReVulse]

Watch the scene again. Maybe it was just me, but when I was being shown a
body in the back of Hasumi's truck, I wasn't expecting a head to suddenly
appear in shot (overlaying the scene) looking directly at the camera and
speaking English. And lets not mention the subsequent images projected on
the wall, the giant raven and the huge American flag outside the window.

>
>>> The scenes with the eyeball in the shotgun were of the other psycho's
>>> eye,
>>> and he was talking to his erstwhile partner.
>>
>> Again, that was made obvious.
>>
>>> No so much surreal as just the hallucinations of a psychopath.
>>
>> Maybe you need to look up the word "surreal". Unless you actually think
>> guns speak and have eyeballs.
>
> As I noted, the rest of the film was played straight. There were only
> these 2 hallucinations (and maybe the dream sequence) that might be
> considered "surreal," and nothing on the order of a Cronenberg film.
> Generally, when I hear the word "surreal" used to describe a film, it's
> because the whole FILM is surreal, as, say, "Hausu" is, not just 2 brief
> hallucinations.

I actually said "there are some surreal moments" - I didn't say the whole
film was.

>>> The choice of music made perfect sense, too, as the lyrics told of a
>>> murderer.
>>
>> So do hundreds of other songs.
>>
>>> Appropriate enough as the theme song for a serial killer.
>>
>> Yes, a song from a 1920's German musical is an obvious choice for a
>> 21st century Japanese serial killer.
>
> Perhaps not, but "Mack the Knife" might, as he spent time in the US and
> was exposed to that there. The German original was just an extension of
> that.

That's a bit of a stretch. Plus, in that case the English version would
have been the most prominent of the versions that appeared in the film.
Especially as Hasumi was an English teacher.

--
#Andy#