More on Battle

[@allnet.ne.jp]

Aaron mentioned my comment to Reuters on Battle Royal, which may sound as
though I'm lining up with the politicians who are bashing the film for its
youth-corrupting violence. Let's put it this way -- I would not ban or
censor Battle Royal, but I would also not give my twelve-year-old daughter a
ticket to see it, simply because it's a bad film, with about as much in the
way of character development and story logic as a typical
kick-the-crap-out-of-your-opponent vid game. It also struck me as a
particularly ugly wish fulfillment for all those kid-hating oyaji out there,
who dream of nuking Shibuya back into the Stone Age -- or at least 1962.

I imagine, though, that it will be right down the alley of a lot of Asian
pop cinema otaku, who are going to find the gratuitous splatter and gore the
last word in cool. They can pick up the banner for it and claim that it is a
misunderstood masterpiece. Me -- I am going to stay on the sidelines.

Mark Schilling
schill at gol.com

PS -- For those who are interested, my review of BR appears in this month's
Japan edition of Premiere and a longer version in this Tuesday's Japan
Times.







----- Original Message -----
From: "Aaron Gerow" <gerow at ynu.ac.jp>
To: "KineJapan" <KineJapan at lists.acs.ohio-state.edu>
Sent: Friday, December 15, 2000 10:45 AM
Subject: More on Battle


> Yahoo has posted one article on the Battle Royale controversy:
>
> http://dailynews.yahoo.com/h/nm/20001214/re/japan_movie_dc_1.html
>
> KineJapan member Mark Schilling is also quoted in it.
>
> Aaron Gerow
> Yokohama National University
> KineJapan list owner
> For list commands: send "information kinejapan" to
> listserver at lists.acs.ohio-state.edu
> Kinema Club: http://pears.lib.ohio-state.edu/Markus/Welcome.html
>
>