This is not the best made film. It feels like a pulp film,
inexpensively put together with questionable acting skills. The cinematography
wasn’t excellent and even when the shots were carefully thought out, no magic
displayed itself. But it was one of those rare films that, after it was
finished, made me sit and think about the themes of the film. No matter what
the technical problems of the film, the plot, themes and development weren’t
among them.
This film acts as a companion to Suicide Club, which I have
never seen, but the events of that film are referred to in this prequel. Can it
really be called a prequel, since it shows event both before and after the
previously made film?
Anyway, we’ve got Noriko, who is unhappy at home. She feels
that she could find happiness on the internet and then she thinks she can find
happiness living in Tokyo with her internet companions. But her friend, Ueno
Station 54, AKA Kumiko, isn’t interested in helping Noriko find happiness, but
to change society.
After Noriko runs away, her sister Yuka, puzzles out her own
unhappiness and eventually pursues Noriko to Tokyo, only to find that she is no
longer Noriko, but Mitsuko, an actress paid to act like missing family members
to those who could pay for the service.
A heavy curtain of mystery weighs over the film, especially
over the first two thirds. What is the real purpose of this group? Is there a
Suicide Club or not? If not, why the mass suicides? What is Kumiko’s real
purpose? There are answers to these questions, but not without our effort to
piece them together along with Tetsuzo, N and Y’s father.
