Jinroh Shokei Game (2015)

Weird but interesting story - brings together several genres such as the closed room whodunnit of crime fiction, hard edged rebarbative sci-fi/horror and - through its school student setting - dystopian works of children's atavistic reversion to savagery when plucked from normal "civilised" life, such as Golding's Lord of the Flies, Oe's Nip the Buds, Shoot the Kids and in cinema Battle Royale. I feel the plot becomes too clever for its own good, the contortions become hard to follow and there's a fair amount of sleight of hand by the time it gets to the end. Still, it makes you think - whether as a dramatic comment on human society or a dramatic projection of human psychological motivations. Or maybe I'm reading too much into it!! Some nice eye candy here anyway, in particular with the sultry good looks of Ota Motahiro (whose photo on the biog page completely fails imho to do him justice compared to the movie!) (Was there any music? I don't see how we can give a required score).

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This review contains spoilers

I liked the premise and idea behind the whole story, but there seems to be many off-putting elements.
First, the main character isn't someone you can relate to - he is associated with a side plot about his parents'death that does not lead anywhere important. "This guy is accused of killing is parents. He is the main character." is all there is to his personality.
Secondly, the plot is bland and boring i.e. uninteresting. Furthermore, some parts (of the plot) are not grounded in reality. Too many over-the-top explanations exist that lead nowhere (see first paragraph again). The kidnapped situation is explained as an experiment, and apparently the werewolf characters are the way they are because of a virus; a virus that is sprinkled on the story in a 'matter-of-fact' manner. Also, the building that they are in is sealed off by 'lasers'.

At one point we (the audience) even saw the main characters put on headphones and get video input by closing their eyes.

The "werewolf" is/are also not well placed within the story. How the chosen "werewolf" managed to kill off the required one-per-night without getting by blood on (spoiler) his clothes is beyond any logical reason.

Overall, an okay movie. Did I like the premise? Yes. Would I recommend to my friends? No. Will watch it again? Please. Don't make me.

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