A Japanese high school class runs riot, with all sorts of behaviour in classroom and corridors, and pupils bullying and even stabbing their teacher. But this is all in a near-future Japan where, following an economic collapse attributed to a failure of discipline in schools, a law has been passed allowing classes of misbehaving pupils to be kidnapped, sent to an island, given a weapon (or in some cases a harmless item such as a shield or a torch) and some basic supplies, and left to fight to the death, with only the last child standing allowed to return home. And who should appear as the sadistic director of this particular Battle Royale but that same stabbed teacher, glorying in revenge on his former antagonists.
Battle Royale is a Japanese movie released in 2000, starring Tatsuya Fujiwara and Aki Maeda as students Shuya and Noriko, and Takeshi Kitano (the presenter of the original Takeshi's Castle) as teacher Kitano. It's a violent and darkly humorous horror movie, with frequent and graphic deaths. While it's clear that Shuya is the protagonist, most of the class are also given well-rounded characters and their alliances and duels are all played out, so the high number of characters can make the film a little hard to follow in places. Obviously this gets easier as the film progresses and more of the cast are eliminated.
Battle Royale isn't the only movie to portray gladiatorial games - of course Roman gladiators feature in Spartacus (1960) and Gladiator (also 2000), while Arena (1989) gives the concept a sci-fi twist. However there are a lot of similarities between Battle Royale and subsequent gladiatorial stories, particularly the Hunger Games books and films, and the recent Korean TV series Squid Game.
I enjoyed this movie although it does require a strong stomach and a pitch-black sense of humour. I would recommend it as an excellent revenge fantasy for any frustrated teacher. Three shuriken stars out of five.
Witches are an endless source of fascination. Despite the attempts of Hans Christian Anderson, centuries of overzealous missionaries and Roald Dahl to paint them as agents of evil, our culture is full of more positive examples of witchcraft, whether in books, films, or in the real world with the modern day resurgence of Wicca. As a child I learned to read with Meg and Mog and later enjoyed reading about Mildred Hubble which should allow you to calculate my age. TV is full of portrayals of witches as powerful but sympathetic figures, such as Julia Wicker in The Magicians, or the magical cadets of Motherland: Fort Salem. Meanwhile there are plenty of films that use the concept of the witch in interesting ways - here are two recent examples I enjoyed.
The Love Witch
The Love Witch (2016) stars Samantha Robinson as modern-day witch Elaine Parks who sets out to start a new life and find love - with unfortunate, deadly consequences for her would-be lovers. It's filmed as a stylish tribute to 1960s Technicolor, with lavish settings and exaggerated colour schemes. Parks is literally a femme fatale but also a complex character, vulnerable, lonely and driven, and mesmerizing to watch. In some ways she reminded me of Alice Lowe's character Ruth from Prevenge, but Parks is not actually driven to kill (well, not often), it's just that her love is too intense for the men she charms.
The Love Witch also celebrates another form of witchcraft - that is, obsessive auteur-driven filmmaking. Anna Biller wrote, directed, scored, edited and produced the movie, spent several years finding, restoring or making the furniture for each scene, and made her own foray into witchcraft. The result is a unique and powerful vision combining feminine and feminist themes.
Season Of The Witch
Season Of The Witch (1973) is an early George A. Romero film. It's curiously deficient in brain-eating swarms of zombies, instead the story revolves around dissatisfied and Wicca-curious housewife Joan (Jan White), her controlling husband, and her daughter who is having an affair with a teacher. Joan is introduced to Marion, a newcomer to the suburb who practises witchcraft, and gradually becomes drawn into witchcraft herself. This is more of a drama than a horror film, although there is threat and violence in places, and Joan experiences some creepy dream sequences in which she faces exaggerated or metaphoric versions of her everyday life.
Romero described this as a feminist film, and I think this is justified: it is the story of a woman in a controlling relationship who finds a way to empower herself and change her life (this escape theme also qualifies it as Science Fiction TM). The feminist aspect is simpler and less sophisticated than The Love Witch, and arguably the feminist credentials are further eroded by the release history, as a cut-down version was published and marketed (I think misleadingly) as softcore porn.
Both films portray witches as powerful and unintentionally dangerous, while at the same time portraying witchcraft as a positive feminine role and as an alternative to patriarchy and convention. I awarded both films three pentagrams out of five.
As I write this, Russian sci-fi feature Вызов (The Challenge) enters production. It's an unconventional movie featuring a very small production team. The plot involves a cardiac surgeon sent into orbit to save the life of a cosmonaut - and right now, director Klim Shipenko and actor Yulia Peresild are part way through a two-week stay on the International Space Station shooting the movie.
On Tuesday, Oct. 5, cosmonaut Anton Shkaplerov will join actress Yulia Peresild and producer Klim Shipenko on a @Space_Station-bound Soyuz launch, expanding commercial space opportunities in filmmaking.
According to this report by the BBC this project has divided opinions at Roskosmos, with some senior managers including Sergei Krikalev, head of crewed missions, strongly opposed to it. This surprised me as Krikalev is himself the star of a movie set in space - the documentary Out Of The Present, which is an account of his record-breaking stay on the space station Mir during a time of colossal political change below him on Earth. He launched to orbit from the communist Soviet Union but returned the following year to the emerging Russian Federation. His film is fascinating, often funny, exciting, inspiring and of historical importance.
Those arguing against the project felt that it would detract from the scientific mission of the ISS. But should science be the only reason for space exploration? If this really is a different way to inspire artists and creators, and to create works of art different from those on Earth, then perhaps experimenting with this new medium is also valuable. Perhaps we should send painters, songwriters and poets into orbit to see what they bring back. And there is certainly value in storytelling to inspire the next generation. In my very brief student attachment at NASA, I learned that NASA is staffed almost 100% by Trekkies - it really is true that Star Trek inspired thousands of people to go into science, engineering and space careers.
I've neglected the Sci-Fi Gene blog a little this year. Real life has taken over a bit. The past 18 months of the coronavirus pandemic have felt like living through a sci-fi movie - and a really cheap one, with over-the-top melodramatic portrayals of world leaders and a badly researched and predictable script.
However, now is as good as any time to return to the fray. The Sci-Fi Gene is preparing for a new wave of sci-fi productions - on the horizon are new seasons of Doctor Who, Lost In Space, Discovery and The Expanse. Right now I'm enjoying the second series of French drama Missions, about a private space race between two tech billionaires (I don't know where they get their crazy ideas!)
I've also been surprised and amazed by Lower Decks which is possibly my favourite Star Trek series now. The first series was good fun, but I'm currently halfway through the second series which is outstanding. In the sci-fi adjacent area I've enjoyed BBC submarine drama Vigil, as well as the second series of military witch drama Fort Salem, and this weekend I saw an obscure arthouse flick about some retired secret agent who likes cars. Probably won't do all that well but it's important to support these little indie productions - and well done to the producers for persuading Billie Eilish to do the soundtrack.
And then there's this.
I'm really looking forward to this highly original space opera from The Asylum when it opens in a couple of weeks. I just hope no-one spoils it by releasing some knock-off remake with a similar setting and title at the same time.
Glad you could drop by! This blog is part support group, part research institute for those who, like me, enjoy the best and the worst of sci-fi. In addition I have interests in computer graphics and independent media, and will continue to document my own adventures in filmmaking and CGI.
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