Day Thirty-Two: Suicide Circle (2002) - Rank 4/5

This is a film that's positively macabre from start to finish, yet like a car wreck, no matter how grisly it may become, you cannot look away. The opening would be a prime example, as you're treated to 54 adorable Japanese school girls jumping off of a subway platform into an oncoming train, all smiles and glee as they do so. However, by mo means is it a horror movie (in fact, it fails to fall into any set genre upon analysis). Rather, this film does something far darker than most selections from the horror realm do - it makes you question why your life really is worth living.

The film isn't all serious - it's also peppered with its fair share of bizarre characters. As the police strive to find out who may be encouraging the wave of suicides all across the city, one man comes forth claiming to be the perpetrator. The character's name is Genesis and he would be best described as the Japanese David Bowie love child of Dean Stockwell's "Ben" and Dennis Hopper's "Frank Booth" (both from "Blue Velvet"). You're talking a character more Lynchian than David Lynch has been in a couple of decades. He resides in a bowling alley and vents by stomping on the numerous animals he has sealed in pillow cases that writhe across the floor. Like true Lynch characters, you find yourself wondering: "Is this hilarious or terrifying?"



The entire plot has a distinct undertone of self-destruction (natch), but not just in the suicides; the sense of hopelessness or simply lacks understanding of themselves. The film argues that if you kill yourself, then your bonds with others will continue, for they were touched by you and will never forget you. The only bond that truly will be lost is the bond you keep with your inner self. If you genuinely lack an understanding of your true self, then what's the point of living? Fucked up logic that, over the course of two hours, is presented in the form of a cinematic persuasive argument for self-destruction.

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