Lesson of the Evil (2012)

This movie was one of my long-awaited shows I really wanted to watch, and it doesn't disappoint me, though for me Takashi Miike is slightly overrated by international fans due to his hit-and-miss experience.

This show marked a new milestone for him because of such extensive use of delicate, colorful yet grim cinematography. Previously, he usually used just more simple, darker camera works. The way he directs Hideaki Ito, an actor who is seemingly forever typecasted as knight in shining armor, into an anti-hero without changing his usual acting style to great effect was also a brilliant move. His character, Hasumin, is an insane psychopath without any motives but "divinely" given by evil himself. Yes, some would find that in the end no revelation about this, but just like a plane crash, no clue is a clue itself.

This show is not for the faint-hearted and should be avoided by those who can't take gore and gay scenes (though the latter is few). Though at the beginning some introductions of characters were made and relatively slow-paced it was, all hell breaks loose when it hits the last 30 minutes mark. Yet Miike successfully inserted some dark comedy in it (I find some of these were very funny).

Due to great directing and excellent casting, acting-wise this show is really great. They should've make more shows featuring potential wonderkids like this, since in these years they are aplenty. They are good as individuals as well as corporate. Not all of these kids were given chance to portray their character with depth, but those who were (perhaps only 10 or so) did their respective job very well. It's not surprising that most of them were previously playing in wonderkid shows (i.e Kokuhaku, Suzuki Sensei the series, Another, Himizu, and/or Kirishima), so the choice of casting those who were already proven themselves pays off. I hope they find themselves landing on shows with good directing like this so their skills will be honed.

All in all, a good watch, perhaps almost on par with Kokuhaku. Almost forgot, the music was also creepy as well and fits perfectly with the show.

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Alright, so I've heard "things" about this movie and decided to finally watch it one night. And oh boy, I didn't sleep to well that night. Let me just say that you shouldn't watch this if you get queasy watching people get killed, because this movie has all of that. If I could use a word to describe it, it would be close to a "massacre." On the plus side though, it doesn't have horrible gore so you can still look at the screen.

The psychopath theme was done quite well and at some points I found myself kind of routing for Hasumin. He was entertaining, his acting was great, and his weapon of choice was perfect. Now I don't approve of psychopaths, but when they are done right and make you really believe them... then that's an A in my book. For the other characters, I can say I liked that the audience got to know some of the students so that we could feel some emotion towards them even if they weren't all happy.

Hmmm....The only thing that I didn't really like was small sections nudity and that one scene; but if you look away from screen you won't be ruining your innocence. ^.^

All in all, if you want a good psycho movie that shocks you all the way to the end, then this is the one for you.

*bonus: It even has a creepy song to go along with it

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