When I first saw a trailer for Sogo Ishii’s latest film Isn’t Anyone Alive? at the beginning of the year, I tagged it as looking “very interesting”. When I heard that Third Window Films had picked up for distribution I was overjoyed because I like this type of film. When I watched Angel Dust recently, I knew I had to see this film because Ishii’s skill behind the camera was spell-binding. I have finally watched it and can confirm that I bloody love it. Just how much I feel that way will be determined by a re-watch, but expect a review next week. For now, here are the details:
Isn’t Anyone Alive?
A film by Sogo Ishii (Gojoe, Burst City, Crazy Thunder Road)
Starring: Shota Somentani (Himizu, Sadako 3D, A Man with Style)
Murakami Jun (Yakuza Weapon, Himizu, Land of Hope)
Rin Takanashi (Goth: Love of Death, Like Someone in Love)
Mai Takahashi (Strange Circus, The Great Yokai War)
Japan / 2011 / 113 Mins / In Japanese with English subtitles / Colour / 35mm
Release Date: 22nd October 2012
Set in a university campus that is attached to a hospital, there is a escaped female patient, a strange man, students and a café worker in a love triangle, a mother looking for a lost child, a love-sick doctor and an unreceptive nurse and an urban legend which could be linked to the end of the world. When people talk about this bizarre urban myth connected to the University hospital, people start dying inexplicably one after another…
With the air of this ‘energy void’ throughout, the world of this absurd black comedy, based upon the theatre play of the same name, starts to take over the world.
With ‘Crazy Thunder Road’ (1980), ‘Burst City’ (1982), ‘The Crazy Family’ (1984), ‘Angel Dust’ (1994), ‘Electric Dragon 80,000V’ (2001) and more, Gakuryu Ishii (previously known as Sogo Ishii) has been amusing us with his talent of totally overstepping genre boundaries with striking images and music. In his latest feature film he has adapted the Shiro Maeda play ‘Isn’t Anyone Alive‘.
DVD Special Features:
Theatrical Trailer
Genkinahito 