Pazuru

At the beginning of the film we find ourselves at the end of the story, point zero. But we eventually get to this point in story, which is a jigsaw puzzle of the revenge of two middle school kids on the aggressors from among classmates and teachers told through recent and more distant flashbacks. The one little problem is that you don’t have anyone to root for. On one side, you have the violent assholes and, on the other, a mad duo with their absurdly complicated and self-serving revenge (it must have been so much work to put it together! And what was the purpose of all that theatre?), which also affects completely uninvolved and innocent people. That insane overcomplexity and implausibility is, at least for me, a far bigger problem and it would deserve only a two-star rating. However, I had plenty of fun, it’s bloody, nasty and tense at times, and entertaining overall, so I will swallow my complaints. In any case, if Eisuke Naito wants to aspire to higher ratings, his film would have to be either more sober and believable or, on the contrary, a notch crazier. (31.07.2015)

A bloody romance. A solid critique of society; in a way it reminded me a bit of Kawaki but with a smaller budget, more intimate, and fewer familiar faces. Which doesn't matter, because Kaho and Nomura Shuhei rock. They don't need words, just look at their faces and it's clear exactly what's going on. I think that you have to do a bit of guesswork with this movie to get it all right. I really liked the music, it was absolutely accurate in expressing the feelings of the main characters. Admittedly, what was happening on the roof was a bit much and I thought I'd give it 3 stars because of that, but in the end the raised hands and crazy dancing saved it. This movie is, as the Japanese say, kurutteiru, "insane, twisted, rampage". (15.06.2015)

After a long time, I finally got to watch a Japanese film again, and "Puzzle" reminded me why I love the filmography of the Land of the Rising Sun so much. It is different, but it is incredibly close to me. Violence is not just for violence's sake but to communicate something. And this is the case with the film "Puzzle," which is simply good and wants to show that violence has its roots somewhere, whether it is in a disturbed mind or in what has happened. (05.03.2016)