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I recently watched Jisatsu saakuru (Suicide Club) (Shion Sono) and it was weird. It’s about a strange phenomenon, where groups of teenagers get together and kill themselves. In true Japanese gore fashion, there are a bunch of scenes of fairly graphic violence which is always fun to watch. I don’t know, though – none of them were very shocking and I wasn’t too intruiged with the whole police-investigation part of the story.

Then there was this weird sequence where some radicals were trying to claim responsibility for the so-called “suicide club”, which was allegedly convincing these teens to kill themselves. At one point, perhaps at an intended pivotal moment of the film, the eccentric leader of this group breaks into an odd Bowie-like song that just made me laugh (but at least the filmmakers have good taste in what kind of music to rip off).

The mystery/investigation elements of the film include a strange website consisting only of coloured dots: I may be wrong on the colours, but I think it was red for girls and blue for boys. Anyway, an appropriately colured dot (or dots) would appear the day before the suicide(s) occured. Some girl finds this site and calls the cops, which doesn’t help much but at least gives them something to think about. Then this girl is kidnapped by “Bowie-san” and the aforementioned serenade is performed.

The detective, played by Ryo Ishibashi (The Grudge-USA version, Brother), has two teenagers who are really into the pop group called Desert/Dessert/Dessart/Dessret (the spelling of the name changes throughout the film). It’s no surprise that this group is spreading some kind of subliminal message which is influencing all of these kids to kill themselves. It’s also no surprise that something happens to his kids. By the time the musical group’ s performance occurs, though, I had lost interest and probably missed the twist and the silly morals that were possibly trying to be taught. Well, I either missed them, or they were as subliminal as the songs by Desert/Dessert/Dessart/Dessret. I haven’t seen any blue dots on my screen, though, so don’t worry.

There were some cool visuals in this film, and like I said before, some classic Japanese gore (I’m going to be very careful the next time I’m slicing bread). The picture was annoyingly letterboxed, which made for a slightly hampered viewing experience on my widescreen LCD TV. But still, at least I was able to check this film out, even though I wasn’t super into it.

I watched this DVD twice within a few days, I loved it so much. C.R.A.Z.Y. (Jean-Marc Vallée) is at once a coming-of-age story, family drama, coming out story and religious fable. It centers around Zachary, born on Christmas Day in Montreal in 1960. He is the fourth of five sons and he is “special” in many ways, including that he is a sort of favourite of the father (Michel Côté) and is believed to have the gift of healing.

This film follows Zachary from a child into his teenage years, and then into his early twenties. He develops a passion for music, like his father Gervais has; this greatly pleases him and results in proud comments as well as an odd assortment of musical instruments as gifts. While his father’s pride is developing, however, it is also being tested by Zachary’s sometimes “strange” behavior: Zachary is “the sensitive one” and is the only son out of five who does not develop “typically” into male behavior such as sports, motorcycles and a slew of girlfriends. (An early desire to have a baby carriage as a gift is quickly dealt with.) This perceived conflict confounds and frustrates Gervais and Zachary both.

C.R.A.Z.Y. is a film about a man’s love for his sons, and one of the son’s undying love for his father. Zachary loves his father so much and wants so badly to make him proud that he buries his true self deep inside, even to a breaking point. Zachary was incredibly portrayed by both Émile Vallée as a child (he is actually the co-writer/director’s son) and Marc-André Grondin as the teenager/young adult. We see his childlike wonder and innocence slowly transform into an adolescent identity that is based on fear, confusion and a strong desire to please his father. Gervais, played by Michel Côté, is man who truly cherishes his family but has a sometimes rough exterior. He struggles with the idea that his children’s happiness may result from things that he can’t control, despite how badly he may want to. It is amazing to watch both characters grow into men who are mature enough able to let go of themselves and of each other. Vallée does an incredible job of keeping some of the characters at arm’s length (mainly the mother and the other brothers) while maintaining their believability and importance to Zachary and Gervais.

A standout characteristic of C.R.A.Z.Y. is its use of music. Vallée allegedly took a major pay cut in order to secure the licensing rights to the music of the period, both French and English. The use of original recordings by Patsy Cline, David Bowie, The Rollling Stones, Charles Aznavour, Jefferson Airplane, Pink Floyd and others not only authenticates the period but also communicates how passionate the characters were about music. Some of the sequences gave me goosebumps. Being a music lover myself, I can relate to how certain songs literally define specific periods of my life. It’s amazing how the careful selection of music and how it is subsequently worked into a film can have so much impact.

This film is truly a gem, and was Canada’s submission to the Foreign Language Film category at the 2005 Oscars. I picked up on a lot more with the second viewing, but I was totally sold after the first. C.R.A.Z.Y. is definitely one of my new favourite films.