Battle Royale [2000]

Country of Origin: Japan
Year of Production: 1999
Running Times: 113 mins 7 sec    121 mins [Special Version]
Format: colour
Ratio:
Sound: Dolby Digital

PRODUCTION
Production Company: Toei / Battle Royale Production Committee
Executive Producer: Ikuro Takano
Producers: Masao Sato, Masumi Okada, Tetsu Kayama, Akio Kamatani
Co-Producers: Kimio Kataoka, ChieKobayashi, Kenta Fukasaku, Hisao Habeshima

SCRIPT
Script: Kenta Fukasaku
Novel: Koshun Takami

DIRECTION
Director: Kinji Fukasaku
Assistant Director: Toru Harada

PHOTOGRAPHY
Director of Photography: Katsumi Yanagijima
Lighting: Akira Ono

EDITING AND POST PRODUCTION
Editor: Hirohide Abe

MUSIC
Music: Masamichi Amano

SOUND
Sound: Kunio Ando

DESIGN AND SET CONSTRUCTION
Production Designer: Kyôko Heya
Original Painting: Takeshi Kitano

CAST
Takeshi 'Beat' Kitano [Kitano]
Taro Yamamoto [Shogo Kawada, male student 5]
Masanobu Ando [kazuo Kiriyama, male student 6]
Sosuke Takaoka [Hiroki Sugimura, male student 11]
Tatsuya Fujiwara [Shuya Nanahara, male student 15]
Hirohito Honda [Niida Yoriyuki, male student 16]
Eri Ishikawa [Yukie Utsumi, female student 2]
Sayaka Ikeda [Megumi Eto, female student 3]
Tomomi Shimaki [Sakura Ogawa, female student 5]
Tamaki Mihara [Izumi Kanai, female student 5]
Yukari Kanazawa [Yukiko Kitano, female student 6]
Yasuyo Mimura [Kayoko Kotodan, female student 8]
Hitomi Hinata [Yuko Sakaki, female student 9]
Ko Shibasaki [Mitsuko Soma, female student 11]
Satomi Ishii [Haruka Yazawa, female student 12]
Chiaki Kuriyama [Takako Chigusa, female student 13]
Haruka Nomiyama [Mayumi Tendo, female student 14]
Aki Maeda [Noriko Nakagawa, female student 15]
Satomi Hanamura [Yuka Nakagawa, female student 16]
Ryo Kamiya [satomi Noda, female student 17]
Aki Inoue [Fumiyo Fujiyoshi, female student 18]

In the near future, the Japanese economy is in ruins and the streets are ruled by brutal, out-of-control teenagers. In an effort to quell the violence and divert aggression into something else, the authorities take 42 of the most violent kisd, dump them on an island with a variety of weapons and a map, and fit them with collars that explode if they trangress the rules. The kids then have three days to fight eachother to the death, the winner being the last one standing...

France
Theatrical Distributor: SND

Japan
Theatrical Distributor: Toei Company Ltd
Video Distributor: Asian Cult Cinema

UK
Theatrical Distributor: Metro Tartan

CENSORSHIP HISTORY

Japan
Rating: R-15
In Japan, two versions exist - the original was rated R-15 and was prohibited to anyone below the age of 15. Fukasaku re-edited the film and released a 'special version' which was passed for younger audiences. Strangely, little footage seems to have been removed - instead Fukusaku made some 100 "edits" [mostly changing sound effects and trimming some footage] and added an additional 8 minutes to give a more 'acceptable' context to the on-screen mayhem.

UK
Rating: 18

2000
December
16: Japan - theatrical release

2001
January
27: Netherlands - shown at the Rotterdam Film Festival

March
23: USA - shown at the Cleveland Film Festival

April
7: Japan - theatrical release of special version

June
9: Australia - shown at the Sydney Film Festival
12: USA - shown at the Seattle International Film Festival

August
26: UK - shown at Frightfest 2001, London

2002
May
27: UK - DVD release [Tartan Video Asia Extreme [TVD3385 - progressive scan version]

SEE ALSO
Lord of the Flies [1963]
Lord of the Flies [1990]
Whasango [2001]

MAGAZINES

Premiere no.287 [February 2001] pp.108-113 [France]
illustration location report, interview with Kinji Fukasaku and Takeshi Kitano [Demain les mômes by Hiromi Tabata]

Screen International no.1271 [11 August 2000] p.19 [UK]
credits, production notes

Screen International no.1295 [9 February 2001] pp.6; 44 [UK]
illustrated note; review [Absurdity triumphs as body count mounts by Mark Schilling]

Sight and Sound vol.11 no.2 [February 2001] p.6 [UK]
illustrated article [Rushes: Killer Class by Tony Rayns]

Sight and Sound vol.11 no.9 [September 2001] pp.37-38 [UK]
credits, synopsis, review [by Kim Newman]

Variety 29 January 2001 p.44 [USA]
credits, synopsis, review [by Robert Koehler]

NEWSPAPERS

International Herald Tribune no.36646 [29 December 2000] p.11 [UK]
review [by Donald Richie]

KEYWORDS

the future, teenagers, castration, crossbows, decapitation, islands, games, revenge

Last Updated: 6 March, 2007