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Battle Royale
The votes are in. The Midnight Eye readers have voted BATTLE ROYALE as their favourite Japanese film of 2001.

Below are the final results of our reader's poll, plus your personal comments and reactions. Thanks a lot to all of you who took the time to cast their vote. Hope to see you again at our next Midnight Eye reader's poll.
Find out what Midnight Eye's own favourites of the year were in our Best Of 2001 feature.
 
 Ranking TitleOriginal titleDirector
1. 19.1% BATTLE ROYALE Kinji Fukasaku
2. 16.2% Dead or Alive 2 Takashi Miike
3. 08.1% Pulse[ Kairo ]Kiyoshi Kurosawa
4. 06.4% Versus Ryuhei Kitamura
5. 05.8% Avalon Mamoru Oshii
05.8% Ichi the Killer[ Koroshiya Ichi ]Takashi Miike
6. 04.6% Visitor Q Takashi Miike
7. 04.1% Blue Spring[ Aoi Haru ]Toshiaki Toyoda
04.1% Eureka Shinji Aoyama
8. 03.5% Electric Dragon 80,000 V Sogo Ishii
03.5% Pistol Opera Seijun Suzuki
9. 02.9% Brother Takeshi Kitano
10. 02.3% Spirited Away[ Sen To Chichiro No Kamikakushi ]Hayao Miyazaki
11. 01.7% Bad Company[ Mabudachi ]Tomoyuki Furumaya
01.7% Not Forgotten[ Wasurerarenu Hitobito ]Makoto Shinozaki
12. 01.2% H Story Nobuhiro Suwa
01.2% Inugami Masato Harada
01.2% Stereo Future Hiroyuki Nakano
01.2% Warm Water Under a Red Bridge[ Akai Hashi No Shita No Nurui Mizu ]Shohei Imamura
13. 00.6% Firefly Dreams[ Ichiban Utsukushii Natsu ]John Williams
00.6% Gips Akihiko Shiota
00.6% Go Isao Yukisada
00.6% Harmful Insect[ Gaichu ]Akihiko Shiota
00.6% Hole in the Sky[ Sora No Ana ]Kazuyoshi Kumakiri
00.6% Nekojiru-so Tatsuo Sato
00.6% Our Neighbours the Yamadas[ Tonari No Yamada-kun ]Isao Takahata
00.6% Party 7 Katsuhito Ishii
00.6% Unchain Toshiaki Toyoda
00.6% 19 Kazushi Watanabe
14. 00.0% Acacia Walk[ Akashia No Michi ]Joji Matsuoka
00.0% Desert Moon Shinji Aoyama
00.0% Distance Hirokazu Kore-Eda
00.0% Family Takashi Miike
00.0% Final Fantasy Hironobu Sakaguchi
00.0% The Guys from Paradise[ Tengoku Kara Kita Otoko-tachi ]Takashi Miike
00.0% Hakuchi Makoto Tezuka
00.0% Hotaru Naomi Kawase
00.0% Human Trash[ Ningen No Kuzu ]Takshiko Nakajima
00.0% Hush Ryosuke Hashiguchi
00.0% Limousine Drive Masashi Yamamoto
00.0% Red Shadow[ Akai Kage ]Hiroyuki Nakano
00.0% Roji-E Shinji Aoyama
00.0% Rush Takahisa Zeze
00.0% Seance[ Kourei ]Kiyoshi Kurosawa
00.0% Shojo Eiji Okuda
00.0% Stake Out[ Harikomi ]Tetsuo Shinohara
00.0% A Tender Place[ Yawaraka Na Hoo ]Shunichi Nagasaki
00.0% Tomie: Re-birth Hiroshi Shimizu
00.0% Tokyo GP Takashi Ishii
00.0% Unloved Kunitoshi Manda
00.0% Uzumaki Akihiro Higuchi
00.0% White Out Setsuro Wakamatsu
 
Comments & reactions:

25-01-2002     4.43.155.67
An excellent film on girininjo that is probably difficult for anyone to really appreciate unless they have lived in Japan for at least 10 years.


25-01-2002     63.14.236.25
Studio Ghibli, nuff' said


25-01-2002     67.201.228.66
Actually, I was also seriously considering voting for Miike's superlative HAPPINESS OF THE KATAKURIS, but I don't see it listed on the poll. For 2002, maybe?
--Travis Crawford (sasori701@msn.com)


25-01-2002     24.48.255.13
excellent action packer from the very first minutes.


25-01-2002     130.63.75.220
miike makes a movie that is competely transgressive but not the least bit self-marginalizing, thanks to the presence of asano, and cast. this actually ties with 'cure' for best of 2001---but only because the latter got to canada just this past year. I love you guys!!


25-01-2002     24.130.17.179
I only saw two Japanese films this year and "White Out" was boring.


25-01-2002     204.38.7.40
i WISH i COULD PICK TEN THERE WERE SO many great films but at leaast I can cheer for pulse and hope to see it on a screen in the us some time soon honurable mention to all about lilly chou chou for being just as interesting if not as concentrated


25-01-2002     210.20.11.244
Pistol Opera is not a movie. It is cinema. Magnificent.


26-01-2002     194.80.240.12
Because you have the feeling you are able to save everyone when the colours appear in the end.


26-01-2002     134.99.138.60
Cinema, as it should be


26-01-2002     63.49.82.179
Another Suzuki gem and another great example of what a director with real vision can pull off. Pure cinamatic entertainment.


26-01-2002     64.105.34.78
2001 was a great year for japanese film,Its really tough to pick any one film but i vote BATTLE ROYALE (just beating INUGAMI)if anything for giving the film world a much needed kick up the ass!


28-01-2002     158.94.198.232
It's difficult to choose only one film but I was most impressed by Bad Company. A simple story of a extremely emotional, philosophical and social depth.
Miike Takashi showed with Dead or Alive 2 how talented a director he could be and be more than just a director of violent films who can create one of the most moving metaphorically statements against killing I have ever seen. About Ichi the Killer and Visitor Q everything has been said but where can go from now on?
Also surprise that Imamura Shohei is still well in active but maybe his latest film lacks the freshness and challenging edge of his 60s and 70s films (including Narayama Bushiko).
Battle Royale also surprised as a very powerful (rather than violent) and moving film too in some parts even though the characterization of the students is a bit cliched.
Eureka: good film but prefer Nobuhiro Sowa's 2 Duo and M/Other.



28-01-2002     62.10.39.54
D.O.A.2 :Simply the best film ever!


28-01-2002     213.122.214.141
Just like to say thank's for running what is undoubtably my personal favorite site on the internet.

Best Regards,
Damian Dugdale.


01-02-2002     62.59.8.242
happiness of the katakuris


05-02-2002     213.53.120.81
Eureka takes you on a psychological trip. A stunningly shot, comforting masterpiece


07-02-2002     64.0.99.201
Pulse rocks! There hasn't been an atmospheric horror flick like it since Jacob's Ladder!


08-02-2002     208.240.218.23
Tough to choose between "Pistol Opera" and "Battle Royale"--but, in the end, Suzuki wins out, in my opinion.


09-02-2002     195.66.113.47
at least a dozen of sequels needed!!!!Bombastic!


13-02-2002     216.103.134.129
A prettty original movie, Uzumaki alternately subverted and exceeded my genre expectations. It also "permanently scared" a couple of my friends...


18-02-2002     63.214.202.59
"Kairo" is one of the most exceptional pieces of filmmaking I've seen in years. I've shown my R2 DVD copy to as many friends as possible, and all agree it's truly something special. I've not seen a picture that works within and transcends genre boundaries so well all at once. I shudder at the thought of the Wes Craven-backed American remake!
A close second for the year: Mamuro Oshii's "Avalon" - not a rock solid narrative, but Oshii shows he has an equally asute eye for live action as he does for animation.


21-02-2002     62.10.41.83
I 'm quite surprised that Battle Royal had all these votes:it's not bad, but, in my opinion it's not absolutly to be mentioned like THE BEST JAPANESE MOVIE OF THE YEAR!!!!


25-02-2002     212.238.112.126
Imamura remains true to his long-standing humanism, as ever portraying his characters in the richest detail, which is everything from passion to pettiness


25-02-2002     62.7.3.117
A great year for Japanese cinema with outstanding efforts Takashi Miike, Seijun Suzuki, Kiyoshi Kurosawa and Hiroyuki Nakano. Ultimately, I had to go for Electric Dragon because it is what any great film should be - an intense audio-visual experience that imprints itself on the subconscious and stirs a few brain cells. This young (save Suzuki) crop of directors have created some sublime movies and some high expectations for their future projects. Bring on 2002!


26-02-2002     213.122.124.85
Unlike anything else I've ever seen. Miike Takashi has nowhere left to go in terms of sheer gleeful ultraviolence after this movie. I await his kindler, gentler take on 'Zatoichi the Blind Swordsman' with interest!

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