The Neighbor No. 13 is about a boy who's recovering from being bullied throughout his childhood were he at one time also had acid poured on his face. He grows up as a very calm person but the hate and violence inside of him makes him form another personality who comes out when the usually calm person gets angry and it's about him wanting revenge on his former bullies.
It was really long ago since I saw a Japanese movie as good as this and I got into it without really knowing too much about it and came out being somewhat amazed by how good this movie actually was. I wouldn't call it a horror movie, although it has few horror elements it's definitely more of a thriller, or psycho-thriller if you would.
It's a bit more to it but I don't wanna give too much away since it should be watched without knowing to much about before hand. Anyway, The Neighbor No. 13 is a great thriller which tends to be very violent at times and has a lot, and I mean a lot of feeling to it.
 
Like with so many other Japanese movies it's based on a manga and a fun thing is that Takashi Miike has a cameo in the movie. It's not slow paced since something happens all the time with a few exceptions were it's only slow but I felt this was necessary as it brings more feeling to what's actually happening or what's about to happen on screen.
The Neighbor No. 13 feels very fresh and I couldn't help but to think of Ichi The Killer when viewing it. It might not be that similar but still there was something. Anyway, highly recommended.
Back to Asian Review Archive
|
ALTERNATIVE TITLE: Rinjin 13-go
MOVIE YEAR: 2004
DIRECTOR: Yasuo Inoue
WRITING CREDITS: Santa Inoue
GENRE: Horror, Thriller
CAST: Shido Nakamura, Yumi Yoshimura, Shun Oguri
COUNTRY: Japan
RUNTIME: 115 min
RATING: 9/10
Neighbor No. 13, The Website/IMDB Click here
Neighbor No. 13, The Trailer Click here
|
