FeistyUpper If you don't like this, we can't be friends.

Beystiman It's fun, it's light, [but] it has a hard time when its tries to get heavy.

PiraBit if their story seems completely bonkers, almost like a feverish work of fiction, you ain't heard nothing yet.

Darin One of the film's great tricks is that, for a time, you think it will go down a rabbit hole of unrealistic glorification.

Ben Larson They say, "What goes around comes around," or "Karma is a bitch." In the case of bullies, I really hope that is true. Maybe they should show this film in schools to let them know that bullies sometimes get their just desserts, even if it is many years later.Jûzô (Shun Oguri) was constantly bullied by Akai (Hirofumi Arai) and his friends in school. Now, they work for the same company, and even live in the same apartment building. Akai doesn't recognize Juzo, and that is good because he continues his bullying ways, and is going to get a taste of revenge.But, before that we are witness to some real struggles between Juzo and his alter ego (Shidô Nakamura). This is presented in the form of an imaginary house, and again in cartoon form. Juzo doesn't want violence, but his alter ego is insistent. Apparently, the bullying drove him crazy.The only think that prevent a higher score is the ending, which is very confusing. I have to chalk that up to the fact that this was a first attempt for both the director and the writers. Other than that, it was captivating -- with blood and gore, I have to add.Takashi Miike makes a brief appearance as the first victim.

Der_Schnibbler If you are expecting horror, forget it. If you are expecting "psychological thriller," forget that too. In fact, if you are expecting anything halfway moving, gripping, or attention-grabbing in the least, FORGET ALL ABOUT IT.The film has a decent premise but unfortunately displays the absolute worst traits of a certain strain of Japanese horror films which, as another reviewer mentions, owe a lot to Miike's more exasperatingly BORING experiments, such as that "Ichii" crap.The problem here is that this movie move's at a snail's pace. That would have been alright had there been some kind of payoff, but there is not. Characters stare at each other for MINUTES ON END inexplicably in the middle of a @#$# conversation, children see dead, bloodied bodies and simply stand there aloof like scarecrows before casually walking away--countless reactions are completely fake and unrealistic. The film was a great idea but any kind of dramatic effect is robbed from it by the stupid SILENCE and stilted dialogue which plagues the entire film.If you think boring crap such as "964 Pinocchio" and the "All Night Long" series were "disturbing," you'll probably like this film too. If you're looking for a REAL MOVIE, you'll wish you hadn't given it the chance in the first place, especially considering it's nearly two hours long. (If they had had haflway normal dialog and half-way HUMAN reactions among characters, the film would've been an hour and a half).If you're looking for good Asian horror/revenge/drama, see the Korean "Oldboy." As far as "Rinjin 13-gô" goes: AVOID.

K_Todorov And here we have this hidden gem by first time director Yasuo Inoue. "Rinjin 13-go" AKA "Neighbour Number 13" is a revenge driven psychological movie that explores the inner conscience of an individual rejected and abused by society. Stylishly shot, the lead character develops a psychopathic split personality, the action is satisfyingly bloody not all that gory as I expected it would be, most of the violent acts done of-screen and as a hidden surprise it's got a cameo appearance by Takashi Miike. What more could I ask for? Nothing really. But one question still remains. Does it deliver? You bet it does, this a great film and it indeed offers some insightful glimmers into the mind of a psychopath.Jûzô Murasaki (played by Shun Oguri) is an individual who has spent most of his childhood being bullied in school. Often humiliated and beaten he has never been able to stand up for himself. Years have passed since those days and now he has just moved in into his new apartment in a small tenement building. He finds a job as a construction worker under one, Tôru Akai (played by Hirofumi Arai). Akai, to put it simply is a bully. He spends most of his time torturing those that are underneath his rank, those that can't stand up for themselves. To make matters even worse Akai lives in the same apartment building one floor above. Juzo's childhood nightmare is brought back to the surface as he is subjected to a series of pranks leading up to a point where he is trapped in a toilet by Akai. Then, enters Number 13, Jûzô's split personality. One very nasty fellow who unlike his "roomate" has no qualms to use violence against, anybody or anything. 13 is the vessel holding all the anger, all the rage that has been building up in Jûzô for years. Once he is free all hell brakes loose, there are no more moral barriers to cross, everyone in his path gets it one way or the other. Inoue does a commendable job in directing this movie. Bordering near the realm of the surreal, "Neighbour Number 13" is a dreamlike slasher, that has more brains than guts. Inoue makes it very clear that the story is much more complicated than it seems at first. Several sequences point to that, one good example is the opening shot. Showing us the arrival of NO.13 into Jûzô's mind. Not to mention the open-ended ending that certainly leaves a lot to think about. The actors do their jobs accordingly and it does feel very organic the way their characters react. Miike's surprise cameo is another cool addition (not to mention the way he gets killed)to this already good film, I'm not going to lie his appearance is partially one of the reasons why I watched this, so yeah I'm glad he's here even if it is for a few seconds or so.So what do we have in the end? "Neighbour Number 13" a vastly enjoyable movie be it revenge/slasher/character study/psychological see it for whatever type you desire or just watch it as something unique, an amalgam that stays in a genre of its own. For a first time director Yasuo Inoue demonstrates some impressive skills and I'm definitely going to wait and see what he'll cook up in the future.

Ike-NL I'm happy to have caught this one at the International Rotterdam film festival 2005 a few months ago. I actually enjoyed myself very much. It was a special screening which the director joined and introduced with a nice little speech. He basically said that a lot of film festivals rejected it because of its harsh violence and that Rotterdam is the first to be open to it. In other words; I was in for a big treat.All in all, the movie isn't overtly violent. However, that doesn't take away that it's very good debut of the director, not to mention a good adaptation of a manga. It's a nice slow paced psychological movie that toys with the troubles of a man who has suffered a lot in his younger years and is now living with the after effects. It's a very dark movie with horror and drama elements about a young man being tormented and teased most of his younger school years. Years later, he has taken refuge in his little house where he has bad dreams, fantasies and is alone a lot. Then he gets a new job at a construction site and some new neighbors: turns out that the man of the family moving is his new employer and is fact, the same guy who used to make his life miserable. To make it short, it's payback time, but not a Kill Bill, Sin City type payback with slashing, one-liners and lots of action (which is also good btw), but a more slow-paced and build-up, tensed, psychological and slow payback. This approach proves to be very effective for the themes the movies tries to flow along: teen abuse, trauma, social pressure. The movie turns out to be an interesting study of human behavior and social schizophrenia. btw, The alter ego or second personality of the young guy is one of the scariest mo-fo's ever on screen, mentally but definitely physically, up there with the likes of Freddy Kruger, Hannibal, and whatnot. Horrific? Think of a very very very very scary looking guy you never wanna meet in this life or the next, that has been tormented most of his life and is completely immune to any moral, social of ethical code. It gets pretty horrific from there.After the movie there was a short Q&A session with the director in which we could ask questions. The crowd wasn't too anxious and due to the bad information provided by the organization, half the audience was already gone. Regarding the violence, he thinks that a lot of people rejected the movie not because of the 'goryness' or explicit images of the violence but more because of the type of violence, the effects and motivations of that violence and the effects of it. I couldn't totally see that in the movie: a lot of the violent image are disturbing in a surreal sense, not so much in a shocking sense.It's a shame that the people who control what we can and cannot see in theaters and festivals are passing up this film, and to be honest, I don't really get it. I can give you 25 other movies which are much more violent. But it probably has to do more with the realness of it all. Either way, I hope that after the release in homeland Japan, second of April, the movie will get more attention and hopefully this hidden gem will get a wider release across the globe.