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Psychological drama framed though a thriller-mystery
Right off the bat, I'd like to say as a disclaimer that I just finished this film a few minutes ago, so all of my thoughts are VERY fresh:
Before watching "12 Suicidal Teens", I read several reviews warning potential viewers that the marketing for this film wrongly portrayed it as a murder-mystery thriller, when in reality, the story primarily circulates around the psychology of the situation. With these reviews in mind, I kept my expectations fairly low, unsure of what to expect both in content and quality. I had even considered skipping the film as a whole, with many other reviewers calling it boring and tonally inconsistent, but personally, I'm really glad I didn't. "12 Suicidal Teens" pleasantly surprised me in both its execution and premise, and despite some minor issues, I overall thoroughly enjoyed it!
If you're debating watching and want to remain spoiler free, (which I would recommend), I'll summarize my main opinions here: If you find the initial premise provided in the summary intriguing, don't let the reviews claiming this film lacks the mystery elements it claims to have scare you off. This movie, in my opinion, 100% delivers in its mystery elements, so long as you keep your expectations realistic. For those who are interested in the premise from a psychological standpoint, I'd encourage you even further to give "12 suicidal teens" a watch too, as the characters discussions unpacking the complexities behind suicide and their own personal reasons behind their decision to commit suicide is incredibly interesting and well written. Overall, it's an entertaining watch that will likely not be what you expect (for better or for worse lol)
Alright spoilers from here on out!:
Story: The clean cut premise was what initially drew me to this film. I thought the concept of 12 suicidal individuals having to solve the presumed murder of a stranger was incredibly fascinating, and what's more, the story takes place in a bottle setting, which is one of my favorite storytelling methods. Of course, if you've seen the film, you'll know the "murder" isn't all it's cracked up to be. I think this is where a lot of people lost interest in the film, as many had come expecting a high anxiety murder mystery thriller, when in reality, the mystery only really serves to push the theme forward. Disregarding the themes however, I personally still believe this movie presents a really fun and engaging mystery, where the more you think you know, the less you actually do. The more you learn, the more you question the rest of the characters and their trustworthiness. The final conclusion was a little anticlimactic in my opinion, but it kind of cemented the main focus of the film as the characters, not the story, which I appreciated.
Characters/cast: This is where "12 Suicidal Teens" really shines in my opinion. The characters in this film are so incredibly well written and well acted, it felt almost as though I had known them in real life! In particular, I think Furukawa Kotone, Kuroshima Yuina and Kitamura Takumi did a phenomenal job portraying their characters, with Furukawa specifically really standing out to me. Honorable mention to Hagiwara Riku, whose character was unfortunately not given much screen time in the last 2/3s of the film, but really stuck out to me in the screen time that he did have, with him having one of the more heart-wrenching stories out of the group in my opinion. This leads into the one major unfortunate problem w/ the characters in this film, which is that, due to the sheer number of characters, some characters, such as Funichino Yuto's character, fade into the background and are not given much screen time unless it's to move the plot along, which is all fine and good, but in the context of a character driven story such as this, it's a little disappointing. Again, overall though, all the actors truly hit their characters out of the park.
Rewatch value: Like I said earlier, I only finished "12 Suicidal Teens" for the first time a few minutes ago, so I have yet to rewatch it, but based on the way the mystery unfolds, I'd say it's good for one rewatch, but after that, it would start to feel a little repetitive and slow.
Before watching "12 Suicidal Teens", I read several reviews warning potential viewers that the marketing for this film wrongly portrayed it as a murder-mystery thriller, when in reality, the story primarily circulates around the psychology of the situation. With these reviews in mind, I kept my expectations fairly low, unsure of what to expect both in content and quality. I had even considered skipping the film as a whole, with many other reviewers calling it boring and tonally inconsistent, but personally, I'm really glad I didn't. "12 Suicidal Teens" pleasantly surprised me in both its execution and premise, and despite some minor issues, I overall thoroughly enjoyed it!
If you're debating watching and want to remain spoiler free, (which I would recommend), I'll summarize my main opinions here: If you find the initial premise provided in the summary intriguing, don't let the reviews claiming this film lacks the mystery elements it claims to have scare you off. This movie, in my opinion, 100% delivers in its mystery elements, so long as you keep your expectations realistic. For those who are interested in the premise from a psychological standpoint, I'd encourage you even further to give "12 suicidal teens" a watch too, as the characters discussions unpacking the complexities behind suicide and their own personal reasons behind their decision to commit suicide is incredibly interesting and well written. Overall, it's an entertaining watch that will likely not be what you expect (for better or for worse lol)
Alright spoilers from here on out!:
Story: The clean cut premise was what initially drew me to this film. I thought the concept of 12 suicidal individuals having to solve the presumed murder of a stranger was incredibly fascinating, and what's more, the story takes place in a bottle setting, which is one of my favorite storytelling methods. Of course, if you've seen the film, you'll know the "murder" isn't all it's cracked up to be. I think this is where a lot of people lost interest in the film, as many had come expecting a high anxiety murder mystery thriller, when in reality, the mystery only really serves to push the theme forward. Disregarding the themes however, I personally still believe this movie presents a really fun and engaging mystery, where the more you think you know, the less you actually do. The more you learn, the more you question the rest of the characters and their trustworthiness. The final conclusion was a little anticlimactic in my opinion, but it kind of cemented the main focus of the film as the characters, not the story, which I appreciated.
Characters/cast: This is where "12 Suicidal Teens" really shines in my opinion. The characters in this film are so incredibly well written and well acted, it felt almost as though I had known them in real life! In particular, I think Furukawa Kotone, Kuroshima Yuina and Kitamura Takumi did a phenomenal job portraying their characters, with Furukawa specifically really standing out to me. Honorable mention to Hagiwara Riku, whose character was unfortunately not given much screen time in the last 2/3s of the film, but really stuck out to me in the screen time that he did have, with him having one of the more heart-wrenching stories out of the group in my opinion. This leads into the one major unfortunate problem w/ the characters in this film, which is that, due to the sheer number of characters, some characters, such as Funichino Yuto's character, fade into the background and are not given much screen time unless it's to move the plot along, which is all fine and good, but in the context of a character driven story such as this, it's a little disappointing. Again, overall though, all the actors truly hit their characters out of the park.
Rewatch value: Like I said earlier, I only finished "12 Suicidal Teens" for the first time a few minutes ago, so I have yet to rewatch it, but based on the way the mystery unfolds, I'd say it's good for one rewatch, but after that, it would start to feel a little repetitive and slow.
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