The Neighbor No. Thirteen

The Neighbor No. Thirteen
The Neighbor No. Thirteen
Directed by Yasuo Inoue
Written by Santa Inoue (manga)
Hajime Kado (screenplay)
Starring Shido Nakamura
Shun Oguri
Music by Reiji Kitazato
Cinematography Taro Kawazu
Editing by Urahama Taro
Shôjirô Urahama
Distributed by Media Suits
Release date(s) 28 January 2005
Running time 115 min.
Country Japan Japan
Language Japanese

The Neighbour No. Thirteen (隣人13号 Tonari no hito 13-go?, lit. "Neighbour Number 13") is a dark psychological drama, released in December 2005, directed by Yasuo Inoue and written by Hajime Kado, based on Santa Inoue's manga Rinjin 13-gô, with Oguri Shun, Hirofumi Arai and Nakamura Shido in major roles.

Contents

Synopsis

Juzo Murasaki (Oguri Shun) arrives at a work construction area to take on his new job as a construction worker. To his quiet dismay, his supervising boss turns out to be Toru Akai (Hirofumi Arai), who with his gang had made Juzo's middle school life a living hell. Akai, however, doesn't recognise Juzo.

Juzo's more disconcerted when he discovers that Akai lives with his wife, Nozomi Akai (Yumi Yoshimura) and their toddler son above Juzo's new apartment. As Juzo emotionally struggles to handle these unexpected developments, a mysterious and seemingly malicious hooded figure appears. It calls itself Number 13 (Nakamura Shido).

As Juzo attempts to control increasing number of flashbacks and a spiral fall into psychological darkness, Akai constantly picks on Juzo and other work colleagues including Seki Hajime (Tomoya Ishii), a former middle school student who becomes Juzo's casual friend in spite of Juzo's anti-social tendencies, at work. Meanwhile Akai's wife, Nozomi, attempts to make friends with Juzo and entrusting the care of her toddler son to Juzo. She proudly shows Juzo her husband's school photos. In one class photo, Juzo's space is marked with an X to show he was absent. Juzo suffers a severe flashback to explain his absence that day: in their school's science room, Akai and his friends have thrown acid at Juzo's face.

Seki becomes suspicious about Juzo's increasingly odd behaviour and goes to inform Arai at the work site, but Arai dismisses him without giving him a chance to speak. During this incident, Seki doesn't realise he's being watched by Number 13, but as soon as he does, Number 13 kills him. Similar incidents follow, which eventually attracts Juzo and Arai's attention.

Number 13 takes Nozomi's life and kidnaps her toddler son. After finding their bodies, Juzo knows where Number 13 has disappeared to: the middle school. At the same time Akai, now knowing who Juzo is, discovers his wife's body and his son missing. He also goes to school. Having arrived first, Juzo discovers what happens to the toddler son, whom Number 13 forcibly drowned, and realises it's gone out of control.

He goes to confront Number 13, but by then, Akai arrives and attacks Juzo whom he believes has his son. After a violent confrontation, Juzo--who we realise is Number 13 all along--kneels over fallen Akai. As he is about to bring down a weapon upon Akai's head, Akai shouts out an apology. Juzo freezes. The apology splits Juzo's universe into two.

Universe #1: as described above.

Universe #2: as middle school boys, Akai apologises after Juzo stood up against Akai's bullying. Soon after, Juzo appears in a class photo as a quiet but happy-looking middle school student. As an adult, he walks past an apartment block where he and the Akai family lived in Universe #1. Juzo notes some construction workers are taking down the block sign, which hints the block is slated to be demolished, then he spots a dark figure in a window. It's Number 13, but Juzo doesn't recognise him as he looks away and continues walking along the side of a man who appears to be Juzo's work friend. It's Arai.

At this point, we viewers realise that the events we saw in Universe #1 never took place in Universe #2. Universe #1 is a scenario of what could have been if Juzo hadn't won Akai's apology after standing up for himself on the day of the potential acid incident and their school photo session. The acid incident, if Juzo had failed to stand up for himself, could have given birth to Number 13, thus creating Juzo's path to Universe #1.

Cast

Remake

James Wong will direct the US remake of the film, which is planned with a 2011 release.[1]

References

External links


Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.

Игры ⚽ Поможем сделать НИР

Look at other dictionaries:

  • The Bad Beginning —   …   Wikipedia

  • The Cry of the Icemark —   …   Wikipedia

  • The Earth is Enough — is the most well known novel by author, Harry Middleton. It was published in March 1995 by the Pruett Publishing Company.The book chronicles Middleton s young life growing up in the rural Ozark mountains. Reviews Annie DillardThis is a grand true …   Wikipedia

  • The Secret of the Mansion — is the first book in the Trixie Belden series by Julie Campbell Tatham under the name Julie Campbell. Plot summary The book opens with thirteen year old Trixie begging her mother for a horse. Her two older brothers are away at camp for the summer …   Wikipedia

  • The Death and Life of Charlie St. Cloud —   Author(s) Ben Sherwood …   Wikipedia

  • Characters of Malcolm in the Middle — The cast of Malcolm in the Middle in season 1. (From upper left to upper right) Christopher Kennedy Masterson as Francis, Jane Kaczmarek as Lois and Bryan Cranston as Hal. (Middle) Frankie Muniz as Malcolm. (Bottom left to bottom right) Erik Per… …   Wikipedia

  • The Baby-Sitters Club (film) — Infobox Film name = The Baby Sitters Club caption = Theatrical release poster director = Melanie Mayron starring = Schuyler Fisk, Bre Blair, Rachael Leigh Cook, Larisa Oleynik, Stacy Linn Ramsower Zelda Harris writer = Dalene Young producer =… …   Wikipedia

  • The Honeymooners — For the 2005 film, see The Honeymooners (film). The Honeymooners Title screen Genre Sitcom Directed by …   Wikipedia

  • The Heroic Legend of Arslan — Infobox animanga/Header name = The Heroic Legend of Arslan caption = An animated illustration by Sachiko Kamimura ja name = アルスラーン戦記 ja name trans = genre = Infobox animanga/Novel title = author = Yoshiki Tanaka illustrator = Yoshitaka Amano… …   Wikipedia

  • The Miniature Killer — CSI: Crime Scene Investigation character Jessica Collins as Natalie Davis Natalie Davis Date of birth 1975 City Las Vegas …   Wikipedia

Share the article and excerpts

Direct link
Do a right-click on the link above
and select “Copy Link”