Picnic (film)
| Movie | |
|---|---|
| Original title | PiCNiC |
| Country of production | Japan |
| original language | Japanese |
| Publishing year | 1996 |
| length | 72 minutes |
| Rod | |
| Director | Shunji Iwai |
| script | Shunji Iwai |
| production |
Juichi Horiguchi Susumu Tanaka |
| music | Remedios |
| camera | Noboru Shinoda |
| occupation | |
| |
Picnic (original spelling PiCNiC , translated picnic ; partly also listed as Pikunikku ) is a Japanese youth film drama from 1996 by director Shunji Iwai . It is about three older teenagers from a closed psychiatric clinic who wander outside of the institution.
Characters
There are three main characters, Coco, Satoru and Tsumuji, three teenagers who live in a closed psychiatric hospital. Coco likes to wear black clothes and black feather headdress. She believes the earth began when she was born and therefore ends when she dies. Tsumuji suffers from hallucinations in which he sees his teacher, whom he previously killed. He longs for the end of the world as soon as possible. Satoru and Tsumuji have adjoining rooms and are easy friends. Together they often walk along the wall of the institution to observe life outside the institution.
action
Coco is placed in a closed institution by her parents. There she meets Satoru and Tsumuji. While Satoru falls directly in love with Coco, Tsumuji denies feelings towards her. The two boys take Coco down one of the corridors on the wall, but she goes beyond the boundaries by climbing from the wall of the institution to another. While Satoru obeys the prohibition, Tsumuji follows her. Feeling that they are not allowed to leave the wall, the two remain on walls.
On their hike they pass a Christian church where they meet a priest. Tsumuji tells him not to believe in God because his prayers are not answered. When the priest asked what he would pray for, he replied to wish the end of the world. Coco replies that the world will end when she dies, since the world began when she was born. This makes their parents gods. The priest gives Tsumuji a Bible, whereupon he is converted and believes in God, heaven and hell, as well as the apocalypse. When they return they are punished for their exit. Due to a misinterpretation of the Bible, Tsumuji believes the earth will end in the near future. On the day of the presumed end of the world, the three set off again outside the institution to watch the Armageddon at a picnic . They only walk along walls again. The hike is shown in some long film footage.
During the hike, Satoru remains behind, who later falls from a wall and dies. When it starts raining heavily, Tsumuji hallucinates. He sees his teacher, whom Tsumuji killed. He tells Coco about his act. Tsumuji says God has forgiven him but his teacher has not. Then Coco says that she is complicit in the death of her twin sister. They both kiss and walk over a wedge wall to a lighthouse. They have their picnic there. They both talk about what hell is like. Coco says she would rather go to hell because heaven is too boring for her.
Tsumuji considers bringing about the end of the world by shooting into the sun with a pistol that he previously took from a police officer. After two shots, Coco takes the pistol from him and shoots himself in the head, believing that this will bring the world to an end. Coco dies in the arms of Tsumuji.
criticism
The lexicon of international films analyzed: "An apocalyptic description of life in modern Japan, which in sometimes too superficial images depicts the situation of an uprooted generation that does not want to fit into the world of its parents' generation, but has long since found any alternatives."
Web links
- Picnic in the Internet Movie Database (English)
Individual evidence
- ↑ Picnic. In: Lexicon of International Films . Film service , accessed March 2, 2017 .