my love for battle royale continues: i purchased the dvd today, and spent the afternoon not doing one little iota of work. instead i watched the film about year nine kids killing each other, and watched the additional features. the features are an odd thing, because neither the director or the main actors get as much applause as beat takeshi when he steps onto the stage. at one stage, he even says, 'i'm not sure if i'm here because of my acting ability or because of the fame that comes with me.' i would suspect that it's a bit of both.

(speaking of takeshi, or takeshi kitano as he is known when directing, i've heard that he's written a couple of novels when i've never been able to score. my online searching abilities are coming up short too. anyone know if there are translations around, and if, indeed, they're worth reading?)

the dvd has a little section on it that shows the filming of an additional scene, to be added to a 'special edition', which i hope will eventually make its way over here, but since the film itself took three years to hit a theatre, and i've not seen nothing of the sequel, i'm not holding my breath. it was odd to watch the actors comment on how they've all grown and aged in the six months since they stopped filming, with the exception of the two older leads. in each of the interviews, the two older leads laugh at how absurd it is for them to be playing teenagers when they're in their twenties, but it didn't strike me as that odd. chalk it up to years of seeing people in their mid twenties play people in their late teens...

if you haven't seen battle royale, you really should. i keep mentioning it enough on this livejournal, after all...

you should read the book, too. there's an energy in that that overcomes every fault it has. it makes many of the books i read last year look tired and boring.