Lesson of the Evil (2012) Takayuki Yamada, Howard Harris, Fumi Nikaidô, Shôta Sometani, Hideaki Itô Movie Review

Lesson of the Evil (2012)   3/53/53/53/53/5


Hideaki Itô in Lesson of the Evil (2012)

Seiji the Knife

Seiji Hasumi (Hideaki Itô) is popular amongst both the staff and pupils at Shinko Academy where high on the agenda of problems is how to deal with those who cheat in exams by using their mobile phones. Whilst Hasumi's idea to jam the signals during exams is turned down it doesn't stop him from keeping a close eye on things which are going on with the students be it those who are being bullied to others who are carrying on with teachers. Not that everyone likes Hasumi as some are jealous of his popularity and start prying in to his past only to discover the psychotic truth.

I wouldn't say that I have a type when it comes to what movies I watch as I will give pretty much any movie a try. But what that means is that sometimes I will watch and review a movie which is outside of my comfort zone and end up with a very different opinion from those who watch because they are in to that sort of movie or follow a director's work. I mention this as "Lesson of the Evil" is the first movie I have watched from director Takashi Miike and to be honest I wouldn't go out of the way to watch another one.

Now I am going to keep this simple as for the first hour of "Lesson of the Evil" what we get is pretty boring as we get painted a picture of life at the Shinko Academy with various wrongs going on from things the students get up to as well as things that the teachers also get up to. The trouble is that not only does an hour of this drag on but nothing which is established during this first half is that interesting and you really end up questioning whether to persevere with it.

But then the second half comes along and suddenly this dreary movie gets brutal and entertaining, totally the opposite of the first half as basically the psychotic side takes over. The question is? Is it worth wading through the first half to get to the more entertaining part of the movie and I have to say it isn't no matter how entertaining the second half is. Even the performance of Hideaki Itô isn't enough to save it despite delivering this strange attractive charisma throughout the movie.

What this all boils down to is that "Lesson of the Evil" might work for those who are already fans of director Takashi Miike but is hard work for those who have never watched one of his movies before.


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