Boys growin' up

This week was nuts at work. I have been tired enough I almost forgot to add my weekly recommendation.

So here we are:

20th Century Boys 1-3

Director: Tsutsumi Yukihiko

Screenplay: film 1: Fukuda Yasushi, Nagasaki Takashi, Watanabe Yûsuke, Urasawa Naoki film 2: Nagasaki Takashi, Watanabe Yûsuke film 3: Nagasaki Takashi, Urasawa Naoki

Based on a work by: Urasawa Naoki

 

Not so much a whodunit but more of a whodoin'it. The story involves a group of adults who as children spent a memorial summer playing together and hanging out in their 'secret base' - a hut built of very tall weeds tied together at the tops in a large empty lot. One of the things they did was put together a draft of a story involving an evil organization out to destroy the world. Decades later a charismatic cult leader has arisen and he may be connected to a series of events linked to story the kids made up. Then people start dying, some of a strange disease, in the same places as in the story. Kenji, the main author of the story starts to gather his friends to attempt to find who is doing this and to stop him.

 

This film, based on a 22-volume manga, is a suspense story that hops from the events of the story to the past of the children showing how their actions then influenced the later events. It is also a mystery in that we don't know the actual identity of the leader who is controlling what is happening. The original story is so complex that it was decided to tell the story over three films with a total running time of something like seven hours. The events of the story start in 1999, with flashbacks to the past, but finish around 2017. As the story continues you see characters age, you learn more about their pasts, and find that much is not what it seems on the surface. Serious fans of Japanese cinema will be pleased to see cameo appearances of many well-known actors, some without speaking parts.

 

Order 20th Century Boys 1: Beginning of the End from The Right Stuf

Order 20th Century Boys 2: The Last Hope from The Right Stuf

Order 20th Century Boys 3: Redemption from The Right Stuf