“This world is surreal, don’t let it get to you. You have to beat it and not be consumed”
1y
The actor for keiko ruined any potential rewatch Glad her Ex husband got the custody of the kid instead of that psycho
1y
This scared the shit out of me as a kid and there was a scene these two main characters were just chilling and eating and i wondered “how could they be calm for even a moment”
1y
ella loved
Tag
First going into tag I expected a gory kind of “Battle Royale” meaningless movie I was so wrong. Tag is a trip for anyone going in no matter how many times you watch it. Each time I couldn’t make sense of it the third time was the breaking point. It’s not gory and provocative to be gory and provocative. It feels unnecessary not understanding anything it felt like it wasn’t supposed to make sense but Sion Sono wanted it that way. This movie is shot with symbolism and metaphors, though it didn’t feel obvious and felt more like a what the fuck did i just watch it was so much more than that.
Tag’s message overall is about how woman specifically in japan are being watched, objectified and for entertainment in one way or the other. They are told what to do with their life and ones own fate isn’t determined by them, themselves.
The symbolism in this movie is very heavy. Starting with the more basic ones feathers, pillow fights often used as an innocent thing also a sexual thing. As on Wikipedia it states “Pillow fight rules typically prohibit lewd behavior, and allow moves like tickling and leg drops as long as a pillow is used.” These feathers and pillows symbolize loss of innocence and in some cases it also symbolizes freedom. Which towards the end of the movie makes the most sense as that scene feathers are used frequently when she makes a choice to kill herself having her own freedom of a choice and to die alone and beautifully so. Another symbolism is right in the name tag which I don’t want to elaborate on too much but it’s a child like game including running which is also utilized a lot in this movie. You can also think of it as flight or fight which a lot of woman have to do. Another overall theme in this film is the process of life as a woman growing up fast, getting married to someone who is not important to you personally a “pig” man a slob. All to work to death and reach the finish line of life pressured by the people around you. For the people around you and not yourself.
The players of the game partaking in the male gaze. Since “tag” is based off it being a video game I thought I’d talk a bit about the audience of that game. Since one of the major ending points are sleeping with the main character and that’s seemingly the whole reason he made her a character to get close to her. It makes you think about how creepy this is, he had possibly been following her to even obtain this dna? Very creepy anyways. To please the players the game includes violence and sex objectifying these woman putting them in stereotypes theres the teachers/sexy teacher trope in latex. Quiet girl, Loud/Alt girl, Popular girl and I can’t read much off the other girl but from consuming media theres always seemingly that one girl that guys would lean towards for no specific reason. I assume because she’s overlooked feels less there so they give her attention too. These girls are also school girls with several panty shots catering to the male gaze. Another point that also makes these characters more desirable to the male eye is the fact that you can look but can’t touch. These examples are used commonly in real life, which is why it feels so easy to identify while thinking about the movie. Which also makes it all the more terrifying as a woman in a society like this one.
All in all trying to make this more brief and not get side tracked into the details of it. “Tag” is a well shot and a well thought movie filled with oh so many details. I could genuinely keep writing but i’m not going to do that. Those are just some things I noticed about the film directed by Sion Sono. It makes me think a lot about how similar this movie feels to real life in metaphors anyway. I hope this review was somewhat engaging because I’ve never written a review that long or rarely. Overall great film great cinematography and direction the pace is also a breath of fresh air.
2y
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