Isn’t Anyone Alive?: Anarchic Japanese Punk and his Comedy Apocalypse on Campus (Review)

Sōgo Ishii or as he is now known Gakuryū Ishii, is one of the many eccentric visualists of Japanese cinema, with films like Electric Dragon 80,000v. With his latest film, based on a stage play by Shirô Maeda, in isn’t anyone alive? The director has calmed his oeuvre down, subdued the visual cacophony and has brought to life something very different.

Set in a university campus attached to the hospital, Ishii’s latest centres around a cast of young Japanese actors in apocalyptic circumstances. We join a girl who escapes from the hospital, a suited man looking for someone, students talking about a local urban legend, more students involved in a love triangle, a coffee shop worker, two men who witnessed an accident, an otolaryngologist with a crush on a hospital employee, idol university students and a mother looking for her child. In some convoluted way, all these people are connected.

After 30 minutes of these people conversing about their day-to-day lives, whether they are discussing theses or childcare for a yet to be born baby, they start dying. Nothing dramatic, no roaming murderer, nothing loud and atypical for such a piece, no, they start to have trouble breathing, convulse, and stop – dead. The problem is some of the more interesting groups are killed off too quickly and some of the least interesting characters live to the end. With the character who has the least to do, surviving to the end. Almost as if Ishii is enjoying teasing the viewer with who will be claimed next.

As for what is killing these people, it’s never explained. Nobody lives long enough to get that much information. Mores the point, it’s much more interesting by not explicitly spelling things out. It’s all down to theories and interpretations. Was there something in the train that crashed or is their truth in the urban myth circulating campus? It doesn’t matter; the film is more about the characters than the cause of their deaths.

Isn’t anyone alive? Is a character-led apocalypse film, and one with the lightest touch since cult 1980s film, Night of The Comet with the comedy of the interactions overriding the imminent doom humanity faces. With characters like Dr Fish (Shojiro Tsuda) and Yama (Jun Murakami) doing most of the heavy lifting, all leading to a robustly funny sequence in a hospital corridor with questions about what finals words to use, an embarrassing confession of love and a general aura of stupidity in the face of extinction. Even when it’s not attempting to tickle the funny bone, the quality of the performances from this league of up and coming Japanese actors is through the roof. There isn’t a weak link to be had, for the impressive Shota Sometani (Himizu) and Mai Takahashi (Fish Story) to be two of many, the performances deserve to be lauded.

Continuing the theme of subdued takes on archetypes, all the film takes place on a largely vacant university campus, in white halls, rooms and buildings. Ishii is not attempting to evoke any emotion or sympathy from the systemic mass death of these characters. He is using this colour palette to compliment the emotionally cold world his characters inhabit. Likewise, visual touches of cutting away sections of the screen, wipe cuts and other editing tics present the world as an isolated, anti-social one, whatever the circumstances – a critique on Japan in itself.

There is much to compliment and read into with isn’t anyone alive, yet it isn’t flawless by any means. The feeling that it was adapted from a stage play is unavoidable and the freeform structure prevents the film from having a worthwhile payoff. Instead of giving the impression of a film that just stop, ends, like the lives of the characters. A tactic that never fails to disappoint, be it intentional or a sly attempt to obtain some level of significant subtlety. Yet, the sheer entertainment and comedy value the film upholds ensures that the film is a contrary voice in a sub-genre of typical bleak cinema. Usually, films of this breed seek to make the viewer distraught; entertainment doesn’t come along all that often.

Thanks for reading our review of Isn’t Anyone Alive?

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