Films

Ai, a typical high school girl, meets Yu, a new classmate who has been living abroad with his parents. After spending some time away from Japan, he begins to question the rules that govern his life at school. “Is a family really necessary?” he asks one day. Meanwhile, a student is found on all fours in the schoolyard and doesn’t seem willing to move anytime soon. In the days that follow, more and more students join him, forming a sinister human pyramid. In Yuta Shimotsu’s latest film, horror takes on an anti-establishment tone, and the high school drama serves as a starting point for exploring pandemic complicity with rules — and those who enforce them. Social commentary and generous doses of gruesome suspense join forces to disrupt a mechanical daily routine, composed of rituals devoid of meaning or feeling, unmasking routine as a genuine pact with the devil.