Ameriatch One of the best films i have seen

FuzzyTagz If the ambition is to provide two hours of instantly forgettable, popcorn-munching escapism, it succeeds.

Grimossfer Clever and entertaining enough to recommend even to members of the 1%

PiraBit if their story seems completely bonkers, almost like a feverish work of fiction, you ain't heard nothing yet.

johnnyboyz Two things strike me in hindsight having seen "Lesson of Evil": firstly, the IMDB's detailing of the fact it barely got a general release anywhere in the world - was limited, it would seem, to the multiplexes of its country of origin (Japan) and the various fringe screenings that prop up the more obscure film festivals around the world. Secondly, there does not exist, at time of writing, any kind of sequel or continuation of the piece - something it seems to infer will be the case as it closes. Was this a result of the director, a certain Takashi Miike, holding up his hands and admitting he'd dropped the ball with this project? If one, or both, of these reasons is the case, then it would not be very hard to work out why. Certainly, viewing "Lesson of Evil" half a decade after its production, in the wake of various world events such as the forming of the Islamic State of the Iraq and Levant, is unpleasant - one critic writing for Variety Magazine cited as to how the film left him cold after having seen it in the wake of the Anders Breivik perpetrated massacre in Norway in 2011. Others have pulled it up for its poor attention to pace, wherein the film plods along in its depiction of a mundane high-school relations drama before inexplicably exploding into the sort of exploitation-like shock-fest one might expect Miike to lend his name to. Unfortunately for the gore-hounds, there is some 90 minutes of uninspired backlog to sit through first...To divulge too much on what precisely it is that constitutes said shock-fest would be to spoil things, which in one sense is the problem: a dilemma is faced having seen "Lesson of Evil", and that is as to whether you view what takes up the bulk of its final reel as the perfect dizzying conclusion to a tautly made film about realistic people going about their lives, in which case you are going to reward the film generously, or whether you believe it to be gratuitous nonsense, in which case you must provide the film with a rating as lowly as possible.Annoyingly, I have sat on the fence - I was repulsed and perhaps a little offended, but I did not switch the film off in a fit of anger; the song over the film's closing credits seems to beg us to "...think about it", and I have done, and I am still unsure what to make of what I have seen. While perhaps you could say it was similar in tone and content - flashes of raw violence in-between a lead's regimented existence - the film is not necessarily ABOUT ANYTHING in the way "American Psycho" was, and Miike has certainly not made a film with the flair or zeal of something like "Taxi Driver".The setting is an everyday Japanese high-school: small groups of kids hang out and muck around, turning first-aid classes into a bit of a laugh. Teachers are frustrated at kids for cheating during exams via cellular phones. One particular elderly teacher is singled out by the pupils for their own, private game of ridicule because of the way he clears his throat. In amidst all this is Hideaki Itô, who plays English teacher Seiji Hasumi. He seems friendly. He chats to female students without appearing lecherous; catches one pupil reading a comic book in class, but doesn't go ballistic and takes early morning jogs. Things become a little more complicated around the school when a parent is adamant nobody is doing anything about a bullying problem his daughter is suffering, and rumours of an abusive relationship between a gym teacher and a female surface. After this, Hasumi himself has to deal with an advance from one of his own female pupils and then.... people begin showing up dead in apparent suicides. Miike has essentially made one, long drama set inside of a high-school chock full of all those day-time soap opera clichés, but decided to drop into proceedings a series of mysterious deaths which turn out to be the work of a psychopathic serial killer with rooted connections to the school and its personnel. Half of me wants to dismiss the film as gratuitous nonsense which forces us to sit through a truly harrowing passage of film whereby lambs are essentially led to a kind of slaughter under the pretence of safety and security. Film-making, in the traditional sense, appears to go out of the window during these scenes as a bloody free-for-all is indulged in to a poppy soundtrack of crooner music and the disturbing interior mise-en-scene of a kindergarten. Nothing is necessarily under the microscope and if there is anything at all to be said, I missed it. The other half wants to commend it for being a tautly made drama which burns and burns before erupting, not unlike "Carrie", into the graduation ball from Hell. It is not without its moments whereby Miike demonstrates his ability as a film-maker - one particular scene, whereby a student is at the mercy of the psychopath and tied up in a darkened classroom at night, is shot to a slowly rotating fan inside of an air-vent which periodically casts light and shadow on the room thus bringing to our attention the stark nature of the life/death situation. Whether you enjoy the film or not will be dependent on two things: your threshold to being patient and your threshold to being tolerant of controversy in art. In the modern world, tolerance (towards prophet-Muhammad cartoons; the censoring of the n-word during day-time broadcasts of "The Dam Busters"; the periodic banning of "Grand Theft Auto" games in Australia, etc.) and attention spans are on the fast decline, which might infer as to why "Lesson of Evil" struggled with some critics and most audiences. While I would recommend "Lesson of Evil", I would do so with caution.

KineticSeoul What really dragged this movie down was the editing and how the teachers and students interactions in this film was so boring to sit through. Plus the editing made it seem like it was made by film students with an expensive camera within their budget. I know the parts between the teachers and students was to build upon what a fake hypocritical manipulative person the teacher is. But it wasn't very well done and the whole thing just dragged on and on. The only somewhat interesting thing between the whole teachers and students dynamics was the whole blackmailing ordeal and how the sociopath try to capitalize on it. I personally think it should have focused in a bit more on the build up of the relationship between the teacher who is a sociopath and his partner in crime in the past. The shootout scenes was just pretty much predictable and straightforward. I am not sure why none of the students jumped the guy, but yeah it's just straightforward screaming, running, hiding and blood. There really wasn't much creativity and there just wasn't enough build up of the characters that would make you want to care. Overall, this isn't a terrible movie but there is just way better Takashi Miike films out there.5/10

redrobin62-321-207311 Maybe it's just me, but it sure was hard to keep my eyes off the eye candy that was the school teacher. I don't know where Takashi Miike got him from but I hope he gets signed to do American films. Wow, he's gorgeous.OK, now that the gushing is over, let's have a look at the movie. This one confused me at first because of the editing. It almost seemed as if the editors were in the editing room drinking sake all night, yards of film accidentally fell on the floor, then someone came in behind them and spliced the pieces back into the movie, continuity be damned. As a result the film wasn't linear, but that's okay. At least the filmmakers are willing to stretch out past the point of predictability, a welcome task in any event.Sometimes, with Asian horror, you just have to swallow the overblown acting as presented. The screaming and crying and shivering and stunned looks can get a little irritating especially when those elements are given too much screen time. I know if someone suddenly bursts into this room shooting off a shotgun I wouldn't stand there open mouthed and flabbergasted while he has a bead on my ribcage. In other words, run mother*cker, run! I actually liked this movie. The shooting special effects stunned even ol' me. They did a good job with that. Some of the scenes were just unrealistic, though. I guess it is what it is. And now, to the controversial part, the ending.This movie could never be made in America. Memories of Columbine would prevent it from being green-lighted. To tell you the truth, I'm surprised they allowed a film with such student carnage to be made. And, because Miike was at the helm, gruesome as hell. The film is daring because it has it all - pedophiles, Norse legends, an interracial gay relationship, serial killer bonding and betrayal, etc. Give it to the foreigners for making challenging cinema. They're definitely pushing the boundaries there. I would've given this movie a higher rating, but it was flooded with so much clichéd caricatures that it only looked like just an ultraviolent anime come to life.

Faizan LESSON OF THE EVIL is a relentless, remorseless look at pure evil. It is so brutally violent, it numbs you into submission and you are unsure how you should react to it. There is little joy in watching the film (though there is dark, black humour throughout) but it stands as a unique testament to infant terrible director Takashi Miike's crazy view of the world. The film's first half is almost as restrained as the second is violently eruptive. The setting is an elite private school in Japan where teachers and administrators discuss the prevalent problem of students cheating during exams, mostly using their cell phones. Numerous solutions are proposed but the most radical comes from Seiji Hasumi, the charming, popular English teacher, who suggests body searches and signal jammers, but who's notions are rejected as being counterproductive to keeping the schools environment healthy. Undeterred, Hasumi continues keeping tabs on students and learns of widespread bullying, harassment and illicit teacher student relationships. You think he's going to turn into some kind of saviour, and the films tone seems to be heading this way, but then, and there is no fine way to describe it, Hasumi goes psycho. He explodes into a violent killing machine during a nightly school function, exacting brutal death, wielding a shotgun, pumping bullets into anything that moves and talking to his demons to leave little doubt he is a complete loony.Knowing a bit about Takashi Miike and the reputation that precedes him, this midway shift should not be surprising (or even considered a spoiler). His films are almost exclusively violent, of that there is no doubt, but they revel in tasteless torture porn that is not for the squeamish. LESSON is no different and if anything, the overlong period of exposition, detailing the tribulation of a small group of students at the school, seems overcooked in contrast to the rushed, extended finale, which is really where Miike displays his skills as filmmaker. Hasumi is molded in the fashion of television's DEXTER—a likable serial killer with a wide grin and charismatic looks to match who is also extremely lucky in giving anyone investigating the deaths, a slip. But while the last hour is a lot of fun (at one point Hasumi off's countless students wearing a rain jacket and swaying to the jazzy tune of MACK THE KNIFE) it is indescribable, nearly unwatchable and after sometime, repetitious to the point of being unbearable. And, just when you think there might be some end in sight, Miike turns a moment of hope into a Michael Haneke moment of viewer patience testing ala FUNNY GAMES. If that sounds like your cup of tea, you know you're in for a good time.