紀子の食卓, Noriko no Shokutaku

"Are you connected to yourself?" A question left me asking myself what it meant. It was a question repeatedly asked throughout the first movie. I didn't know what it meant nor how to answer it until I watched this movie...

Nokiro's Dinner Table, a prequel to the movie Suicide Club, tells the story of Nokiro a highschool student living with her parents and younger sister Yuka in Toyokawa. She always felt she's bounded and wanted to run away. She met a mysterious girl online named Ueno Station 54 and decided to meet her when Nokiro finally decided to run away from home.

The story revolved around what triggered the mass suicuide featured in the first movie, who and what made those girls commit suicide. It is set before, during and after the first movie. It does explains things and events that was a bit confusing in the first movie but there are still some things that would make you think, like who started the family circle, it can't be just Kumiko, and how about those kids in the first movie are they part of the family circle as well?

Though this movie isn't as bloody and disturbing as the first movie, it does have a message to say... like alienation and who internet plays a role, generation gap and miscommunication.

originally posted: January 15, 2010