When a typhoon strikes their provincial town, one junior high school student is stranded in Tokyo, while her classmates are stranded in their school, fending for themselves and letting loose their pent-up frustrations.
The take
Coming-of-age films are usually optimistic, but sometimes, growing up isn’t as rosy as portrayed to be, as kids start to learn the failings of the adults that should know better and the tension that lies between sexes. Typhoon Club is like an anti-Breakfast Club, with the kids stuck in school overnight, not just one morning, due to a natural typhoon instead of randomly assigned detentions, and with the kids returning home traumatized instead of triumphant. Director Shinji Sōmai crafts a raw, turbulent experience, alternating between before, during, and after their stay that steadily heightens the uneasy, sometimes dangerous, experiences where these teenagers directly confront the disappointment that is adulthood. It’s a challenging film to watch, but Typhoon Club’s early exploration of teen ennui made it to be considered one of the best Japanese films ever made.
What stands out
Halfway through the film, there’s a scene of a boy chasing down a girl in a horror-esque sequence that can be triggering for some folks. Each kick of the door is terrifying.
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