I have to admit I went home and cried.
Two of my schoolmates tried to persuade me to nick some sweets from a shop but I couldn't do it and thought I was risking their friendship by bottling it.
Thirty-five years later I am still pals with one of them who just happens to be a police inspector.
Feelings were heightened when we were 14 years old. It was a truly difficult time and I don't think I've seen a movie which reflects this quite as well as Bad Company.
Tomoyuki Furumaya's movie is ten years old but has been re-released in the UK as part of the Japan Foundation's touring festival, entitled Whose Film Is It Anyway? which has been showing across the country in the last month.
It surrounds the life of three schoolboys who are trying to find themselves at school and at home. Two of them are played by Yamato Okitsu and Yuta Nakajima who, according to internet movie database, haven't been in a film since.
That's a bit of a surprise because they are utterly convincing - Okitsu as the self-styled leader of five impish teenager, Nakajima as a troubled tubby follower who doesn't really have the bottle (a bit like me) for his pal's idea of fun.
Meanwhile, the brightest of the trio, played by Ryosuke Takahashi follows the leader despite his conscience telling him not to.
Of course, the adults don't come out at all well. Parents are seen to have little understanding for their offspring and teachers even less.
Certainly, the latter hand out the types of corporal punishment that was banned on these shores long ago.
Bad Company is an unusual film which struck a chord with me because it reminded me so much of school days.
I'm not sure what I would have made of it, if it hadn't stirred that personal memory.
Laughs: none
Jumps: none
Vomit: none
Nudity: none
Overall rating: 7/10
0 Comments