Isn't Anyone Alive?

Sogo Ishii, now called Gakuryu Ishii is a punk director whose films, Shuffle, Panic in High School, influenced people like Shinya Tsukamoto – and not the other way. But since 2003, almost no news from Ishii. Hopefully, he’s finally managed to fund this project, an adaptation of an absurdist play. The title translates as “Are any of you alive” or “Are there any survivors?“, and it’s “an anarchic & darkly comic look at the links between life & death, set at a university where an urban legend is spoken of in hushed tones. Seemingly normal people engage in comically surreal conversations & ‘punk’ goings on as everyday life distorts toward a mysterious finale.” The film stars young actor Shota Sometani (also the lead in Sono’s Himizu).