NEW GROUP

ABOUT THE FILM:

In Japanese with English subtitles.

Ai, a quiet and withdrawn student, lives by the strict routines of her high school, where individuality has little room to breathe. The arrival of Yu, a transfer student recently returned from abroad, unsettles this order. Detached and openly questioning the rules that shape their lives, Yu captures Ai’s attention with provocative questions, most of all: “Is a family really necessary?” When a classmate suddenly drops to all fours in the schoolyard and refuses to move, the scene becomes the first in a series of increasingly disturbing acts. Soon, more students join, forming a silent human pyramid as teachers demand conformity and punish dissent with violence.

In his second feature, director Yûta Shimotsu transforms an everyday high school setting into something unnervingly surreal with mounting anti-establishment horrors, where discipline curdles into authoritarian ritual and belonging takes on a sinister weight. Combining sharp social commentary with an atmosphere of creeping dread, NEW GROUP is a chilling portrait of obedience, complicity, and the fragile line between order and chaos.

FORMAT: DCP

DISTRIBUTOR: Kadokawa Corporation

COUNTRY: Japan