MovieChat Forums > Ju-on: Shiroi rôjo (2009) Discussion > Whats up with the basketball?

Whats up with the basketball?

posted 13 years ago by emptyspaces153
7 replies | jump to latest

Seriously, I watched this with my girlfriend and I didnt even notice, but she told me to rewind, that weird crazy ghost in the bathroom was weilding a basketball. In doubt, I rewound, thinking I may have to admit her to the nearest facility, but I was wrong. The woman held a basketball throughout the whole movie, and I thought: there must be a key plot element to this somewhere, what does it mean? what is the significance? what horrible secret does it hold? But nope, it's just some old lady with a basketball. By the way, whats up with the old lady? why is she such a bitch, why is she attacking people with her breasts, and why the hunchback? If someone could provide a real answer, this movie would become a lot more serious. Thank you! Loved it, by the way

[–] jennatar 13 years ago

Even in not-a-ghost scenes, the old woman was cradling the basketball like a baby, holding the ball against her womb, and so on. Donning a wig and applying makeup were also part of her dementia behaviors (see also: approaching Nephew with some sexual aggression, which is totally a thing with some patients suffering from dementia), so I took the whole kaboodle as "person with Alzheimer's replaying scenes from youth."

I also thought maybe the old woman had lost her child long ago? Or maybe it had been taken from her? I briefly thought, also, that "Nephew" was actually her son, but I hadn't been following the dialogue carefully enough, so who knows. EDIT: Hooohkay, yes, the Killer is Grandma's Son (so, creepily, the basketball is kind of a proxy or representative for "the killer, before he became super-stabby").

[–] Ktw12 12 years ago

I think she had Alzheimers which makes you act weird. I think thats why she carried around the ball and applied makeup like she did. Other than the Alzheimers making her act odd I don't think there was any significance behind the basketball.

[–] Zikten 12 years ago

She is trying to form a basketball team. None of those people actually get killed. All she did was show some them her moves and then proposed they join her team for the big street ball tournament on saturday.

[–] weepingwillow314 11 years ago

I understood the granma putting on the wig (and lipstick?) and grabbing his hand to place on her breast was an attempt to save the little girl from being molested by him. trying to act attractive and younger. dementia to be sure, but still a noble thought.

______
love never dies

[–] ssimpson-10 11 years ago

Agreed mama, she was trying to 'save' the girl. Taking his basketball was another way of trying to get his attention, the girl said he goes nuts when someone else touches it.

[–] cotorch 11 years ago

While I agree with you guys that she was, on some level, aware of what was going on between the girl and her uncle and that her attempts at making herself look younger (the clothes she wore especially when she confronted him looked almost child like) were meant to try and substitute herself with the little girl as the victim in order to save her, I believe you all missed the point with the basketball.

Why she kept carrying it around, you ask? Well, just consider: what do you think the uncle used to carry the little girl's decapitated head around with him on his way to his elected suicide spot?
That's right! A bag for basketball gear (normally containing towels, drinks and, of course, a basketball)!

We all know that in these movies people often get omens pertaining to deaths that are related to the curse (remember in one of the previous films that girl who kept staring at a strangely shaped stain on the floor only to realize as she fell on it while being attacked by the ghost that it perfectly matched her bottom and her hand? A handprint from the future, basically).

I am quite certain the old woman was perfectly aware that the little girl would die and her head would end up in that bag (whether because her dementia made her able to see things the others could not or simply because she personally received some omen of what would happen) and that's why she kept taking it and showing it to people.
It was her own, impotent and mute way to scream at them "Don't you see? Don't you see what's going to happen?!"
In her eyes, she might as well have been holding up and showing to people the girl's head.

And now, even after they are both dead she keeps toting that ball around, either because she's stuck reliving her desperate attempts to prevent the tragedy from occurring or because she wants people to learn what transpired (if you noticed, we never see her kill anyone. She only spooked people. The delivery guy isn't killed by her but rather accidentally drove into an homicidal craze and the girl in the school is never mentioned again after her jump scare).

Well then, hopefully that should make the movie more enjoyable to you guys... if you agree with my interpretation, that is ;)

[–] BulmaPunkRocker 10 years ago

You have some points.
I guess we all agree that "Grandma" was trying to protect, in her own way, little Mirai from her uncle, who wasn't him anymore.

*SPOILERS*
And good point remarking that Grandma was carrying the basket ball around while alive, and that the uncle brings with him Mirai's head in the sports' bag.
But this is obviously related with director Ryûta Miyake's short film "Sugatami" ("Full-Length Mirror"), featured in "Kaidan Shin Mimibukuro: Gekijô-ban" (2004) film.

Please excuse my terrible redaction, english is not my native language.