Film: Cold Fish Year of production: 2010 UK Release date: 27th June 2011 Distributor: Third Window Certificate: 18 Running time: 144 mins Director: Sion Sono Starring: Mitsuru Fukikoshi, Tetsu Watanabe, Hikari Kajiwara, Megumi Kagurazaka, Denden Genre: Drama/Thriller Format: DVD Country of Production: Japan Language: Japanese
Review by: Daryl Wing
Inspired by the Saitama Dog Lover Serial Murders that came to light in 1993, involving the exploits of Gen Sekine and his ex-wife Hiroko Kazama, who would breed then sell rare hounds, killing any buyer that felt robbed by their extortionate valuations, the latest offering from cult Japanese writer-director Sion Sono (Love Exposure) swaps the lovable mutts for tropical fish. So is Cold Fish the compelling thriller it claims to be, or will we be tossing it back from whence it came? Shamoto is struggling to run a small tropical fish shop with his second wife, Taeko, and his troublesome daughter, Mitsuko. When Mitsuko is caught shoplifting at a grocery store, they meet a friendly man named Murata, who helps to settle things between Mitsuko and the store manager.
Since Murata also runs a tropical fish shop, Shamoto establishes a bond with him and they become friends. Mitsuko is offered work by Murata, who suggests she stay with him and his wife at their beautiful home, allowing Shamoto to rebuild his relationship with Taeko.
All seems well, but Murata hides many dark secrets behind his friendly exterior. Selling cheap fish to his customers for high prices with his artful lies, if anyone suspects fraud or refuses to go along with his moneymaking schemes, they’re murdered and their bodies disposed.
With Mitsuko a seemingly willing hostage at Murata’s home and Shamoto fooled into becoming a business partner, it isn’t long before the mild-mannered shopkeeper has to take a stand in order to save his family - and himself...
Director Sion Sono cleverly invests so much time in establishing his (mostly likeable) characters and their inter-relationships in the hope that when he starts snuffing them out, there’s far more gravity to their deaths than you’ll find in many films of similar ilk. And the opening half hour is arguably the most entertaining, introducing us to Shamoto, a man who never amounted to much, his wife, Taeko (her knockers would question her worth to the story while her fans will argue they’re are all that matters), and his brat, Mitsuko, untroubled by Murata’s overfriendliness, as in fact, oddly, they all are.
The quirky opening act pulls the viewer into a simple world, and thanks to strong performances by all the leads, we quickly empathise with Shamoto, a man as wet as the weather, and his family, as they struggle to face up to their problems. At the same time, we fall for the smooth-talking, charismatic Murata, and his beautiful wife, and we’re hoodwinked by his successful business, but we’re also suspicious of their motives and keenness to befriend such a disillusioned protagonist when surely they don’t need the inconvenience. Although by now he’s a little creepy, it isn’t until Murata takes Taeko to one side that we realise this offbeat family-drama is not all it seems, and it’s also the point in which Taeko finally shows promise – her character’s interesting desire to be dominated, however, is sadly never explored further.
And what happens next is disappointing to say the least. Padding out most of the running time with lessons in how to dismember a body, intercut with dodgy double-crossings, passionless poisoning and repetitive threats to make people “invisible,” Sion Sono fails to find a spark for the majority of a lengthy second act. Uneventful in the extreme, it’s only worth watching if you plan on becoming a butcher. Even then, it would probably be quicker to partake in an Open University course of similar study.
The film also suffers from an extremely negative portrayal of its female characters, whether it be Taeko’s untold hankering for a high-handed partner (the perfect excuse to give her impressive globes an airing - no doubt what attracted her star-gazing husband in the first place); Murata’s indecisive wife, who gets her kicks from entrusting herself to no-one, as long as she gets what she wants (a good excuse to get it all out); the ungrateful daughter who apparently hates her family, yet hardly utters a word in disgust; and six other teenage disciples that work for Murata at his enormous fish emporium, with no hint of back stories (a good excuse to have a bit of girl on girl action). All in all, their lack of depth is bound to leave most female viewers dumbfounded. Having said that, our planetarium-obsessed male lead is hardly blessed with any either.
With all of its horrific activity confined to the final third, Cold Fish is, therefore, hard work for the most part, and when it does finally indulge in the red stuff, including a fantastic struggle through slippery entrails, you’ll still be slightly surprised by Shamoto’s sudden transformation from lifeless loser to complete fruitcake. Considering the film drags on for two-and-a-half hours, that’s some statement. Still, the opening act looks very pretty, even if budget constraints confine the movie to limited locations and rather bland camerawork later on, but the effects are top notch, and this DVD release does at least offer a more interesting special feature on the true events that inspired the movie.
Cold Fish starts promisingly but loses its way during the bloodless flimsiness of its second act, which refuses to end, or in fact add anything remotely interesting until the ruthless finale that lacks originality and isn’t as clever as it thinks it is. To quote our leading man, “life is pain, and it doesn’t get much more painful than watching this.” DW
The latest feature from cult Japanese writer-director Sion Sono (Love Exposure).
Inspired by and loosely based on the real-life exploits of serial killer couple Gen Sekine and his ex-wife Hiroko Kazama (the perpetrators of Tokyo’s notorious 1993 “Saitama serial murders of dog lovers” killings), the film is a psychotic cavalcade of sex, violence and comedy that has been hailed by Variety for its “gleeful humour and dare-you-to-watch aesthetic.”
Shamoto runs a small tropical fish shop. His second wife, Taeko, does not get along with his daughter, Mitsuko, and this worries him. One day Mitsuko is caught shoplifting at a grocery store. There they meet a friendly man named Murata, who helps to settle things between Mitsuko and the store manager. Since Murata also runs a tropical fish shop, Shamoto establishes a bond with him and they become friends; Mitsuko even begins working for Murata and living at his house. What Shamoto doesn’t know, however, is that Murata hides many dark secrets behind his friendly face. He sells cheap fish to his customers for high prices with his artful lies. If anyone detects his fraud or refuses to go along with his moneymaking schemes, they’re murdered and their bodies disposed of by Murata and his wife in grisly ways.
Shamoto is taken in by Murata’s tactics, and by the time he realizes that Murata is insane, and a serial killer who has made over fifty people disappear, he is powerless to do anything about it. But now Mitsuko is a hostage at Murata’s home and Shamoto himself has become the killer’s unwilling accomplice. Cruel murders gradually cripple his mind and finally the ordinary man is driven to the edge of the abyss.
Not for the squeamish or those easily offended by graphic images of sex and violence, Cold Fish is a compelling, slowburn thriller, peppered throughout with unexpected twists and surprises.
Film: Cold Fish Release date: 8th April 2011 Certificate: TBC Running time: 144 mins Director: Sion Sono Starring: Mitsuru Fukikoshi, Denden, Asuka Kurosawa, Mugumi Kagurazaka, Hikari Kajiwara Genre: Drama/Thriller Studio: Third Window Format: Cinema Country: Japan
Third Window Films has announced the acquisition of Shion Sono's Cold Fish. The controversial director received critical acclaim for his previous Third Window release, Love Exposure.
Cold Fish is said to be based on ‘real events' in which a mild-mannered man's life is darkly turned on its head after unexpectedly becoming entwined with an insane serial killer.
The film should reach UK cinemas by May 2011, with a DVD/Blu-ray release pencilled in for June/July 2011.
Film: Love Exposure Release date: 25th January 2010 Certificate: 18 Running time: 237 mins Director: Sion Sono Starring: Takahiro Nishijima, Atsuro Watabe, Sakura Ando, Hikari Mitsushima, Yutaka Shimizu Genre: Action/Comedy/Crime/Drama/Romance Studio: Third Window Format: DVD Country: Japan
Alfred Hitchcock once quipped, “The length of a film should be directly related to the endurance of the human bladder,” and, valid though his point is, it comes to us from an age before the DVD. Watching Shion Sono’s Love Exposure, at a negligible three minutes short of four hours in length, the ability to pause without missing a scene is to be appreciated. The almost incredible length of the Japanese director’s sixth feature-length film to get worldwide release (previous outings include the celebrated Suicide Club) is not the only perplexing characteristic of a film which landed fourteen awards on the international festival circuit. A tangle of techniques unfolds a convoluted narrative inhabited by unorthodox characters, and the effect is nothing if not original.
The story brings together several plot lines and characters focussed around 17-year-old Yu Honda (Takahiro Nishijima).
Following the death of Yu’s mother at the beginning of the film, his devout Catholic father, Tetsu, played by Atsuro Watabe, decides to join the ministry. Shortly after, tempted and quickly jilted by a capricious woman, the gentle priest begins to punish his son for his own loss by demanding Yu’s daily confession.
A well-behaved Catholic boy, Yu goes out in search of sins to commit in order to satisfy the vicarious desires of his father. Requiring sins of a suitable depravity, Yu becomes a master of up-skirt photography on unsuspecting passers-by. One girl, Aya Koike (Sakura Ando), catches Yu, despite his talent for panty-peeking espionage, and takes an interest in him and his work. The diabolical leader of a Christian cult, Aya hatches a plan to ruin Yu and convert his family to the Zero Church…
This exploration of voyeuristic perversion and the strictures of a minority religion (less than one percent of the Japanese population practice Christianity) is ambiguous in terms of genre. The plot is as farcical as it sounds, and a sexual humour pervades. However, often with a sardonic edge to the dark subject matter, and scenes of touching sensitivity, Love Exposure is far from a lightweight comedy.
Yu’s voyeurism is, at first, nothing more than teenage lust (fairly) innocently misdirected. However, in Sono’s hands, it turns to a critique of the dichotomy of sexual repression and open objectification of women in Japanese culture, and takes a blatant Oedipal approach to Yu’s dead mother via sexualising the image of the Virgin Mary.
Indeed, sexual taboos, that in a sombre, hard-hitting drama might take centre stage, are in plentiful supply in Love Exposure, yet never succumb to a dark eroticism. From incest to genital mutilation, every hidden act is individually painted with broad and often humorous, brush strokes, which in the grand panorama of this lengthy film paint a picture of a society with complex sex issues.
As a consequence of the length of the film, and quantity of plot points this intricate thematic exploration creates, characters do not develop through a traditional narrative arc. Sympathies for Yu, his father and his lover Kaori (Makiko Watanabe), Aya and the object of Yu’s affection and lust Yoko (Hikari Mitsushima), are not so much divided as constantly flipped as a result.
Nishijima’s performance flits between brilliantly choreographed slapstick and an emotional sensitivity, which lends his character the believability necessary to elevate this film above a bizarre comic experiment. Yu’s endeavours are both fun and foolish, and the audience wants him to be caught and to fail only to be then hurt by his failures, and support his struggle for liberation.
Ando's sadistic cult leader Koike is a brilliant comic-book villain, combining menace and allure in her tyrannical smile. Yet, her brief back story reveals a troubled and complex psychology, which makes her character and where she could take us much more than that.
Ghosts and fantasies haunt the periphery of every character, and love-interest Yoko is no exception. A girl who left her abusive womanising father, to tag along with the return of the flighty Kaori into the lives of Yu and Tetsu, is the owner of the only pair of panties to give Yu his longed for erection. Shortly after this feat, she falls in love with Yu’s female alter ego Miss Scorpion before joining the Zero Church with the zeal of a convert. Still, she may well be the least interesting of the film's band of misfits.
Tetsu is never fully explored but Watabe's subtle performance in his limited screen time consistently maintains the tragic loss of the opening throughout. His gentle priest in search of love through his son, God and Kaori is ordinary in comparison to much of the film, serving to anchor the meandering distractions in an accessible sadness.
Love Exposure is idiosyncratically Japanese, right down to the J-Pop soundtrack and off-beat comic set-pieces, but with a self-awareness to pastiche Japanese popular culture, or, more accurately, Western perceptions of it. For example, Yu learns the art of taking dirty pictures from a wise old master in a montage of martial art-style training, and all the teenage central characters have an inexplicable talent for karate that allows them to fight off scores of bad guy goons with ease. There is also the occasional nod to the traditions of Japanese cinema from the overblown blood spattering of ‘70s samurai movies to the more modern violence of Kinji Fukasaku’s Battle Royale.
So much is brought together in this film; influences and original ideas stitched together in a cinematic patchwork and though, like a patchwork, it may be made of so many apparently ill-fitting constituent parts it still serves its purpose as a quilt. Love Exposure has as many 'purposes' as parts, but they can be neatly contained within the blanket of satisfying entertainment. GC
