Cold Fish

johnny_ultimate

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PxwImfxDTnM

Out today in the IFI, this is the latest film from pleasantly mental Japanese director Sion Sono. Some of you might know him from his epic, meandering but brilliant four hour long Love Exposure. This one's messy in a whole different way :pac:

Hard to describe without giving a lot of the surprises away - but it begins as a typical enough domestic drama before becoming what is a kind of exaggerated parody of your typical revenge film. Won't go into plot, but there's some very colourful, pleasantly OTT performances and a very dark sense of humour throughout. Not for the easily disgusted - a lot of unsettling and aggressive violence and sex, and there's an awful lot of red near the end. All in Sono's eccentric directorial style, shot digitally (which unfortunately makes the darker scenes look a little rough, but a minor complaint).

It's a very good film, if lacking in the grand themes of Love Exposure. But as a maverick take on a well worn genre, definitely recommended.

Setun

Sounds very interesting actually, although judging by the trailer you're right to describe the director as being pleasantly mental.

Otis Driftwood

Good reviews for this one unfortunatly I doubt it will get a general release.Sigh.

e_e

This film really shook me up, it shows how much most movie violence is lacking in effect nowadays.

johnny_ultimate

Otis Driftwood wrote: »

Good reviews for this one unfortunatly I doubt it will get a general release.Sigh.

It's gotten to a point now when anything but the most mainstream of foreign language cinema ain't getting mainstream releases - a distressing situation. A hyper violent low budget Japanese film? Not a chance.

e_e wrote: »

This film really shook me up, it shows how much most movie violence is lacking in effect nowadays.

It was kind of like a mix between Audition (although Cold Fish makes its true intentions clearer much earlier) and Inside. The violence is fairly shocking in its intensity and - more disturbingly - its casualness: a number of the characters actively seem to enjoy the bloodletting. It's most definitely brutal, especially

some of the aggressive sex scenes like the one with Shamoto's wife

. But I also thought there was a strong black comedy side to the film, which prevented it from becoming too shocking - thought the fact that it never took itself too seriously was a major strength.

bnt

I caught the last IFI screening this evening. The way the story develops, you''re drawn in to Shamoto's nightmares - starting with his shambolic home life.

Early on, he has a vision of his daughter kicking the s#!t out of his new wife: it's not clear whether that was imagination or a real memory, but it's echoed in the ending, when his daughter kicks him when he's down.

I really felt for the guy as events spiralled out of control.

From the poster you can tell that something happens, but I wasn't expecting that, I can tell you ... there was a faint smell of vomit in the cinema, leading me to suspect that someone in the earlier screening saw their lunch again. :eek:

Beruthiel

Considering that I watched some of Ichi the Killer through my fingers, will I be able to stomach this?

johnny_ultimate

Beruthiel wrote: »

Considering that I watched some of Ichi the Killer through my fingers, will I be able to stomach this?

It's a hard question to answer - the violence is probably more disturbingly brutal, casual and realistic than some of the more OTT films out there. It's distressing that there's so much crimson when the film is largely grounded in some sort of reality. Not an easy watch by any stretch, but I've seen worse (curse you Antichrist!). Personally I'd imagine it would be worth it for anyone but those who are likely to faint at the sight of excessive use of the colour red!

e_e

johnny_ultimate wrote: »

It was kind of like a mix between Audition (although Cold Fish makes its true intentions clearer much earlier) and Inside.

Yeah reminded me of Audition too in that it goes further in its final 20 minutes than most audiences will be able to cope with (I'll check out Inside too since it's on Mubi). But the film it reminded me most of was Sympathy For Mr Vengeance, in that it shows a characters increasingly desperate situation and it how it leads to them becoming dehumanized because of it. As well as containing some jet black humor and outright absurdity.

The rape scene I found really hard to take though, even caused an elderly man to walk out of the screening I was in.

It's a really powerful piece of work though, not what I would have expected after Love Exposure. Must check out some of Sono's other films now.