Cold Fish
Directed by Sion Sono
Starring Mitsuru Fukkoshi, Hikari Kajiwara, Denden, Megumi Kagurazaka, Asuka Kurosawa
Written by Sion Sono
2010, Japan
Fans of transgressive cinema were overjoyed to see Sion Sono’s latest atrocity appear on the London Film Festival schedule. The Japanese malcontent is almost as prolific as his countryman Miike Takashi, both of them delivering bold and challenging freshly wrought movies year in, year out. After satirizing emerging fads and consumerism in Suicide Club and taking a skewed look at teen romance, religion and the Japanese nuclear family in Love Exposure, he injects a further dysfunctional analysis throughout Cold Fish, a serial killer-themed tale on the surface that obscures a lurking lampoon on present notions of masculinity, progeny and the contemporary status of morality in Japanese society. Based on a true story which one sincerely prays has been amplified through Sono’s warped vision, Cold Fish is telegraphed...
Directed by Sion Sono
Starring Mitsuru Fukkoshi, Hikari Kajiwara, Denden, Megumi Kagurazaka, Asuka Kurosawa
Written by Sion Sono
2010, Japan
Fans of transgressive cinema were overjoyed to see Sion Sono’s latest atrocity appear on the London Film Festival schedule. The Japanese malcontent is almost as prolific as his countryman Miike Takashi, both of them delivering bold and challenging freshly wrought movies year in, year out. After satirizing emerging fads and consumerism in Suicide Club and taking a skewed look at teen romance, religion and the Japanese nuclear family in Love Exposure, he injects a further dysfunctional analysis throughout Cold Fish, a serial killer-themed tale on the surface that obscures a lurking lampoon on present notions of masculinity, progeny and the contemporary status of morality in Japanese society. Based on a true story which one sincerely prays has been amplified through Sono’s warped vision, Cold Fish is telegraphed...
- 3/14/2014
- by John
- SoundOnSight
In this warped chiller, tropicial fish store owner Shamoto (Mitsuru Kukikoshi) lives with his bolshie teenage daughter Mitsuko (Hikari Kajiwara) who, in turn, loathes her slatternly stepmother Taeko (Megumi Kagurazaka). One night, Mitsuko is caught shoplifting but another customer, Murata (Denden), coincidentally the owner of a bigger fish store, talks the shop out of pressing charges by offering the girl a job and a place to stay. However, he's not got her best interests at heart as he's Japan's answer to Fred West.
- 11/8/2012
- Sky Movies
A 30-second teaser for Shion Sono’s upcoming film The Land of Hope has been uploaded to the official YouTube channel of its distributor, Bitters End.
It’s set in the Japanese countryside and revolves around a couple, Yoichi (Jun Murakami) and Izumi (Megumi Kagurazaka), who are living in a village as humble dairy farmers with Yoichi’s parents Yasuhiko (Isao Natsuyagi) and Chieko (Naoko Otani).
One day, a huge earthquake strikes and an evacuation begins, but Yoichi is hesitant to leave their lifetime home behind. When he discovers his wife is pregnant, he must do whatever it takes to protect her and their unborn child. Meanwhile, their neighbors (Yutaka Shimizu, Hikari Kajiwara, Denden, and Mariko Tsutsui). have to make their own choice about evacuation.
“The Land of Hope” is scheduled for an autumn release in Japan. A quick UK release is also likely due to Third Window Films being one of the co-producers.
It’s set in the Japanese countryside and revolves around a couple, Yoichi (Jun Murakami) and Izumi (Megumi Kagurazaka), who are living in a village as humble dairy farmers with Yoichi’s parents Yasuhiko (Isao Natsuyagi) and Chieko (Naoko Otani).
One day, a huge earthquake strikes and an evacuation begins, but Yoichi is hesitant to leave their lifetime home behind. When he discovers his wife is pregnant, he must do whatever it takes to protect her and their unborn child. Meanwhile, their neighbors (Yutaka Shimizu, Hikari Kajiwara, Denden, and Mariko Tsutsui). have to make their own choice about evacuation.
“The Land of Hope” is scheduled for an autumn release in Japan. A quick UK release is also likely due to Third Window Films being one of the co-producers.
- 5/11/2012
- Nippon Cinema
Last year, director Shion Sono chose to film his live-action adaptation of Himizu in an area devastated by the 2011 Tohoku earthquake and tsunami, incorporating the effects of disaster into the story. With his next film, The Land of Hope, he’s going a step further by making a human drama about a family living within the evacuation radius of a damaged nuclear power plant during the disaster.
It was previously known that the story would focus on three primary couples played by Isao Natsuyagi, Naoko Otani, Jun Murakami, Megumi Kagurazaka, Yutaka Shimizu, and Hikari Kajiwara—with Denden playing someone with important ties to the main family. Today it was revealed that Daikichi Sugawara, Takashi Yamanaka, and Kenzo Kawarazaki would also star.
Additionally, the film will boast a fairly large cast of established actors in smaller supporting roles including Yusuke Iseya, Mitsuru Fukikoshi, Fusako Urabe, Gitan Ohtsuru, Satoshi Matsuo, Shiro Namiki,...
It was previously known that the story would focus on three primary couples played by Isao Natsuyagi, Naoko Otani, Jun Murakami, Megumi Kagurazaka, Yutaka Shimizu, and Hikari Kajiwara—with Denden playing someone with important ties to the main family. Today it was revealed that Daikichi Sugawara, Takashi Yamanaka, and Kenzo Kawarazaki would also star.
Additionally, the film will boast a fairly large cast of established actors in smaller supporting roles including Yusuke Iseya, Mitsuru Fukikoshi, Fusako Urabe, Gitan Ohtsuru, Satoshi Matsuo, Shiro Namiki,...
- 4/4/2012
- Nippon Cinema
“Tsumetai Nettaigyo” is Sion Sono’s and Yoshiki Takahashi’s latest screenplay directed by Sono himself. I’ve always really liked the way Sono films his scenes. It often feels as if we, the audience, see what his characters see; kind of like seeing directly through their eyes, standing where they stand, etc. He manages to put you in the scene with his actors. Amazing technique.
“Cold Fish” is apparently based on a true story and it starts like this: Nobuyuki Shamoto, a tropical fish store owner (Mitsuru Fukikoshi); Taeko, his new wife (Megumi Kagurazaka); and his daughter Mitsuko (Hikari Kajiwara) line up for a cozy little supper. The daughter then goes out to meet her Pontiac-Firebird-driving boyfriend, the wife turns down her husband when he tries to get frisky and well, the poor guy goes out in secret to puke in his bathroom.
“Drring! Drring!” The phone rings, Nobuyuki...
“Cold Fish” is apparently based on a true story and it starts like this: Nobuyuki Shamoto, a tropical fish store owner (Mitsuru Fukikoshi); Taeko, his new wife (Megumi Kagurazaka); and his daughter Mitsuko (Hikari Kajiwara) line up for a cozy little supper. The daughter then goes out to meet her Pontiac-Firebird-driving boyfriend, the wife turns down her husband when he tries to get frisky and well, the poor guy goes out in secret to puke in his bathroom.
“Drring! Drring!” The phone rings, Nobuyuki...
- 10/24/2011
- by The0racle
- AsianMoviePulse
The Film:
I honestly can say I have never seen a serial killer film like Cold Fish before, and can’t imagine I will again. This film can lay claim to being one of the most bizarre viewing experiences I’ve had this year. This was my first film of Sono’s, I had wanted to see his other films having heard mixed things, I just had not had the chance to yet. The film is loosely based on the ‘Saitama serial murders of dog lovers’ (a couple who murdered and dismembered four people in 1993). I had not heard of this case, and upon further research I can clearly see that Sono and Takahashi have taken the basic idea and done their own thing with it.
The film has a very odd start, we meet the Shamoto family, consisting of the head of the family Nobuyuki (Mitsuru Fukikoshi), his young...
I honestly can say I have never seen a serial killer film like Cold Fish before, and can’t imagine I will again. This film can lay claim to being one of the most bizarre viewing experiences I’ve had this year. This was my first film of Sono’s, I had wanted to see his other films having heard mixed things, I just had not had the chance to yet. The film is loosely based on the ‘Saitama serial murders of dog lovers’ (a couple who murdered and dismembered four people in 1993). I had not heard of this case, and upon further research I can clearly see that Sono and Takahashi have taken the basic idea and done their own thing with it.
The film has a very odd start, we meet the Shamoto family, consisting of the head of the family Nobuyuki (Mitsuru Fukikoshi), his young...
- 9/27/2011
- by Marcella Papandrea
- Killer Films
Directed By: Sion Sono
Starring: Makoto Ashikawa, Denden, Mitsuru Fukikoshi, Megumi Kagurazaka, Hikari Kajiwara
It's hard to know where to begin with Sion Sono's Cold Fish. If you've ever experienced one of his film's (Suicide Club, Noriko's Dinner Table) then I have a feeling you know exactly what I mean. It's like all the answers to all the questions in the world are contained in each one of his movies. The only problem is---we will never be able to uncover them. It's simultaneously the most frustrating and exciting thing about the films, the idea of knowing that something miraculous is happening on several different levels but we never seem to be able to precisely describe what that miraculous thing is. We are never able to fully put all the pieces together.
Cold Fish is no different only this time the level of confusion seems to be a bit greater than in the past.
Starring: Makoto Ashikawa, Denden, Mitsuru Fukikoshi, Megumi Kagurazaka, Hikari Kajiwara
It's hard to know where to begin with Sion Sono's Cold Fish. If you've ever experienced one of his film's (Suicide Club, Noriko's Dinner Table) then I have a feeling you know exactly what I mean. It's like all the answers to all the questions in the world are contained in each one of his movies. The only problem is---we will never be able to uncover them. It's simultaneously the most frustrating and exciting thing about the films, the idea of knowing that something miraculous is happening on several different levels but we never seem to be able to precisely describe what that miraculous thing is. We are never able to fully put all the pieces together.
Cold Fish is no different only this time the level of confusion seems to be a bit greater than in the past.
- 9/4/2011
- by Andre Dumas
- Planet Fury
The Melbourne International Film Festival is celebrating its 60th year, and I made it my duty to try and catch at least a few films. I like to see films that are weird and different, and as much as I wanted to see some more main stream films at the fest, I decided to pick some of the stranger ones. None come more strange and off beat than Sion Sono’s (who also wrote the screenplay with Yoshiki Takahashi) Cold Fish. I honestly can say I have never seen a serial killer film like this before, and can’t imagine I will again. This film can lay claim to being one of the most bizzare viewing experiences I’ve had this year. This was my first film of Sono’s , I had wanted to see his other films having heard mixed things, I just had not had the chance to yet.
- 8/5/2011
- by Marcella Papandrea
- Killer Films
The Melbourne International Film Festival (Miff) is in its glorious 60th year and if the initial days of screenings are anything to go by, it will definitely be one to remember. I have outlined some Miff picks, and hope after reading this you will seek out these films at the other sessions they are playing or elsewhere if you are not in Melbourne. Cold Fish tells the semi-true accounts of a tropical fish owner Shamoto (Mitsuru Fukikoshi) and his fractured family who meet an entrepreneur in the same business. Murata (Denden) is the hugely successful owner of amazon Gold, he hires Shamoto's daughter Mitsuko (Hikari Kajiwara) after she is caught stealing from a convenience store in an effort to keep her out of further trouble....
- 7/24/2011
- Screen Anarchy
There is a scene in Shion Sono’s 2008 film Love Exposure in which a girl destroys a family home, smashing the walls, furniture and family photos to smithereens, all by hand. This she informs us through a voiceover was her job for some time and she loved it. Destroying the space inhabited by a “happy family” is a thrill to her, she gets high on it.
This scene encapsulates a theme that has run through a number of Shion Sono’s blistering and brutal films and it is one that he returns to with force in his latest, Cold Fish.
In the opening scene of Cold Fish, Taeko (Megumi Kagurazaka) throws food into a shopping basket in a supermarket with the pounding music and editing and composition of a dynamic action sequence. She then returns home to microwave everything she has purchased, preparing a family meal for her resentful and bratty step-daughter,...
This scene encapsulates a theme that has run through a number of Shion Sono’s blistering and brutal films and it is one that he returns to with force in his latest, Cold Fish.
In the opening scene of Cold Fish, Taeko (Megumi Kagurazaka) throws food into a shopping basket in a supermarket with the pounding music and editing and composition of a dynamic action sequence. She then returns home to microwave everything she has purchased, preparing a family meal for her resentful and bratty step-daughter,...
- 6/24/2011
- by Craig Skinner
- HeyUGuys.co.uk
Director: Sion Sono. Review: Adam Wing. From Sion Sono, the critically acclaimed director of ‘Love Exposure’, comes the deeply disturbing tale Cold Fish. Sono’s latest oddity is based on a real life murder case that became known as the ‘Saitama serial murders of dog lovers’. A case involving dog-breeder Gen Sekine and ex-wife Hiroko Kazama, who murdered & dismembered four people including a disgruntled client. Cold Fish is available on DVD and Blu-ray courtesy of Third Window Films. In Sono’s movie, Shamato (Mitsuru Fukikoshi) runs a small tropical fish shop with second wife Taeko (Megumi Kagurazaka). Taeko doesn’t get on with Shamato’s daughter Mitsuko (Hikari Kajiwara), who’s brief encounter with crime introduces them to a man called Murata (Denden). Murata helps to resolve the issue and establishes a bond with the family, offering Mitsuko a job at his own tropical fish shop across town as they all become friends.
- 6/13/2011
- 24framespersecond.net
Director: Sion Sono. Review: Adam Wing. From Sion Sono, the critically acclaimed director of ‘Love Exposure’, comes the deeply disturbing tale Cold Fish. Sono’s latest oddity is based on a real life murder case that became known as the ‘Saitama serial murders of dog lovers’. A case involving dog-breeder Gen Sekine and ex-wife Hiroko Kazama, who murdered & dismembered four people including a disgruntled client. Cold Fish is available on DVD and Blu-ray courtesy of Third Window Films. In Sono’s movie, Shamato (Mitsuru Fukikoshi) runs a small tropical fish shop with second wife Taeko (Megumi Kagurazaka). Taeko doesn’t get on with Shamato’s daughter Mitsuko (Hikari Kajiwara), who’s brief encounter with crime introduces them to a man called Murata (Denden). Murata helps to resolve the issue and establishes a bond with the family, offering Mitsuko a job at his own tropical fish shop across town as they all become friends.
- 6/13/2011
- 24framespersecond.net
“Unflinching and unconscionable, Cold Fish is a black comedy with an obsidian pitch, a queer balancing act of outrageous humor and fathomless gore.” Cold Fish Directed by Sion Sono Starring Mitsuru Fukkoshi, Hikari Kajiwara, Denden, Megumi Kagurazaka, Asuka Kurosawa Written by Sion Sono 2010, Japan Fans of transgressive cinema were overjoyed to see Sion Sono’s latest atrocity appear on the [...]...
- 11/2/2010
- by John
- SoundOnSight
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