Sion Sono is starting to get a reputation similar to that of his countryman, Takashi Miike, as he is becoming more and more prolific (he has two films at MIFF this year) and they all tend to be skewed towards the disturbing and weird. I haven’t seen his widely considered four hour masterpiece “Love Exposure” as of yet, but I was looking forward to “Cold Fish” which had been getting favourable reviews.
The film is based on a true crime story that happened in Japan, that if just half of what’s in the movie is what actually happened…..wow! I really do not know how to finish that sentence off!
After being caught stealing, Nobuyuki’s daughter Mitsuko looks certain to be handed over to the police. However big time tropical fish seller, Yukio, saves the day by convincing the department store manager to let her go. Not only that, he even gives the girl a job at his store, to set her on the straight and narrow. Nobuyuki and his wife cannot believe the kindness and generosity of this stranger and are especially grateful. The two men actually have a lot in common as Nobuyuki is also a seller of tropical fish albeit not on the same scale as Yukio. Yukio is so passionate about his fish, that when he learns that Nobuyuki is also into fish, he excitedly invites the family to his grand store to show off his fish. Nobuyuki is suitably impressed, and after awhile Yukio asks to check out his store as well. Although he is embarrassed, Nobuyuki agrees and Yukio is impressed by the cleanliness of his tanks and the health of his fish. He is so pleased by all of this, he mentions that he may have a business opportunity for the two of them to venture in. Yukio is such a passionate man, full of boundless energy and is incredibly kind to people he has never met, however is this all just an act?
The business opportunity Yukio was talking about turns out to be the breeding and exclusive selling of a rare Amazonian fish. He has organized an investor to put up the initial money and he asks Nobuyuki to be present at the meeting, as another expert, to help calm the moneyman that the deal is good. Nobuyuki’s presence does help and the deal is made, but as soon as the money changes hands, Yukio murders the financer in cold blood right in front of everyone. By explaining that he is now an accomplice to murder, as well as threatening the lives of his wife and daughter, Yukio forces Nobuyuki to help in first, getting the body out of the building and worse, in helping dismembering it so nothing is left to be found. No body, no crime. From here on Nobuyuki is a nervous wreck, but it continues to get worse as he is constantly bullied by Yukio and eventually the family of the murdered man come looking for him.
This ridiculously overlong synopsis barely makes it to the halfway point of this two and a half hour film, as there are more surprises to behold as the film gets more and more demented and increasingly bloody. As much as I enjoyed this film, it is definitely done in a deliberately over-the-top manner, which I believe is to its detriment. The film plays more like a black comedy instead of a crime drama / thriller, which due to the extreme and absurd nature of events depicted, probably was the only way to make the film work, however I believe Sono lets things go too far over-the-top. It takes you out of the reality of the situations being presented, and as you go on, you believe less and less of it. At the end of the day, I suppose the film is only “based” on a true story, and is not a dramatic re-enactment of the original crime. Sono has admitted that large portions of the film come from fiction rather than fact, not least of all is that in the original crime, the serial killer bred dogs and not fish.
The lead performance from Megumi Kagurazaka is outstanding playing the meek Nobuyuki, who ends up going to a very dark place in his psyche when he is finally pushed too far, but unfortunately the performance from Denden as the villain Yukio is far too broad and almost borders on caricature, and I actually think it is the films biggest weakness. If his performance was toned down a little, he would have been far more chilling, whereas here he actually comes across as a little goofy. All of the girls of the film fare much better with them all giving great performances, especially Asuka Kurosawa (who was in Shinya Tsukamoto’s brilliant “A Snake Of June”) who plays Yukio’s equally demented wife.
Overall, while the film has its faults and is a little overlong, for the most part, I actually enjoyed “Cold Fish”. Beware that this film is definitely not for everyone due to the violence and sex involved, not to mention that the final half an hour of this film may be the bloodiest thing you see all year. Seriously, while I was watching the finale with my mouth agape, I was thinking to myself “Only the Japanese….”.
3.5 Stars.
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