Tsumetai nettaigyo (2010) Reviews

• Everything One Wants (But More Of It)

  qba-018462017-09-07

  What a film! Sono has done it again. This film has it all. First, the plot. It is the tranquil setting of a family that is anything but as soon the silence is shattered with events that make the unit fall apart. There are normal and usual films. Nowadays these are whatever Marvel fantasy Disney is releasing every second week or the usual film with Helen Mirren or Samuel Jackson jumping around for no consequence. Then there are films that give you violence, blood, sexiness and zaniness. Many do not like these films but have to give it to the rest of us that these films are at least a break from the ordinary and in this case quite masterful. Let me freely admit that as a man the power of those legs, breasts, long hair and hiked skirt sex makes me excited, but Cold Fish is just a cut above.

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• WOW

  egx-332062018-04-13

  Thrills, suspense, evil, yakuza, budding capitalist, hot women who flaunt their bodies, sex and of course murder. What else can you ask for especially when in each case everything is done to an 11? Compare this film to the copy/paste, reboot, remake, sequel routine that studio tools and hacks like JJ Abrams are putting out and you will see why America has become the laughing stock of the world. US has just fallen behind (thanks dotard too)

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• Feel Bad Cinema

  0123456782010-10-31

  Even though the protagonist (Shamoto) is an adult, this is essentially a coming-of-age movie in a doomed world. Shamoto is introduced to Murata, a psychopath. Everyone seems to do what Murata wants them to, including Shamoto's wife and daughter. Shamoto tries to go against the grain, to say 'I don't want things to be like this.' But he finds himself alone against everything and has to learn some unpleasant truths about the world. This is a very bleak movie and over-the-top in its negativity. It can be hard to watch at times but the violence is not gratuitous. It serves a purpose. The (brilliant) ending would not have the same impact without what came before. Even though this is a crazy, overblown movie about a psycho killer, it only uses that as framework to address more universal issues of abuse, authority, dependency and responsibility. I don't usually write reviews here. Just wanted to defend a very good, tragic and thought-provoking movie. This is definitely not just more gore for gore's sake.

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• A Crazy, Sadistic, Wild and Disturbing Ride

  crossbow01062012-03-25

  Mr. Sono is an uncompromising filmmaker. His resume is filled with odd characters, unnatural situations and twists that come at you from nowhere. This is based on a true story about a sadistic couple who killed dog lovers (the truth is stranger than fiction). In this film, Mr. Shamoto (Mitsuru Fukikoshi) owns a tropical fish shop. His second wife is Taeko (the still amazing Asuka Kurosawa, who was the star of the stunning "A Snake Of June) and his daughter Mitsuko live with him. Mitsuko shoplifts and is threatened with the police but Mr. Murata (a terrificly over the top Denden)persuades that shop owner to let her go. It turns out, Murata owns a large tropical fish store and agrees to have Mitsuko work for him. If this sounds too perfect, too much like a perfect turn of events..it is. Eventually, Mr. Shamoto leans about Murata but he is in too deep by then. Not for the faint of heart, but it is a riveting, sometimes gory horror/drama, with a little black comedy thrown in. The acting is uniformly very good. Worthy of your time, especially for admirers of Mr. Sono's work, but not for everyone.

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• Life-Changing Movie Experience #2

  christian942011-08-06

  After been shocked and transformed in Miike's transgressive "Visitor Q" a decade ago, I once again find a movie that hits me in the face and that I will be thinking about for days, weeks, months and years to come. Once again it was at FantAsia Film Festival. And once again, it is a Japanese movie. On a Japanese art side note, if you want to see something as deranged in the traditional theatre, please see Daisuke Miura's wordless and sexmore modern society social commentary play "Yume no shiro" which I had the chance to see this year to a sold out crowd of 18+. If you thought Shion Sono's "Suicide Club" was strange, you are in for a big surprise. This time Sono goes deep like sonar. After having seen "Cold Fish" (aka Tsumetai nettaigyo), I was literally high on naturally occurring chemicals, hormones and neurotransmitters in my body. I was happy, I had laughed a lot (in a very dark humour type of way) and I had had my limits pushed and pushed constantly during the movie. It was a kind of a delightful post-traumatic film syndrome. I talked about it extensively with my film buff friend Serena who enjoyed it as much as me and also happened to have lived in Asia for 18 months. It was amazing to have been able to share the experience with her (thought, talked, laughed, slack-jawed, awed, disbelieved the odd, etc.) and discuss it engagingly afterwards in all film and cultural aspects. After that night, I have been thinking about it for almost a week. I am still not sure I have completely digested it, but I am sure I have thoroughly enjoyed it and it is time I share a bit of my thoughts on it without giving too much away. Firstly this story is a rather simple and straightforward story. A normal family with normal family problems meets an eccentric and friendly couple. Everything happens realistically and we embark in this world readily. A world of exotic fish and astronomy, of new hot wives and estranged daughter, of averageness and contemplative rain. We find a few things strange, but not much stranger than our own lives. We also enjoy the quick bonds formed between strangers, the charisma and the enigma. Then things start to happen very fast, and before you know it you have been there bewildered for two hours and a half. Yet, everything is methodically paced, all the elements are expertly placed, nothing is gratuitously in your face. The movie follows a spiraling down into chaos with grace. The music suits every scene and noticeably shine on many occasions. The cinematography encompasses our imagination. The director plays with our thoughts and emotions. The actors immerse themselves in their characters while been in impossible situations. Everything is believable. This is based on a true story, but this is undoubtedly truer, realer… suspense, thriller. Michael Jackson has nothing on this. And yes, some people do die in this movie. The who, how and why is the question and especially the way it is deliberately delivered. The movie has depth with many metaphors and metamorphoses. It is very psychological in its vision. It cuts through the crap like a colon incision. In the end, nothing is missing. Perfectionism. Perfection. Close-minded people please abstain. This movie leaves you with a beautiful ineffaceable stain.

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