Sushi Girl

Fish (Noah Hathaway) has spent six years in jail. Six years alone. Six years keeping his mouth shut about the robbery, about the other men involved. The night he is released, the four men he protected with silence celebrate his freedom with a congratulatory dinner. The meal is a lavish array of sushi, served off the naked body of a beautiful young woman.

Look at this cast: Tony Todd, Michael Biehn, Mark Hamill, Jeff Fahey, Sonny Chiba, Danny Trejo. And then we start out with the song "Diamonds Are Forever" -- known from James Bond, but with a very different meaning here.

We have James Duval -- is he all grown up? And we have the sensibility and spiritual feeling of "Reservoir Dogs", one of the all-time greatest heist movies.

I do not even need to write a real review because this movie is just so darn good.

"Sushi Girl" is a very competent crime drama in the vein of gritty, low-budget films like Reservoir Dogs. And I have no doubt that many others will make similar comparisons to this Tarantino flick.

Film industry veterans deliver competent performances in a movie that combines plenty of tension with subtle twists and turns. The violence is sometimes gratuitous but always powerful, although the torture porn promised by the trailers serves more as exhibitionism than anything.

Tony Todd arguably delivers the performance of his career. Hathaway, Hamill, Mackenzie, and Duvall all deliver competent performances that effectively keep the tension in the movie high.

Danny Trejo, Michael Biehn, and Jeff Fahey share a brief cameo scene that plays out like a Rodriguez Grindhouse reunion, although Fahey and Biehn are sadly underutilized in this movie. Sonny Chiba also makes a brief appearance.

Cortney Palm in the titular role serves mainly as eye candy for much of the movie, and absolutely fantastic looking eye candy at that, with what I would consider a perfect figure. But she also shines in those critical moments in front of the camera, whether she is delivering dialogue or just conveying subtle emotion with those expressive eyes of hers. And I'm sure that her performance here will garner her higher profile roles in the future.

All and all, "Sushi Girl" is a solid genre film with good acting, tight directing, and above average production values.

It's been a while since a film has held my attention span, when trying to imitate the likes of Tarantino or Rodriguez. Come to think of it, seldom has a film come along (Way of The Gun being the standout exception) with such cliché's and unoriginality, yet has pulled it off as a stand alone great film. Tony Todd produces the film and holds his own in a terrific performance as the head of a failed crime group looking for their lost diamonds, however the film is stolen by Mark Hamill's performance as a violent sociopath (and psychopath). A completely different role and a welcome one (shame it wasn't earlier in his career as I feel he may have been a bigger hitter with performances like this under his belt). The film is centered around a Sushi Girl who is the serving platter for an array of delicious sushi prepared for ex con Fish who has just been released from prison. As the story unfolds, the plot thickens (predictably) but holds the attention span as the performance from everyone is top notch. Beautiful cinematography and direction make this a perfect Saturday night warmer. Although there are no real surprises, the film carries you through the violent turbulence (a scene with a sock and a sake bottle made me wince a little)quite well and delivering what you would expect from a film like this. I left this feeling pleasantly full and glad I sat through what I expected to be another Tarantino ripoff. Instead I got a surprising and refreshing take on the genre (actually better than most Tarantino films). Worth the price of admission, the rental fee or the bandwidth on your download.

SUSHI GIRL is a single location thriller with a nice setting and sense of time and place. It was written and directed by Kern Saxton as an obvious labour of love and tribute to, not only Quentin Tarantino - whose RESERVOIR DOGS is an obvious inspiration - but the B-movie thriller genre as a whole. The setting is an elaborate banquet in which Japanese food is served on the naked body of a woman (the unknown Cortney Palm, effective in a difficult part). A gang of thieves lost a fortune in diamonds six years ago, and upon the release of one of their number from prison, they're determined to find out what happened to it.

Obviously, how much you enjoy SUSHI GIRL depends on how much you like the actors involved. I had a ball with them. Tony Todd inevitably towers over everybody as the cruel boss but the rest of the cast match him, particularly Noah Hathaway's sympathetic rookie; you may recall Hathaway as a child actor in THE NEVERENDING STORY back in the day. James Duval (THE BLACK WATERS OF ECHO'S POND) actually plays his age for once, while Andy Mackenzie is completely believable as a brutal thug. Most notably we have Mark Hamill who hams it up in a Joker-style turn as a sneering, laughing villain. He's unrecognisable and certainly unforgettable in the part.

The running time flies past and the film never bores despite the single location. The flashbacks of the robbery are done effectively and there's a fine sequence featuring brief cameos from Danny Trejo, Michael Biehn, and Jeff Fahey. Even better, the inimitable Sonny Chiba also cameos. The only thing that dragged this film down a bit was that the ending twists were very obvious and that there's a little too much dwelling on extensive torture scenes - never my favourite - to pad out the running time. Other than that, it's a decent B-movie.

It's what I would call a high-concept movie on a silly premise. You have a handful of criminals talking and eating sushi placed all over a beautiful naked woman in the back room of an abandoned Asian restaurant. Of course, not all of them are there by choice, so secrets and double crosses are to be expected. I found the movie engrossing despite its limited setting. It didn't feel claustrophobic, but it was conducive to tension. This closed room dramatic suspense was offset by flashbacks to a heist gone wrong 6 years ago. The way it was filmed and edited didn't make it feel boring or like a play either. The torture scenes seemed particularly brutal and effective to me, and I consider myself a jaded viewer. Praise to the person who did one particular makeup involving a face. I enjoyed the different personalities of the 5 main characters and their more or less revealed pasts.

Most people praised Mark Hamill's acting (Luke Skywalker), but I found him an annoying, affected gay caricature, until later on where he channelled his inner Joker and became more sinister. Your own appreciation might vary. On the other hand, Tony Todd's(Candyman) was impressive and he just emanated quiet foreboding menace. When he talks about his past to the guy tied up, he's just so good, it's like he brings himself to tears by himself. The sushi girl herself is basically a pretty accessory except for the start and ending where some acting chops are shown. I liked the story and I liked the twists that I didn't see coming. It has a definite Tarantino vibe back when he was better.

Rating: 7 out of 10 (very good)