Himizu

So many times, as a westerner, viewing Japanese films, the cry of 'Only in Japan' comes to mind. This is in part because that country remains amazingly insular and proud of its culture and unchanging ways despite the presence of the Americans and all the world's external influence upon it. Here in this passionate offering from Sion Sono are all the usual tropes, mistreated and misunderstood youth, dispassionate parents, loan sharks and the yakuza, life, death and honour plus an almost whimsical belief in 'tomorrow' are all on display. Shortly after the film was conceived came the Fukushima disaster with its earthquake and tsunami crippling the nuclear plant and the director amended his script to include this further element of doom and disaster. It is well done, if a little overlong, with the actors partly improvising but it is disconcertingly 'in your face' and if the suicidal intentions seem a little drastic, the dreams of a sunny tomorrow also seem rather optimistic. The final plea to youngsters to be more positive and ride out all the pessimism seems a little naive seen from afar but may well resonate within that beautiful but mixed up country. It certainly surprised me that Sono would end the film in such an evangelical way but then I may have missed some of the film's finer points and cannot fully appreciate what it must be like to live under the perpetual threat of annihilation, never mind the constant reminders like that of Fukushima.

Sion Sono is a master at capturing darkness, and this one is intense. If you have been through dark phases or your soul is overwhelmed with darkness, this movie will hit you hard.

Personally, I was stunned by how real this seemed to me although it's so extreme compared to my reality. The character development of Sumida and how he's gradually consumed by darkness, his reactions, his rage, it makes sense and it's heartbreaking.

However it inspired me in a good way, it doesn't necessarily give you hope, but it made me feel less alone.

I enjoyed every second of it and I didn't want it end.

Thank you Sion Sono for all your great art.

For those who have watched Ki-Duk Kim's Address Unknown, wild animals, bad guy or others, this Himizu could fit in that series of films. Personally, as I just mentioned, I find this movie highly influenced by Ki-Duk Kim's style in the first hour and then by Fyodor Dostoyevsky's classic novel: Crime and Punishment in the second hour, with the girl encouraging the boy to turn himself in. This mixture between the korean director and the classic Russian novel makes a superb drama that can please both sono & Kim's fans. I also find Sono away from his classic films such as Suicide Club, Noriko's Dinner Table, Coldfish, Strange Circus, etc. In Himizu there's the tendency to a drama more than a bizarre film like the classic ones of this director, yet a superb one.

I was stunned. This film by Shion Sono stuns me. It is by no means a perfect film, nor it tries to be so, but it is one of the best manifestos of the Japanese psyche, which is revealed with honesty and sincerity. On the surface, I like everything Japan. Deep down, I find Japan and the Japanese to be so hopelessly trapped in its and their own social and economic creation, which is modern Japan. This film chronicles a few lives, and still it tells a universal story of what feels like to be a Japanese today. Japan is a world's notable story of rags-to-riches, and it is even more notable, and revealing, as it seems to reverse the fortune at the stagnation of self development today. It is still too soon to name Japan's story of the riches-back-to-rags nature. But the emergence of China and South Korea and Taiwan and the once third-world Asia puts Japan at a paranoid of getting a lot closer and faster to the rank of rags. I find the boy Sumida in several Japanese friends of mine. Their unspeakable pains and sorrows are much more understood now. Japan has created itself, especially after the second world war, into a society depending on other people's perception and judgment. The Japanese then are left to struggle with the realities of their own, sometimes most degrading and inhuman, and continuing to protect the great image of worldly success and of loyal conformity to the society at large. This great contrast proves too much for a human being. There go suicides, vicious killings, and other unnamed psychopathic episodes as a tragic result. This film makes us wonder which will win: hopelessness or hopefulness. It ends with one winning just an inch over the other. I believe this sad film wants to convey the desperation of Japan and the Japanese at this time. It does well. I recommend this Shion Sono film for everyone who cares more than just about yourself, and I wish Japan well in every way. Dear Japan, you have killed your own father, the old and traditional Japan, and been trying to live with the leftover, being the modernised Japan. Tall order it indeed is, but you are not as short as before. There is a future.

This one - like The Land of Hope, for example - is a difficult one. Why? Because if it was from the hands of some famous Chinese, Japanese and mainly Korean directors, it would be praised as a masterpiece, but as it comes from Sono, it's different from what people expect and divide opinions.

It's a fantastic film, a great exercise of growing up with all the adversities against you, showing us how dysfunctional families can affect our future, even if we have dreams and want to fight for your dreams - this affects both of the main characters, but we also see how each of them react differently to different circumstances, just like in real life.

I expected that, by now, most people should have already know that there isn't a single Sion Sono. I am lucky to love all of them. To love the crazy Sono (who reminds sometimes Miike, but funnier and more consistent) and love the introspective Sono (sharing a lot with the Korean new wave, or even with some Chinese and Japanese dramas from the 80s/90s). But if you just love the crazy Sono, you should know that this other Sono is not for you. You can't be expecting the same on this type of movies.

I will mention again The Land of Hope to explore how Sono, one more time, can show us not only the family drama, but also, at the same time, criticise some aspects of the Japanese society, as, per example, how the society treats the people who lost everything (there is a great subplot about this with a fantastic interpretation by the veteran Tetsu Watanabe) or how schools can be cruel to a lot of young people.

Overall, I am one of the few who, in fact, prefers The Land of Hope - the balance between the elderly couple, the land, and the young couples was perfect, for me - but I think that Himizu should be much more praised than it is.