Fisshu sutôrî

A comet hurtles towards Earth, and Tokyo is abandoned as people head to high ground. A cynical one-time guru comes across two otaku, a record shop owner and his customer, who believe an obscure seventies song, Fish Story, will save the world. Many years earlier, a timid young man laments his inability to stand up for himself. Some years after that, a narcoleptic high school girl finds herself trapped on a hijacked ship, where a pastry chef is her best hope for a champion for justice.

Director Nakamura fashions a likable, engaging human drama here, but deserves most credit for the naturalistic performances he elicits from his actors. Too often Japanese films are sunk by TV-style mugging from the principles, but here, there is a subtlety and nuanced portrayal evident throughout the ensemble cast. In the band, leader Atsushi Ito and Vocal Kengo Kora have betrayal and remorse to deal with between them. The tension is played out in a series of looks and never over-cooked. Kiyohiko Shibukawa as the drummer takes a while to speak, but when he does, it is with reason and tact. It would be so easy to have proto-punk band members sink into spats and histrionics. These portrayals resonate and convince. Gaku Hamada is especially effective as the meek friend who loses the girl (a spooky, sexy Mai Takahashi) to his overpowering alpha-male 'friend.' His tormenting of himself in the car after that particular episode is tragic and comic in equal degree, and proves the trigger to his redemption.

The portmanteau structure is an over-used trope these days and detracts from the drama here. However, the film succinctly ties it all up at the end, and visually too - the lack of expository dialogue here as compared to other J-cinema is refreshing. A wonderful soundtrack tops it all off, the best use of a song for thematic purpose since Gimme Heaven. "Summer Days" is now the anthem to my August.

Smart and witty movie about how a forgotten punk rock song (with a mystery within the song) links the lives of several characters who mostly never meet each other. The elements include, of course, a failed punk rock band in the late 1970's, a meek college student in the 1980's, a doomsday cult in 1999, a ferry hijacking in 2009, and a trio of people in a used record shop in a deserted city awaiting a comet strike in 2012. Plus some flashbacks to post WW2 Japan. Much of the movie revolves around the idea of a "champion of justice"

The movie is paced with a natural style so despite the sci-fi aspect the whole film is very low key. Virtually no special effects. That's not to say that there are no hidden pleasures, especially during the ferry hijacking which has excellent action scenes. The film is well-shot, well-acted and well-written. The music is good as well.

An unexpected little gem.

I have to say, FISH STORY is a very strange film. It's a Japanese apocalyptic tale featuring four separate story lines that are woven together in such a way that'll have you scratching your head and trying to figure out how they all intertwine. It's all very low key, with zero sci-fi elements and an extremely slow pacing that's doubtless to put off plenty of viewers expecting something more, well, energetic.

However, something about this kept me watching. It's the sense of whimsy, perhaps, or the sheer long-winded shaggy-doggedness of the storytelling. The fact that the production values are high, the script is very funny, and the actors nail the characters, too. About halfway through, I relaxed a little when I realised I was enjoying what I was watching, and then I started having fun.

Things get better right up until the big reveal at the ending, which is so stupendously good that I can say, right here and right now, that FISH STORY features one of my favourite endings in a film, full stop. It's that good; a tremendous resolution, like that of THE SIXTH SENSE, that turns the whole film around and makes you realise that, actually, this is a great little film; unique and uniquely entertaining with it.

This story is about a comet which is due to hit the earth in a matter of hours and how a song from 1975 called "Fish Story" will save the world in 2012. How? Thats part of the fun in watching the film. The film has some comedic moments in that you have references to superhero(ine) series from Japan, as well as other cultural mores. You see what appears to be a series of unconnected events somehow gel. The song itself is a proto punk song, recorded before the Sex Pistols, and its actually a good song. The acting goes all over the map, as there are flashbacks with disparate characters, but it is pretty much all good. Whatever the ending, you have to stay for it to see how things tie together. The world could come to an end (Japan would be pretty much submerged) if the comet hit, so just watch. It has a kind of new wavish sensibility, especially the scenes with the band who recorded "Fish Story". Not perfect, it drags slightly at times, but its worthwhile. I recommend it.

Japan 112m, Colour Director: Yoshihiro Nakamura; Cast: Vincent Giry, Gaku Hamada, Atsushi Itô, Kengo Kôra, Mirai Moriyama, Yoshihiro Nagata, Nao Ohmori, Mikako Tabe, Ken'ichi Takitô

It is 2012 and the world is about to end. An obscure Japanese punk song entitled Fish Story is possibly the only thing standing in the way of total annihilation of all life on the planet. The song, which includes a mysterious minute long break where the guitar solo should be, is cleverly interwoven into a number of intriguing stories throughout seven decades of seemingly disconnected events. As the end draws near, the stories are drawn together in spectacular fashion in the film's closing minutes. A brilliantly written, intelligent and charming multi-genre film, Fish Story is a tall tale brimming with fun, warmth and comedy that you will surely want to watch again, and again (Klaus Ming July 2013).