Noriko's Dinner Table

First, I will just state a few things about the movie before I give my review and comments.

-Yes, this is a continuation of sorts of the story started in Jisatsu saakuru (Suicide Club). -No, this is not a "horror" film, at least not in the modern sense. -Yes, as is stated, this is a long movie, and requires an open mind, and patience

It has been stated on several reviews of the first film that it meant to serve as a social commentary on the overly complacent stance taken by the general public in modern Japanese society. Whether that is true or not, the first film had a perfect blend of twisted "horror" imagery, with a stark use of satire. While the first one left many questions unanswered at the end, this entry into the series not only answers some of those questions, but opens new ones.

Shion Sono shows one again that not conforming to any convention can be a refreshing thing. This time around, he shows us a new story, not focusing on characters living through the main events of the story, but rather events taking place before, during, and after the events of the first film. This is all done with a much slower pace this time around, and focuses more on emotions and thought of the characters, rather than focusing on the events themselves. Most of the story itself is told though the narration of the four main characters, as they share their perspective of the events they are seeing. This gives a very intimate feel, though some may feel that the characters give a little too much detail.

This film leaves the big events of the series and instead focuses on little moments, moments that the characters share with others, or with themselves. The fact that this movie focuses more on emotions is what makes this movie shine. The performances are simply amazing. Using mostly lesser known Japanese actors, Sono has drawn out some of the most emotionally draining and shocking scenes in recent memory, and by the end of the film it is hard to think that these actors aren't all seasoned professionals. The film feels very real, and has a somewhat low budget home movie quality to it. This is the same quality that is given to many TV movies in japan. The effect is a movie that is stripped down to the basics, and is at some points very intense and hard to watch.

This is not "Suicide Club 2". There are no pop songs, or flashy Ziggy Stardust-type moments. at times this may feel like it is worlds away from the first film. For those that are looking for a good, emotionally charged film that builds on conventions and story-pieces that were started in the first film, I would whole-heartedly suggest seeing this film. It is not for everyone, and to some it may be frustrating. This is a movie for those that want to ponder a mystery much greater than any murder; inter-family relationships.

This was a film that I'm pretty sure intrigued me back in college when it and it had been sitting on my Netflix list since then. I finally got it in the mail and decided to check it out. I came in pretty blind aside from that and didn't realize until I started it that it was from Sion Sono and technically a prequel, running concurrently and a kind of sequel to Suicide Club, a film I haven't see yet, but is on my short list. The synopsis for this one though is a teenager runs away from her family to Tokyo, where she gets involved with a strange group of people.

We start off learning one of our main characters, Noriko Shimabara (Kazue Fukiishi) has run away from home. She's from a small town of Toyokama, Japan and she flees to Tokyo. The movie is not told in a linear way and is broken up into 5 chapters. Each one is named after our 4 main characters with a final chapter to bring it all together to an end. Back to what I was saying, Noriko flees from home to Tokyo after a run in with her father.

It fills us in that she's shy and quite timid. Her father is Tetsuzô (Ken Mitsuishi) who is a local reporter. He's strict with her and she tries to impress him, taking on a position with her school's newspaper. One of the crusades she takes on is getting the school to allow them more time on the computer. This turns out to be a bit selfish since her father uses the computer at home. She is trying to find a way to connect through the internet to others. Noriko is unhappy that she wants to go to Tokyo for college but her father forbids it. Her two cousins who went there both came home pregnant and he thinks that will happen to her as well. Her drive to leave is even worse when she meets a former friend from childhood, Tangerine (Yôko Mitsuya), who is no longer going to school, but is something called an 'idol' which I'm assuming is similar to be a prostitute.

In Tokyo, Noriko assumes the identity of Mitsuko, her username for a site called Haikyo.com. She tries to meet with someone from this site as she doesn't know anyone else. Her name on there is Ueno54. Noriko goes to meet her at Ueno Station and after some investigation learns the number is for a locker. This brings her to meet Kumiko (Tsugumi) along with her family. It turns out not to be the case though. Noriko then learns some information about her new friend.

It's around this point where we learn how this ties into Suicide Club. 54 girls jump in front of a subway train to commit suicide. The other chapters in this are that Noriko's sister Yuka (Yuriko Yoshitaka) looks into what happened to her sister which also brings her to Haikyo.com. She disappears as well, but she leaves clues for her father to follow. She predicts what she thinks he will do. Tetsuzo does some of them, but he also loses his mind to find out what happened to his daughters as his family falls apart. This brings them all into world underneath to find out the truth.

Now I have to say that I'm a bit upset with myself for not doing a bit more research into this movie before watching it. I would have sought out Suicide Club first and then this. I did watch an interview with the writer/director Sono after completing the movie which made me feel a bit better that it doesn't really affect the story here. It really just seems to explain some aspects a bit more for the other movie.

Something I really liked about this movie is all of the social commentary that we're working with. I kind of want to break down the 4 main characters as each one really seems to be tackling a different issue with some overlap. This first chapter follows Noriko. What translate here according to Sono and I also do agree, is that she's growing up in a small town with a strict father. There aren't a lot of young women around her that she can connect with so she goes online. Even as a male, I did feel lost after college and it took me getting into this hobby of reviewing horror films which led me to podcasts that I really found my place and brought enjoyment to my life. I feel horrible for Noriko as she wants to go to college in Tokyo, but her father doesn't want her to as he doesn't understand. He thinks what happened to her cousins will happen to her as well. Playing off of this though, she's a bright girl with a thirst for knowledge. The strictness of her father really causes her to run away and into the situation she finds herself.

Chapter 2 then follows her sister Yuka. She ends up following her sister to Tokyo. What I found interesting here is that Noriko thinks of her as the golden child, but when we see from Yuka's point of view, she really admires her sister. We don't get that at all in the first chapter. Yuka does fit into the system a bit more though Japan is really known for their family ties and not dishonoring them. Yuka sees what Noriko does to put her down this path. She wants her father to find them though. She left clues like this is a mystery novel which is interesting. Seeing this from multiple points of view is a great way to build the story.

Next we then follow Kumiko who as I said, we thinks she shows up to Ueno Station with her family. We learn through this interaction that for work she will send people, including herself, to live out fantasies with the clients. The people that she shows up there with aren't really her family and they're pretending with another example is Noriko and her go to a man's house to pretend to be rebellious sisters for a lonely man who acts as their father. I found it interesting that this is something these young women could for money, but going back to how strong family ties are there. If you don't have family, you're probably lonely and would pay for the feeling that it brings.

The fourth chapter follows Tetsuzo as he tries to figure out what's going on. He follows clues that were left for him by Yuka and using the skills as a reporter it leads him to this suicide club. The movie does fill in a lot of things behind the scenes from it and from things in Suicide Club, which includes the major event of that movie. Tetsuzo is to blame for his daughters leaving and what happens to his wife, Taeko (Sanae Miyata). She can't handle her daughters leaving either. Tetsuzo also admits he chose his job over family and there's also a gap in the generations. He either cannot see that Noriko was unhappy or he willfully ignored it. He isn't connecting with his children and doesn't see the truth. It's sad to be honest and seeing how everything ends up as well.

I want to shift gears and take to this over to the pacing. I do think that we have some slight issues here if I'm going to be honest. It just runs too long. The runtime clocks in around 159 minutes and I think there's quite a bit that could be cut out without sacrificing anything with the story. What I found interesting was that this is a based off of a novel also written by Sono. During his interview he talks about would he adapt other writers work and he was hesitant. It feels like he adapted everything from the novel and didn't want to cut anything out which hurts the flow in my opinion. That's not to say that I hated this, as that's far from the case. It made me feel quite anxious for a good portion of it and the mystery worked. I even like the ending. It isn't how I prefer normally, but it works for how things play out. It really does feel the tone.

As for the acting, I thought this one of the strongest parts of the movie. I like how it established Fukiishi from the timid girl we see in the beginning to where she is when working with Kumiko in Tokyo. There's a drastic change and we see her living out her emotions with clients who aren't really her family. It all comes to a head with the climax for sure. Mitshuishi is also intriguing as we get growth from his as well. He is the crux of what causes all of the bad things to happen to his family and he hits rock-bottom in order to fix things. This is redemption story of sorts, but not necessarily with a happy ending. Toshitaka I thought was really good as well. Tsugumi is interesting as she is villainous, but I still feel bad for her. She's broken young woman who's hurting others, but also giving them a family that they desire. There are some deep seeded issues there that she's ignoring with herself as that's all she really wants. She has just dealt with bad things that she put up a wall and refuses to feel. I would say that the rest of the cast really does round this out for was needed as well.

This movie is a bit lighter on the horror than I was expecting. I bring this up as there's not a lot in the way of effects. The horror from this is the underworld that this family ends up dealing with. The blood we get does look good. We get images of what I'm assuming is Suicide Club. The climax has some blood, but that's all I can think of. The cinematography though was well done. We're delving into the past so it has that hazy look to it. I thought it was effective and the movie is shot well overall.

The last thing to cover would be the soundtrack. My favorite selection as used on the DVD menu. It is a classical sounding song that is just unnerving when coupled with things that we're seeing on the screen. It isn't horror in the traditional sense. It's the anxious driving feeling of seeing the things this family is dealing with for sure. I thought the score really fit there for what was needed.

Now with that said, this is an intriguing film. I'm a bit upset that I watched this before the original, but again, from what I read it doesn't affect it too much. I think this is an interesting social commentary of what these characters are dealing with. The acting really helps to bring this to life along with the soundtrack that fits very well. There's not a lot in the way of effects and if I have any negative things to say, it is just that this movies runs a bit too long so it does get repetitive. Not enough to ruin this though and I still enjoyed what I was seeing.

Well. Its a very long film; at around 3 hours I guess, and at times it does feel like ...it could have been a little sharper. But I don t begrudge the length: unlike some movies, where the coyote syndrome starts to cut in, I didn't t feel like chewing off my leg once. The movie is a companion piece to the very excellent Suicide Circle But those expecting the same extraordinary images of the first film might be disappointed: this is a (mostly) slow moving and introspective study of identity, the roles that we play, and that others and society impose upon us. 17 year old Noriko runs away from her seemingly loving family to Tokyo where she meets the chilling Kumiko; a woman with no individual existence. What follows is profound and, at times highly unnerving as the personalities of Noriko, her younger sister Yuka, and their family are all annihilated. The performances of all of the actors is outstandingly committed; I cannot believe that the last set piece of this movie could have been shot in more than one take; the strain on the actors must have been unimaginable. This is big, grownup cinema, don t expect explanations, don t expect to understand all of what takes place I sure as hell don t. Do however expect to be awed by the sheer daring of this wonderful piece of work and the brave actors, who are called upon to give performances of such extraordinary power. You might love this move, you might hate it, but you sure as hell won't forget it.

I used to think of myself as (among other things) a cinephile, someone who had a taste for good cinema, whose Favorite Movies list was topped by some little known films. But I had seen nothing until Noriko's Dinner Table. I haven't seen Suicide Club yet. I hope to see it soon, but in truth it doesn't matter: right now I consider Noriko's my new absolute "best movie ever" and that doesn't depend on what it's part of or what other films has ever directed its author.

There are personal reasons behind that election, of course, but then, isn't every election personal, and what other meaning could hide behind the word "My" in "My Favorite Movies"?

Of course my familiar history or situation is or was extremely confusing, unstable, unhealthy, and unusual. But, maybe roleplaying is more than Japan's main existential issue. Maybe it's our entire culture's main existential issue. "The actor behind the mask", as in "Riding Alone for Thousand of Miles". The hidden heart, clouded in fat and entertainment and busy-ness, entangled in meaningless liasons that produce meaningless families; the confused heart that can only be brought out (exorcised) using a knife. And a camera.

The movie is divided into chapters, one for each of the main characters. And thus the viewer can achieve what the characters themselves can't: understand other people's motives and feelings.

This is my first review BTW, and will probably be the last. I'm not into sharing my views or anything like that... But in this case the impact was extreme and the reviews here weren't doing it justice so far.

Director Sion Sono had done a film called, "The Suicide Club" that had an interesting story, but was just a mediocre movie. In fact it had seemed like there were holes in the story. This film pretty much fills in all the holes and has so much more added on. This movie is almost three hours long and jam packed with dialog. But really good dialog. It almost had a poetic feel to it. This is called semi-sequel, but actually it more or less takes place during the other movie. This film is listed as a horror film. But it is not the gore fest that "The Suicide Club" was. The movie had no scare factor at all. But mentally it was creepy. Two sisters run away from home and get into a business where others rent them to be part of their family. The creepy part is that they take on different names and personalities and they get so use it, they become these alternate people. It really does give the movie a creepy warped feeling at parts. The sisters are played by Kazue Fukiishi; who is a nerdy type girl who becomes more open with her other personality. Then you have Yuriko Yoshitaka; who basically turns into someone else, but mostly stays the same personality wise. The girl who runs the business is played by Tsugumi who has the most warped mind in the film. She loves role playing in these families because she never had one. She likes it so much, it is like she is trying to find the perfect family to stay with. The movie does run a bit long, but in some ways it is worth it because the words spoken and the meaning behind the movie are pretty powerful.