Cold Fish (2011)

Watch Coldfish with classic Sono Sion style in mind. Dark comedy, jarring music, long cuts and blood. After all, Sono is known for the extreme weird and freakish themes in his films. But this film is not for everyone. It's for the gore-seekers, the midnight madness, the avid supporters for cult-cinema which can either be a hit or miss audience to satisfy. With that though, Sono proves himself a master at his chosen niche market, though not perfect but shown with satisfying quality.

He opens the film with fast cuts paired with marching music that immediately sets the tone and the setting. The plot develops not through the revelations (the cliche way) but through dialogues, action and small details wrapped around in one perfect blanket. The clever way of using music that contradicts the scene is very Sono style but nevertheless, effective in bringing out the scene.

Dark, gray tones dominate the film with lots of red. Still, tropes like the typical-weak-salary man is still played and stretched towards the end that somehow makes the film repetitive. And with a 140 minutes running time, it's too long for a crime-thriller drama of this sort. The pacing is just too long, the narrative too dragging that at times, you just want to get to the excitement (and they aren't many). Expect blood and guts but don't expect excitement. Expect weirdness and undermined representations of women but don't expect excitement.

I'd praise the actors for their excellent portrayal though. Veteran actor, Denden plays the energetic-everyone's-uncle role so well mixed with humor and sadistic tendencies. Asuka Kurosawa (whom I've seen play a similar role in The World of Kanako) plays the seductive wife well and Mitsuru Fukikoshi plays the pathetic average man so well and that transformation at the end. Silent but deadly. He played it well.

It's more disturbing that the film is loosely based on the "Saitama murder of dog lovers" as you watch the film and have that in mind (though Sono makes a point that it's based on a true story in the beginning), it helps to establish the "credibility" and "sincerity" of what you're actually watching rather than just a make-believe murder tale because murder can be overrated.

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