is a 2010 Japanese film directed by

Sion Sono Sion may refer to * an alternative transliteration of Zion People * Sion (name) or Siôn, a Welsh and other given name and surname, including a list of people and fictional characters with the name * Shion or Sion, a Japanese given name Pla ...

. ''Cold Fish'' premiered at the

67th Venice International Film Festival The 67th annual Venice International Film Festival held in Venice, Italy, took place from 1 to 11 September 2010. American film director and screenwriter Quentin Tarantino was the head of the Jury. The opening film of the festival was Darren Aro ...

on September 7, 2010, and received the best screenplay award in the Fantastic Features section at

Fantastic Fest Fantastic Fest is an annual film festival in Austin, Texas. It was founded in 2005 by Tim League of Alamo Drafthouse, Harry Knowles of Ain't It Cool News, Paul Alvarado-Dykstra, and Tim McCanlies, writer of ''The Iron Giant'' and ''Secondhand Li ...

2010. The film was released as part of the Bloody Disgusting Selects line.

Premise

Nobuyuki Shamoto is the quiet and unambitious owner of a Shizuoka shop specializing in selling

tropical fish Tropical fish are generally those fish found in aquatic tropical environments around the world. Fishkeepers often keep tropical fish in freshwater and saltwater aquariums. The term "tropical fish" is not a taxonomic group, but rather is a ge ...

. His home life leaves much to be desired, as his daughter Mitsuko is rebellious and physically abuses her stepmother Taeko, his second wife. One night Nobuyuki is summoned when Mitsuko is caught

shoplifting Shoplifting is the theft of goods from an open retail establishment, typically by concealing a store item on one's person, in pockets, under clothes or in a bag, and leaving the store without paying. With clothing, shoplifters may put on items ...

at a local supermarket. Yukio Murata, a patron at the supermarket, persuades the manager to drop the matter and invites Nobuyuki to visit his own, larger tropical fish shop. During an impromptu tour of Yukio's shop, Nobuyuki meets his wife, Aiko. Stating that fate brought the two men together, the gregarious Yukio convinces Nobuyuki to go into business with him. Yukio also takes on Mitsuko as a worker in his shop. The film is loosely based on the exploits of two Tokyo serial killers,

Sekine Gen and Hiroko Kazama Sekine is a Japanese surname. Notable people with the surname include: *Akiko Sekine, athlete * Akira Sekine, Japanese voice actress *Kazumi Sekine, film director *Keiko Sekine, maiden name of actress Keiko Takahashi *, Japanese sculptor * Shinobu ...

, a husband and wife duo who owned a pet shop and murdered at least four people.

Cast

Mitsuru Fukikoshi is a Japanese actor. Career Born in Aomori Prefecture, Fukikoshi moved to Tokyo at age 19 and joined the Wahaha Honpo theater troupe. Since leaving Wahaha in 1999, he has appeared in many films and television dramas, while continuing to act on ...

as Nobuyuki Syamoto * Denden as Yukio Murata * Asuka Kurosawa as Aiko Murata * Megumi Kagurazaka as Taeko Syamoto * Hikari Kajiwara as Mitsuko Syamoto *

Tetsu Watanabe is a Japanese actor. He has appeared in more than 90 films since 1989. Selected filmography Film Television References External links Agency profile * {{DEFAULTSORT:Watanabe, Tetsu 1950 births Living people People from Tokoname ...

as Takayasu TsuTsui

Production

Following '' Alien vs Ninja'' and ''

Mutant Girls Squad is a Japanese film by Noboru Iguchi, Yoshihiro Nishimura and Tak Sakaguchi. The film is about Rin, a sixteen-year-old mutant girl who meets a gang of rebel mutants who aim to take revenge on humans for persecuting their race. The film had its inte ...

'', ''Cold Fish'' is the third film to be released by

Nikkatsu is a Japanese entertainment company known for its film and television productions. It is Japan's oldest major movie studio, founded in 1912 during the silent film era. The name ''Nikkatsu'' amalgamates the words Nippon Katsudō Shashin, literal ...

's Sushi Typhoon, their gore-themed series. Director and writer

was influenced by Japanese crime cases while developing ''Cold Fish'', specifically about an actual killing spree committed by a dog kennel owner in the 1990s (the story of the film involves a family of three that becomes entangled in a string of ongoing murders perpetrated by a tropical fish salesman in

Shizuoka Prefecture is a prefecture of Japan located in the Chūbu region of Honshu. Shizuoka Prefecture has a population of 3,637,998 and has a geographic area of . Shizuoka Prefecture borders Kanagawa Prefecture to the east, Yamanashi Prefecture to the north ...

). Sono also wanted to "depict a sense of total hopelessness" which he felt is "lacking in Japanese films."

Release

''Cold Fish'' premiered at the

on September 7, 2010. It was also shown at film festivals in

Pusan Busan (), officially known as is South Korea's most populous city after Seoul, with a population of over 3.4 million inhabitants. Formerly romanized as Pusan, it is the economic, cultural and educational center of southeastern South Korea, ...

and at the

Toronto International Film Festival The Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF, often stylized as tiff) is one of the largest publicly attended film festivals in the world, attracting over 480,000 people annually. Since its founding in 1976, TIFF has grown to become a perman ...

where it received its North American premiere. ''Cold Fish'' won the best screenplay award in the Fantastic Features section at

2010. It was released in Japan on January 29, 2011.

Reception

Film Business Asia gave ''Cold Fish'' an 8 out of 10 rating praising the actor Denden who without his "tour-de-force performance...''Cold Fish'' may never have worked." The review went on to state that "Though there's considerable gore on display, it's largely cartoonish. ''Cold Fish'' is not so much a blood-and-guts horror movie, more a danse macabre about social breakdown." In the United Kingdom, ''

Total Film ''Total Film'' is a British film magazine published 13 times a year (published monthly and a summer issue is added every year since issue 91, 2004, which is published between July and August issue) by Future Publishing. The magazine was launched i ...

'' gave the film a three out of five rating, suggesting that plot twists and black comedy offered welcome reprieve from the "largely hysterical acting and rivers of viscera." ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper A newspaper is a periodical publication containing written information about current events and is often typed in black ink with a white or gray background. Newspapers can cover a wide ...

'' found the film to be "fairly ordinary" in comparison to Sono's other works and felt that the film was too long. ''

Radio Times ''Radio Times'' (currently styled as ''RadioTimes'') is a British weekly listings magazine devoted to television and radio programme schedules, with other features such as interviews, film reviews and lifestyle items. Founded in May 1923 by J ...

'' gave the film three out of five stars, praising the acting from Denden, Fukikoshi and Kurosawa and Shinya Kimura's photography and Takashi Matsuzuka's production design which made up for "some overindulgent directorial moments".

Notes

External links

* * * {{Blue Ribbon Award for Best Film 2010 films 2010 horror films Horror films based on actual events Japanese horror thriller films 2010 horror thriller films Nikkatsu films Japanese serial killer films Films directed by Sion Sono 2010s serial killer films 2010s Japanese films 2010s Japanese-language films