Himizu

Himizu uses the tsunami which destroyed Fukushima in Japan, as a backdrop, to tell the tragic story of two fourteen year old kids, Sumida and Keiko, who are classmates at school where they are trying to survive both the storms aftermath, and extremely indifferent parents. Sumida is abandoned by a drunken father and a mother of questionable morals, and Keiko suffers from an equally poor family life. It should be kismet, but, trust me, it is anything but, as we watch many bad things happen to good people for two hours and ten minutes. The lead actor and actress are tremendous, but the story meanders at times and becomes a bit tiring by the end. The message seems to be one of survival at any cost, and I recommend Himizu based on the two excellent main actor and actress.

This movie had an impact on me like no other film had before. Two 14 year olds coming from abusive homes are forced to look at their lives and see where they plan on taking them. The main character, Yuichi Sumida, claims early in the film that he just wants to be ordinary. Keiko Shazawa happily agrees with him since she is infatuated with him.

Neither of the teen's parents could care less about them. The girl's parents go as far to create a noose from which they want their daughter to commit suicide, since she is only a disappointment in their eyes. Yuichi and his mom run a boat shop which he runs on his own after she abandons him. His father shows up only to ask for money and abuse his son. The bad parenting in this film may be an exaggerated representation of Japenese culture, in how much pressure children are put under in order to succeed. The teens in this film have obviously given up on any dreams of success they may have once had.

The Yakuza comes to collect the debt that Yuichi's father owes them and this pushes his mind to a point where he becomes confused and violent. After this point, the film takes a turn. The first third is filled with comedy - the scenes with Yuichi and Keiko fighting, I found the most amusing - but the second two thirds are dealing with dark subject matter. Things become more shocking and also more intriguing. Anger and that has been built up in Yuichi is let out in unhealthy, though sometimes helpful ways. He commits an act that he feels guilty about and isn't sure what to do, leading him to try to find himself in scenes that I found very powerful. The sorrow, frustration and hopelessness I saw on screen resonated with me in ways incomparable with any other works of fiction.

To put it bluntly, Himizu is a coming-of-age story for angsty teens that aren't sure where their life is headed. By the way this isn't an insult, given how much I could relate.

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.

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.

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.