User reviews

It's what I would call a high-concept movie on a silly premise. You have a handful of criminals talking and eating sushi placed all over a beautiful naked woman in the back room of an abandoned Asian restaurant. Of course, not all of them are there by choice, so secrets and double crosses are to be expected. I found the movie engrossing despite its limited setting. It didn't feel claustrophobic, but it was conducive to tension. This closed room dramatic suspense was offset by flashbacks to a heist gone wrong 6 years ago. The way it was filmed and edited didn't make it feel boring or like a play either. The torture scenes seemed particularly brutal and effective to me, and I consider myself a jaded viewer. Praise to the person who did one particular makeup involving a face. I enjoyed the different personalities of the 5 main characters and their more or less revealed pasts.

Most people praised Mark Hamill's acting (Luke Skywalker), but I found him an annoying, affected gay caricature, until later on where he channelled his inner Joker and became more sinister. Your own appreciation might vary. On the other hand, Tony Todd's(Candyman) was impressive and he just emanated quiet foreboding menace. When he talks about his past to the guy tied up, he's just so good, it's like he brings himself to tears by himself. The sushi girl herself is basically a pretty accessory except for the start and ending where some acting chops are shown. I liked the story and I liked the twists that I didn't see coming. It has a definite Tarantino vibe back when he was better.

Rating: 7 out of 10 (very good)

Well, appearances can be deceiving and I must say that I initially didn't have much expectations to this movie given the poster and DVD cover for this movie. But still, I decided to give it a go, and I am glad that I did, because this movie took me by surprise.

The movie turned out to be a really interesting movie with a very well-told story. However, I will point out that albeit the story is compelling and the movie is interesting, this is the type of movie that you watch once and never again because it just doesn't have enough to offer for a second watching. That being said, I am not saying that "Sushi Girl" is a bad movie, far from it.

The story is a tale of revenge and betrayal, where the audience is left in the dark trying to grasp out what is going on, and the movie tends to take turns here and there, and those turn are for a better twist and a more gory twist. So if you enjoy blood and torture, stick around for the movie.

Now what really surprised me was the people they had assembled for the cast. The main cast was really nice and they did good jobs with their given roles, and there were some great appearances in the movie as cameos as well. All together a very good ensemble of actors on the billing list. Personally, it was great for me to see Mark Hamill in this role, after having seen him flunk out with the last couple of recent movies. And seeing him in this particular pseudo-psychotic role was just brilliant. But also hats off to Tony Todd for his usual gloomy, charismatic performance. Noah Hathaway and Andy Mackenzie also did really great jobs. And for the cameo appearances you have Jeff Fahey, Michael Biehn and Danny Trejo. Of these latter three, Michael Biehn's role was just off the rails, it was awesome.

"Sushi Girl" is a heist movie gone bad, and it was great from the very beginning to the very end - despite it being a single shot movie (in the terms that you watch it once and never again).

I can highly recommend "Sushi Girl" if you want to be entertained for about an hour and a half. Just be warned that there is some torture scenes that can be quite graphic to watch for those faint of heart.

It's been a while since a film has held my attention span, when trying to imitate the likes of Tarantino or Rodriguez. Come to think of it, seldom has a film come along (Way of The Gun being the standout exception) with such cliché's and unoriginality, yet has pulled it off as a stand alone great film. Tony Todd produces the film and holds his own in a terrific performance as the head of a failed crime group looking for their lost diamonds, however the film is stolen by Mark Hamill's performance as a violent sociopath (and psychopath). A completely different role and a welcome one (shame it wasn't earlier in his career as I feel he may have been a bigger hitter with performances like this under his belt). The film is centered around a Sushi Girl who is the serving platter for an array of delicious sushi prepared for ex con Fish who has just been released from prison. As the story unfolds, the plot thickens (predictably) but holds the attention span as the performance from everyone is top notch. Beautiful cinematography and direction make this a perfect Saturday night warmer. Although there are no real surprises, the film carries you through the violent turbulence (a scene with a sock and a sake bottle made me wince a little)quite well and delivering what you would expect from a film like this. I left this feeling pleasantly full and glad I sat through what I expected to be another Tarantino ripoff. Instead I got a surprising and refreshing take on the genre (actually better than most Tarantino films). Worth the price of admission, the rental fee or the bandwidth on your download.

I was wanting to watch this movie ever since I heard Tony Todd was gonna produce it and I gotta say, that I wasn't disappointed in the least. It had strong Tarrantino elements and a lot of suspense. I was intrigued every step of the way.

The storyline is simple. 5 criminals are summoned for a Sushi Dinner by Tony Todd who's waited 6 years for one member ; who was caught; to be released and tell him where he hid the diamonds. What transpires; once the 6 men reunite is a clash of egos and personalities}, which ends up "Opening wounds for the past" or the present in order to get some strait answerers as to what happened to the diamonds?

Tonny Todd hasn't been this sinister since his Candy Man days and Mark Hamill was a real treat. I wasn't aware that he had such a huge career in voice overs. Particularly , lending his voice for tons of Super Hero villains. I've seen some of those animated Batman flicks and whereas Heath Ledger and Cesar Romero were perfect as Joker in their respective eras; I believe Hamill does a perfect Joker in the animated series. He obviously found a way to bring his Joker persona onto the screen for his Crow character in Sushi Girl. Add a little flamboyance and passive lunacy and I believe he gave his best performance ever. I kinda felt his performance like I did when Tarrantino first resurrected John Travolta's career in Pulp Fiction.

Besides the great storyline, we also get a lot of favorites from yesteryear. Danny Trejo donning a Machete was a pure classic Grindhouse element that he also played out in one of Steve Austin's latest action films.Jaff Fahey and Michael Beihn also Starr in minor roles. I would have loved for Michael Beihn to have played one of the characters at Tonny Todds table.

The newcomer; Courtney Palm has one killer bod and seemed perfect for this kinda Tarrantinesque Grindhouse flick.

the action scenes were incorporated in flashback style, but it never got boring. IT actually all takes place at Tony Todd's Japanese Restaurant, so expect a lot of Tarrantino style dialog. Throw in a couple of nail biting torture scenes and Mexican Style stand Off ending and you have the movie that Tarrantino easily could have directed.

The cinematography is very stylish and attractive. Mot just for the naked Courtney Palm, but also for the various decorations amidst the restaurant. It is, after all, Japanese- inspired. Very classy. This is definitely, my kinda flick.

"Sushi Girl" is a very competent crime drama in the vein of gritty, low-budget films like Reservoir Dogs. And I have no doubt that many others will make similar comparisons to this Tarantino flick.

Film industry veterans deliver competent performances in a movie that combines plenty of tension with subtle twists and turns. The violence is sometimes gratuitous but always powerful, although the torture porn promised by the trailers serves more as exhibitionism than anything.

Tony Todd arguably delivers the performance of his career. Hathaway, Hamill, Mackenzie, and Duvall all deliver competent performances that effectively keep the tension in the movie high.

Danny Trejo, Michael Biehn, and Jeff Fahey share a brief cameo scene that plays out like a Rodriguez Grindhouse reunion, although Fahey and Biehn are sadly underutilized in this movie. Sonny Chiba also makes a brief appearance.

Cortney Palm in the titular role serves mainly as eye candy for much of the movie, and absolutely fantastic looking eye candy at that, with what I would consider a perfect figure. But she also shines in those critical moments in front of the camera, whether she is delivering dialogue or just conveying subtle emotion with those expressive eyes of hers. And I'm sure that her performance here will garner her higher profile roles in the future.

All and all, "Sushi Girl" is a solid genre film with good acting, tight directing, and above average production values.

SUSHI GIRL is a single location thriller with a nice setting and sense of time and place. It was written and directed by Kern Saxton as an obvious labour of love and tribute to, not only Quentin Tarantino - whose RESERVOIR DOGS is an obvious inspiration - but the B-movie thriller genre as a whole. The setting is an elaborate banquet in which Japanese food is served on the naked body of a woman (the unknown Cortney Palm, effective in a difficult part). A gang of thieves lost a fortune in diamonds six years ago, and upon the release of one of their number from prison, they're determined to find out what happened to it.

Obviously, how much you enjoy SUSHI GIRL depends on how much you like the actors involved. I had a ball with them. Tony Todd inevitably towers over everybody as the cruel boss but the rest of the cast match him, particularly Noah Hathaway's sympathetic rookie; you may recall Hathaway as a child actor in THE NEVERENDING STORY back in the day. James Duval (THE BLACK WATERS OF ECHO'S POND) actually plays his age for once, while Andy Mackenzie is completely believable as a brutal thug. Most notably we have Mark Hamill who hams it up in a Joker-style turn as a sneering, laughing villain. He's unrecognisable and certainly unforgettable in the part.

The running time flies past and the film never bores despite the single location. The flashbacks of the robbery are done effectively and there's a fine sequence featuring brief cameos from Danny Trejo, Michael Biehn, and Jeff Fahey. Even better, the inimitable Sonny Chiba also cameos. The only thing that dragged this film down a bit was that the ending twists were very obvious and that there's a little too much dwelling on extensive torture scenes - never my favourite - to pad out the running time. Other than that, it's a decent B-movie.

A silly title for an equally pointless movie. The sushi girl is a naked woman lying on a table covered with the food, never moving, while bad guys argue about missing diamonds from a robbery six years previous. Tony Todd is the big, menacing leader of the pack, who has joined the guys together after the one who has just been released from prison is suspected of hiding the precious gems. He is tortured while tied to a chair, while the nude girl remains silent, and they eat the food off of her body. No explanation is ever given of how she ever got there in the first place. The plot holes are big enough to drive a bus through. Sushi girl(Cortney Palm) does look quite good without clothes, but that is not enough reason to watch this film. The acting is decent, although the script is torturous. Director Kern Saxton seems to be trying for Reservoir Dogs, but drop the first word, and all you have here is a dog.

Fish (Noah Hathaway) has spent six years in jail. Six years alone. Six years keeping his mouth shut about the robbery, about the other men involved. The night he is released, the four men he protected with silence celebrate his freedom with a congratulatory dinner. The meal is a lavish array of sushi, served off the naked body of a beautiful young woman.

Look at this cast: Tony Todd, Michael Biehn, Mark Hamill, Jeff Fahey, Sonny Chiba, Danny Trejo. And then we start out with the song "Diamonds Are Forever" -- known from James Bond, but with a very different meaning here.

We have James Duval -- is he all grown up? And we have the sensibility and spiritual feeling of "Reservoir Dogs", one of the all-time greatest heist movies.

I do not even need to write a real review because this movie is just so darn good.

I have been following this project since I saw the panel at Comikaze long before the film was coming out (they have since gone back to Comikaze). I remember watching the trailer with a high degree of hope and optimism.

Truly, I thought, this could be something special. A good cast, interesting idea, and seemed to have some talent attached to it.

Ultimately the result has been a disappointment. I give credit for the attempt, but there are several problems with this film from the beginning.

First and foremost, the music. It's an odd place to start, but stick with me: the music is formulaic, tinny, and lacks the timing to know when to fill the space with notes and when to let the ambient sound give us time to breathe. I don't know whether to blame the filmmaker or the composer, but I know the composer is responsible for the lackluster scoring. There was no vibrancy and life to the music, so it seemed to siphon the energy from the film too.

The cast was fine, although uneven. Specifically, Mark Hamill plays a very odd character that never quite seems the fit into this gaggle of characters.

The pacing is definitely a problem too. After about 30 minutes in we paused to note how long had passed with almost nothing happening. The character introductions dragged and weren't very engaging. The writing is primarily responsible, as the dialogue lacks the same vibrancy that the music does. It feels cheap, in the same way a movie of the week is cheap. And this is not an issue of budget, as I've seen other films do much more with much less. When you don't have the budget to support you, you need to have the script be sharp as a bladed diamond or the audience will drift.

The whole film seems like echoes of Pulp Fiction, as realized through a narrow, uninteresting lens. I realize that on a small project like this the filmmaker likely reads these reviews, so I want to say something specifically to him: I remember you from the panel, and how enthusiastic and excited you were. I could feel the same excitement and energy from the whole cast (except for Hamill, who exudes this persona of a disinterested deity, which suits him). I'm glad you were so invigorated and excited, but this is not the best you could have done.

The script should have been more polished with more engaging dialogue and situations. The editing was at times to frenetic, giving talking scenes an unnecessarily jumpy quality more reserved for action sequences. And the music was really poorly done, and there's no nicer way to say that.

I feel like there are better things for you on the horizon, but I'd be lying if I said this was a great start. You have better projects ahead of you, but you need better material to work with, and better people to help with the creative process, from writing to production. I do believe you have some really interesting work ahead, so don't let negative reviews discourage you. Take them under advisement, ignore the ones that are petty and useless, and become a better filmmaker.

I want to see what you can do next, so show me something.

HOOK: members from a diamond heist gone wrong six years ago gather for a celebration dinner where sushi is served on the body of a naked woman.

LINE: presumably one would watch this based on the premise alone (what do you mean it's sushi served on a naked woman?!). ten seconds in and my mind's been taken over by the lush visuals and crazy performances. Fish (played by noah hathaway) has just been let out of a six-year prison sentence -- waiting for him in the prison parking lot is a guy twice his size, with an invitation he cannot refuse. Duke (tony todd) is the heist ringleader who's dinner invite to celebrate Fish's prison release is accepted by Crow (mark hamill), Francis (james duval), and Max (andy mackenzie). all four men are convinced Fish hid the diamonds from the botched heist and seize the opportunity to force a confession. a dinner with your four ex-con buddies in a remote restaurant on a dark, rainy night? guaranteed pee-in-your-pants freak-out, no matter how beautifully naked your dinner is served. two-thirds of the film is lavished on the dinner -- each delicious, nail biting, gum chewing moment of it. every second is punctuated by in-your-face dialogue -- mark hamill's Crow (the perfect unhinged jester) in particular gets quite a few memorable one- liners. when Crow is not making withering observations, Max is busy breaking apart the room and the people in it. Francis is the cowering conscience of the audience while Duke's even, measured menace casts the shadows overall. and you, the audience? you get to watch Fish suffer through literal torture. crazy, intense, holy-crap-they-did-not-just-do- that torture. and all the while, the sushi girl is laying on the table. not making a peep admist the cursing, the gushing blood. what in all hells is going on around here!?

SINKER: now here's the thing -- it'd be easy to dismiss sushi girl as a b-grade gore fest. which is the laziest of all lazy conclusions. the first ten minutes tell you otherwise, from the sushi girl's reaction to Duke to Fish's anguish over his son not recognizing his voice. while the film happily (gleefully) takes you to those moments where it wallows in torture pr0n, there is quite a revenge story lurking beneath all the flashy talk and flying bullets. a twist ending worthy of many repeated viewings. a movie can be pretty (which sushi girl most definitely is) but without a good story supported by convincing performances, it cannot be memorable. the cast of sushi girl gave all that and bag a chips to bring to life extreme characters that, at turns, make you laugh and then scare the bejesus of you. the film rides on these highs until it slams you with a climax that turns the roller coaster on its head -- where you're left savoring the bittersweet emotions that only the best revenge stories can evoke. i wax fancy verbage but i do not lie. sushi girl is the kind of film that everyone will reference in the future -- or at the very least try their damnedest to imitate and post to you-tube.

I absolutely could not recognize Mark Hammil (Star Wars). Yes, there is a 30+ year age difference, but he has really changed.

Tony Todd Candyman), however is ageless.

Five robbers gather to eat a meal off the body of a Sushi Girl (Cortney Palm). Her naked body was exposed throughout the evening as they tortured Fish (Noah Hathaway) in an attempt to discern where the diamonds were from a robbery six years earlier. It was pretty gruesome, and the ending was predictable.

But, wait, it didn't end when I thought it would. There was another ending that was just fantastic. It was definitely worth the wait.

Cortney Palm is a combination of Angelina Jolie and Audrey Hepburn - beauty and grace. See more of her in Seance: The Summoning and Silent Night.

I watched this movie with high expectations. Instead, I got a movie with a naked woman (hence 2 stars instead of just 1), flat dialog with poor pacing, and a story line that attempts the non-sequential story telling trick... and falls on its face.

From the first few moments of the movie, noticing the flat acting, it felt like a low-budget film. To its credit, this IS a low-budget film, but that doesn't mean poor acting and editing are required. Look at the original Clerks movie. With a budget less than 1/3rd of Sushi Girl's, they made a movie with likable and relatable characters, a story line that works, and editing that makes the pace of the movie brisk.

Lines were delivered like this: "You know WHY we're here." (longer-than-necessary pause) "WHY are we here?" (long pause) "YOU already KNOW why." (Caps indicate vocal emphasis.) Everything felt so forced; the emphasis on random words made the dialog sound very unnatural.

The story was boring. Typical storyline with a single twist. Yawn. This is a terrible movie in its execution, editing, and acting. But I liked the naked woman.

Mark Hamills performance alone is worth watching this movie. He plays a colorful and interesting character. A movie that has quite a bit of violence in it. Some might put it in the torture department, which wouldn't be completely wrong. There are a few scenes, that are very hard to watch and endure.

The story is revealed in bits and pieces (with a few nice "cameos" in one flashback scene), but might be easy to guess for a lot. The journey is still worth taking, if you are not too squeamish. The acting is decent enough and the thrill factor will keep you entertained (if not guessing) throughout.

This is a alright movie to sit through but nothing mind-blowing. It kinda has that "Reservoir Dogs" vibe going for it. But in this case it didn't stand out all that much. The story is about a group of guys pulling off a heist and stole a lot of diamonds and after the heist they want to know where all the diamonds has gone. And it all points to a guy that took the fall and didn't snitch anyone out while in prison. But the group points the finger at the guy that took the fall and went to prison for over 6yrs. After they reunite and dine together while eating sushi off some naked girl. Kinda felt like the Batman villains reuniting with one another and it's not just because it has Mark Hamill in this. I kinda slightly felt bad for the actress that plays the naked sushi girl though cause all she does for the majority of the movie is lay on the table naked with sushi all over her. She does have a amazing body though. But besides the naked sushi girl on the table, the movie doesn't stand out all that much. Even with the twist and turns near the end, it just wasn't mind-blowing but just alright. As a matter of fact some parts of this movie didn't make any sense. But Tony Todd played his role well as this unclear character, sadistic but unclear until near the end. So good casting for a straight to DVD movie and seductive to a degree because of the sushi girl. The rest just didn't seem all that original and lacked the shock factor it probably needed. Maybe a movie like this needed a bit more craziness. Few of the cameo appearances was kinda cool when it comes to Sonny Chiba. He played a expert sword maker in "Kill Bill" in this he is a expert sushi chef. And Danny Trejo makes this Machete character like appearance.

5/10

Well made and quite surprising, a perfect B movie. Except Tony Todd none were familiar to me. I was not expecting anything, I knew the limit of B movie's budget so no disappointment with second stream actors and production quality. All I needed was something new that big star and big budget movie won't offer in such a style. And got it.

The story begins with a man being released after completing his 6 year term in the prison who was in for a robbery. He was picked by his gangmates who are arranged to celebrate it in a sorta Japanese hotel. So the real story begins there when they started to dig the 6 years old robbery incident that went wrong. They all wanted to know where is the robbed items and of course the equal share. They talk then it turns into torture and later the chaos situation brings them who and what to believe.

The movie was all about that particular incident and about the missing robbed items. So the 80% of the movie has been just the investigation to reveal its flashback in pieces. And then the twist came, I really did not know it was coming, it surprised me a little. That turn in the story made whole movie look better than what one can expect from a mystery movie. It was not a QT's movie or Alfie's and all the above it was not a masterpiece but a simple, low budget's wonder. There are many amazing B movies and it is one of it and never compare those with A movies.

6½/10

A character called "Fish" (Noah Hathaway ) is released from Prison after serving six years for a diamond heist, he meets up with his accomplices whom he protected during his sentence, for a 'celebratory' meal, a lavish array of sushi, all laid out on a beautiful young woman...well it beats a Bernie Inn I suppose!

I wasn't expecting much from this film, I'd never even heard of it until now, just a seen it all before yarn, but what you get is an intriguing blood soaked plot, plenty of twists, a more than satisfying 'twist' finale, and a cool Tarantino style exploitation cast of Tony 'Candyman' Todd, Sonny Chiba, Danny Trejo, Micheal Biehn and an almost unrecognizable Mark Hamill looking like the love child of John Presscott and Eddie Izzard!!

A bloody enthralling slice of cinema that the aforementioned Tarantino could have served out.

Mark Hamill is one twisted bastard, and that is a good thing! This movie was an odd one for me, didn't know much about it, but I loved the artwork. I am glad I took a chance. Basically it plays out like many Post-Tarantino movies, but this one is a bit different. For one thing, it is actually pretty damned good. For another, it has some good twists and will keep you engaged. Finally it has a killer cast that really makes the most of their characters. The violence erupts in glorious style at points in the film, but it is more about the story and finding out where the road will take you. Each character holds a key to the final twist, and some huge genre favorites do great work here. Come for the sushi, stay for the fun!

A lowly criminal crook is released from prison after serving his time with good behaviour. Unfortunately his old gang is waiting for him, having readied a sushi buffet in his honour. The twist? It's served nyotaimori style, on top of a nude female body. And thus the stage is set for one of the most intense dinner conversations you're ever likely to witness.

This film has been accused of ripping off Quentin Tarantino's style. And yes, I can see where these accusations come from. The heavily Japanese themes and backgrounds filtered through Western understanding, brutal and hardcore characters, shocking scenes of extreme violence, the larger than life feel of the plot. The only thing missing is a distinctive soundtrack and even that is somewhat present in the most intense situations when the score builds and builds as the characters just keep staring at one another. The thing is, though, I don't see why this is a problem. It's one thing to rip off characters and story ideas. That's plagiarism and really cheap. But style? That's like saying that once Steven Spielberg became known for using heavy background lights, no one else could use those ever again. So, if there's exists a director like this one, who can do what Tarantino does with this amount of professionalism, then more power to him, I say.

Aside from that "criticism" the film is more than fine. The story isn't overly complicated and you can see final scene coming from miles away, given the film's subject matter, but this is one of those films where the experience and the journey are more important than the end result. It's about the dialogue and the characters more than it's about the story. And both of those are really good. I especially enjoyed Tony Todd's Duke, who tried to act like a big, collected yakuza boss, but all of his cocky American underlings kept interrupting his moments and monologues. I get your blight, Duke. Mark Hamill also really shines in the role of Crow, a maddened torture expert. He and Max (Andy Mackenzie) make for a great pair of mad dogs.

The production values are also high enough to convince, the torture scenes are suitably brutal to please their target audience and as a whole it's a very solid package. The story could have used one twist or surprise more for me to remember this film years later, but as it is, it's more than enough for me to recommend it to all fans of grindhouse genre.

I went into this film with reservations but as with all films, I wanted to give it a chance. I found it boring at best. The premise of the film sounded ridiculous to me but at the same time, somewhat interesting. It seems that the story was an afterthought and they just wanted to make a movie based around a nude girl, used as a sushi platter.

It could barely hold my attention but I suffered through it in the hopes it would get better. It did not. There wasn't much to the story and I was not impressed with the acting. I agree with others; it is very similar to a Quentin Tarantino film. I, however, have a disdain for Tarantino's work so this movie was, unsurprisingly, a disappointment for me.

In films like these, the story needs to be very engaging but the story in Sushi Girl lacked steam and left me with an unbearable taste in my mouth.

It could have been better but it seemed that the focus was more on shock value than on the story, where it should have been. I really wanted to like it but now I know why it was in the bargain bin.