Noriko's Dinner Table Is People!!!
Jan 14,2007
I've lost my girlfriend to another man; his name is Jack Bauer. At first she thought "24" was silly, but then she wanted to see another episode. She'll be here in a couple of hours to watch the final three episodes of Season 1, so I'm taking the opportunity to write about "Noriko's Dinner Table."
Every so often I'll get myself really excited about an item when I'm writing an article for CDJapan and have to check it out. Writing "Noriko's Dinner Table" left me anxious, so I went searching for a theater still showing it.
Preemptive Answer 1) I thought "Noriko's Dinner Table" was better than "Suicide Circle." "Suicide Circle" is a great film (that loses heft towards the end), "Noriko's Dinner Table" is even better. For one, the film makes more sense.
Unasked-for Premptive Answer 2) "Noriko" is neither a horror film, suspense film, overly violent, or disgusting. You get a replay of the 54-girl suicide and a couple of stabbing deaths--that's it. If you're looking for some Miike-ultraviolence this is not the film for you.
"Noriko's Dinner Table" is unsettling, however, due to it's premise that human beings are better satisfied through emotions rather than realities like family and history. Lead character Noriko leaves her family to join a "rental family" group that travels from house to house being the imaginary perfect family.
If all the world's a stage, then the lives of each member of the rental family company are a series of short films. In each scene they play different roles and the ultimate satisfaction from their job is in succesfully meeting the emotional needs of a given situation. Sion Sono's trick is to portray the theme with an indifferent eye; by distilling our lives into a series of emotional scenes without the everyday drudgery, each character gives up love, family, history, or real emotion for the satisfaction of meeting cues, reciting lines, and--for a few hours--being the best daughter your client never had. Of course, you can't be who you're not, the setting is fake but the characters react the way they naturally would. Then you extrapolate; maybe the true nature of human happiness is in our ability to act out our given roles. With a smile then, you meet your father for the first time in two years, appologize to a lover, commit suicide, murder, or eat dinner. Given both choice and fate, are we happier meeting the cues of fate?
Which brings me back to Jack Bauer. Why have both my girlfriend and I fallen for "24" when the story is so absurd? The pacing's brilliant and the acting is spot on (accept for Dennis Hopper's Serbian/Mexican accent). Like a science fiction film, it doesn't matter that the characters and setting are unrealistic--however, given the characters and setting, do the characters react in a way consistent with themselves. Are our lives any different?
"Noriko's Dinner Table" starring Kazue Fukiishi, Tsugumi, Yuriko Yoshitaka, and a pile of SEX POT ReVeNGe clothing comes out February 23, 2007. I haven't enjoyed a film like this in a while, and it has English subs so please, order now!
Every so often I'll get myself really excited about an item when I'm writing an article for CDJapan and have to check it out. Writing "Noriko's Dinner Table" left me anxious, so I went searching for a theater still showing it.
Preemptive Answer 1) I thought "Noriko's Dinner Table" was better than "Suicide Circle." "Suicide Circle" is a great film (that loses heft towards the end), "Noriko's Dinner Table" is even better. For one, the film makes more sense.
Unasked-for Premptive Answer 2) "Noriko" is neither a horror film, suspense film, overly violent, or disgusting. You get a replay of the 54-girl suicide and a couple of stabbing deaths--that's it. If you're looking for some Miike-ultraviolence this is not the film for you.
"Noriko's Dinner Table" is unsettling, however, due to it's premise that human beings are better satisfied through emotions rather than realities like family and history. Lead character Noriko leaves her family to join a "rental family" group that travels from house to house being the imaginary perfect family.
If all the world's a stage, then the lives of each member of the rental family company are a series of short films. In each scene they play different roles and the ultimate satisfaction from their job is in succesfully meeting the emotional needs of a given situation. Sion Sono's trick is to portray the theme with an indifferent eye; by distilling our lives into a series of emotional scenes without the everyday drudgery, each character gives up love, family, history, or real emotion for the satisfaction of meeting cues, reciting lines, and--for a few hours--being the best daughter your client never had. Of course, you can't be who you're not, the setting is fake but the characters react the way they naturally would. Then you extrapolate; maybe the true nature of human happiness is in our ability to act out our given roles. With a smile then, you meet your father for the first time in two years, appologize to a lover, commit suicide, murder, or eat dinner. Given both choice and fate, are we happier meeting the cues of fate?
Which brings me back to Jack Bauer. Why have both my girlfriend and I fallen for "24" when the story is so absurd? The pacing's brilliant and the acting is spot on (accept for Dennis Hopper's Serbian/Mexican accent). Like a science fiction film, it doesn't matter that the characters and setting are unrealistic--however, given the characters and setting, do the characters react in a way consistent with themselves. Are our lives any different?
"Noriko's Dinner Table" starring Kazue Fukiishi, Tsugumi, Yuriko Yoshitaka, and a pile of SEX POT ReVeNGe clothing comes out February 23, 2007. I haven't enjoyed a film like this in a while, and it has English subs so please, order now!
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