part investigative mystery, part cultist drama
One of the most ambitious tonal mash-ups in memory, Noriko's Dinner Table is a domestic comedy, a bloody psychological thriller and a comment on the fragility of identity.
This film leaves the big events of the series and instead focuses on little moments, moments that the characters share with others, or with themselves. The fact that this movie focuses more on emotions is what makes this movie shine. The performances are simply amazing. Using mostly lesser known Japanese actors, Sono has drawn out some of the most emotionally draining and shocking scenes in recent memory, and by the end of the film it is hard to think that these actors aren't all seasoned professionals. The film feels very real, and has a somewhat low budget home movie quality to it. This is the same quality that is given to many TV movies in japan. The effect is a movie that is stripped down to the basics, and is at some points very intense and hard to watch.
A more introspective film than director Sono's previous film.
douglas2k427 March 2007
A sequel to 2002's cult-status film "Suicide Club", director Sion Sono's "Noriko's Dinner Table" tells the compelling and profound tale of the collapse and reconstruction of the family unit. The story follows Noriko Shimabara (Kazue Fukiishi), a seemingly unhappy teenager who lives with her mother, father, and younger sister. To escape reality, Noriko begins to regularly visit the internet site Haikyo.com, a BBS where she begins to chat with other girls just like her. One of the girls, known only by the title "Ueno54", persuades Noriko to runaway to Tokyo so they can meet in person. Noriko willingly accepts and escapes to Tokyo, wherein she meets the real person behind the mysterious Ueno54 and learns her true name—Kumiko (Tsugumi). What Noriko soon discovers is that Kumiko operates a "family-circle" program, which specializes in taking in young girls and giving them new personalities and families
With the release of "Suicide Club", a film that explored the disastrous effects that an enigmatic cult had on an entire population of youth, director Sion Sono not only created a memorable horror film, but also provided some social commentary on Japanese youth. And while it was effective in what it was trying to convey, many viewers considered it a gory, albeit somewhat intelligent film. Sono decided to take a different route with "Noriko's Dinner Table", this time around taking out the unnecessary gore and replacing it with a more introspective stance. The film is split up into various chapters, each dedicating ample time to the film's characters. While this might seem distracting for a film such as this, it does the exact opposite—the first-person narrative of the characters allow the viewer to understand some of the decisions they choose, why they choose them, and what they hope to arrive at after the decision has been made. It's through these narrative perspectives that provided the truly captivating moments throughout the film, wanting to see the outcome of characters I have gotten to know.
Probably one of the strongest elements of the film is the cast. Since Sono's attention to detail is so prevalent in this film, the cast had to be right on the mark. And they do a remarkable job. The highlight of the film is Kazue Fukiishi. Her portrayal of Noriko is a sight to behold and her transformation from being a stubborn, rebellious teen to an overzealous, rather detached individual is masterfully done. Noriko's family—her father played by film veteran Ken Mitsuishi and younger sister played by Yuriko Yoshitaka—are fantastic in their respectable roles as well. Actress Tsugumi in her portrayal as the chilling and austere Kumiko also brings to mind the exceptional acting talent so vividly on display here.
While "Suicide Club" showcased a telescopic overview of the shadowy "Suicide Circle" cult, which showed the cult's negative influence on numerous individuals, "Noriko's Dinner Table" portrays, rather successfully, how the mysterious cult affects a single family. It's a film that touches upon various contemplative societal issues such as individualism, family structure, alienation, and mind control on an enormous scale. With the release of "Suicide Club" a few years back, director Sion Sono had something to say. With "Noriko's Dinner Table", he takes it a step further, raising questions to issues that are relevant and meaningful today. A totally absorbing experience, I highly recommend it.
This film is much more psychological than "Suicide Club", and for that it shines.
The creepy part is that they take on different names and personalities and they get so use it, they become these alternate people. It really does give the movie a creepy warped feeling at parts.
This was a roller coaster through the sickness of the human mind and back up to blue skies. I watched this after suicide club (that in my opinion was very average to not so good) and was amazed. The movie did not even need the Suicide Circle background. The symbolisms were nicely presented and the metaphors were very tight to the storyline.
The movie explores the idea of the lies we live, and what that does to us; the lies we choose, that we find meaningful; disconnection from family, from society, or from our own persons; and in the midst of it all, finding ourselves - or, alternatively, losing ourselves. It's filled with ideas of empathy, and what we can be for other people. More underhandedly, 'Noriko' also touches on notions of everyone and everything having a purpose - how discovering and fulfilling that purpose can bring true happiness, and be gainful in a very existential and philosophical sense. That all these concepts are tied into the darker, more foreboding aspects of the story makes us question ever more deeply what they mean for us.
Of course my familiar history or situation is or was extremely confusing, unstable, unhealthy, and unusual. But, maybe roleplaying is more than Japan's main existential issue. Maybe it's our entire culture's main existential issue. "The actor behind the mask", as in "Riding Alone for Thousand of Miles". The hidden heart, clouded in fat and entertainment and busy-ness, entangled in meaningless liasons that produce meaningless families; the confused heart that can only be brought out (exorcised) using a knife. And a camera.
I also thought of the famous Shakespeare quote about the world being a stage, and everyone on it merely players.
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The main pseudo-philosophical question of Noriko's Dinner Table is a simple one: "Are you connected to yourself?" The question is easily answered: I am myself, therefore I am connected to myself. So why does it take two and a half hours to try to somehow explore this question?
The movie is just like the question: pointless. Furthermore it's disturbingly sick because characters act in totally unnatural ways. But not even that in an interesting way. I can't believe that this movie got only favorable reviews. Honestly I expected something special. There was nothing of that sort
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The movie expands on the themes of suicides and the fragility of life by adding the motif of the degradation of family unit. What seemed to be a perfect family in a photograph is not always like that, according to Sono. There is a generational gap which renders the parents unable to recognise the individuality and true worth of their children.
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Another concerning matter is the meta-theatricality presented in the film. Almost every main character assumes an additional identity. Noriko becomes Mitsuko, Yuka becomes Yoko, whereas Kumiko introduces herself as Ueno Station 54. These are parentless people who pretend to be fake family members for money. This in turn allows them to confront their emotions and provide a much-needed catharsis, especially towards the bloody finale.
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In my opinion, Noriko’s Dinner Table does better in this performance-within-a-performance modus operandi than the recent Ryusuke Hamaguchi’s Drive My Car (2021).
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I think if you like postmodern horror vibes, you can’t go wrong with Sion Sono and his certainly larger-than-fiction idiosyncratic style when it comes to filmmaking.
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It also creates its own claustrophobic effect, since these characters are trapped in their own subjectivity, and we’re trapped in their subjectivity, too.
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Some terrible things happen, enough to qualify the picture as a stealth horror movie, but more than anything it’s a fractured (yet entirely unified) vision of the dissolution of identity, family, and morality in a society where people seem interchangeable.
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The cult’s figurehead, Kumiko (Tsugumi), is depicted as both a sociopath and a visionary battling bourgeois complacency.
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The movie is an inofficial sequel to "Suicide Club", even though it is perfectly watchable without knowledge of latter one, since it actually only shares that one's fundamental question of identity as well as sense and nonsense of life and features some cross references. This time growing up once again stands in the center of the story and it is a very painful process the way Sion sketches it. Responsible for that are the adults, who towards their children can't live up to the role that they actually have to fill out. And that's also what the drama centers around. Roles we have to play in life. And by doing so we once more need to answer the much beloved question of the director: Are you connected to yourself?
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Are we all just empty pages deep within, playing different roles for others? After all Noriko feels more emotional warmth in front of a stranger whose daughter she plays than when facing her own father. The emotional dullness that eventually results from that is portrayed by Kumiko, who watches disinterested when a colleague of her is being stabbed to death by a customer. What kind of future does Kumiko see for herself? It is one without hope and one filled with emptiness that brings the viewer to the brink of emotional exhaustion. It isn't easy not to get depressive as well thanks to the movie. And those who refuse to delve into that feeling will most likely gain only little out of this drama.
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The movie also explains how in the end people are different and they are bound to play a role. In a coffee shop we see a clan member explain to Tetsuzo the circles philosophy: "If you saw a Lion eat a zebra, would you call it a "Cannibal Club?", one character remarks at one point. "The world is the Suicide Club, with far more suicides than our circle. Only a small fraction of our members actually commit suicide because their role asked for that".
This taps in into the fragility of our identity. "Are you connected to yourself? Or have you fallen into a spiral of routine and habit, of what you should be instead of what you can be." What is to be? What is your name? Erase everything and feel the empty desert. Make up a new name, a new personality. You can be everything you want, why be constrained by an identity?
EVERYONE is acting. For the ultimate goal of avoiding pain.
The two halves are necessary. The world can't just be lions or rabbits."
"The only way to figure out what we can be... is to lie openly and pursue emptiness."
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Kumiko has her own life philosophy. In one monologue she remarks "Some will kill, some will be killed. That's the circle of life, though there are contradictions. There are no perfect circles anywhere in nature. But if you draw a circle with a compass and a big fat marker, a thick outline will make it seem perfect. I'll give you a sense of perfection, Tetsuzo. You can be a lion. I'll be a rabbit. I don't need thick outlines. My metal box is starting to rot. I'm gonna go to a higher level. A rabbit, a suicide, a killer, evil, water overflowing from a glass... I'll be whatever no one else wants to be. I'm sick of shameless outlines of people seeking happiness. They don't wanna be rabbits. They just wanna eat rabbits. There's no such jungle."
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Stray cats roamed the back alleys like blood flows through a vein" - Remarks Noriko.
"Stray cats form families instantly. No need to feel sorry for them, they're tough, they own this town. We have to relate to each other like stray cats do." - Says Kumiko. This is what her group is all about. Stray, unwanted, unfulfilled cats, taking the roles that are necessary in order to be happy and survive.
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The world is full of failed actors, actors who could not play their roles but Kumiko is there to fill those roles, to make people happy and to feel like she belongs somewhere. Otake Tsuzumi is a remarkable actress.
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As the Greek philosophers remark. We're all wearing masks and playing our roles in society. Why should we be secretive about it. That's how life works. We're all doing whatever needs to be done to be happy...
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This movie is a discourse in nihilism. Every person in the company, first and foremost, is willing to die when it is necessary — when the role requires it.
The very same mentality of terrorist organizations.
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A pseudo-identity so malleable by customer's whims that is no longer “identifiable” as a person. A screw in the great machine of the company, a foot soldier in their army. Willing to undergo violence, presumably prostitution, and even get murdered or to commit suicide.
The company, of course, is there for financial gain in the first place, most starkly depicted in how adamant and apathetic Kumiko is to end the session in the middle of the phony dinner just as the time runs out in their 4th customer.
So, this is not a quest for finding your own self. It's a clever scheme for turning humans into subhuman servants, serving the whims and wishes of the customers – how violent or gory or inhumane they might be – for money.
So, Kumiko is anything but a hero or a protagonist. An antisocial villain best describes her, with no shred of remorse or sympathy for the suffering of others.