Watch Cold Fish For Free

Don't Believe the Hype

Good films always raise compelling questions, whether the format is fiction or documentary fact.

It’s fine. It's literally the definition of a fine movie. You’ve seen it before, you know every beat and outcome before the characters even do. Only question is how much escapism you’re looking for.

An old-fashioned movie made with new-fashioned finesse.

Thrills, suspense, evil, yakuza, budding capitalist, hot women who flaunt their bodies, sex and of course murder.What else can you ask for especially when in each case everything is done to an 11?Compare this film to the copy/paste, reboot, remake, sequel routine that studio tools and hacks like JJ Abrams are putting out and you will see why America has become the laughing stock of the world. US has just fallen behind (thanks dotard too)

Well made film actually, good acting, suspenseful, some cynicism and humor here and there. Some humor I could really appreciate as well. I found this film by using the tags 'underrated horror movie' in google. Is it underrated? Well, it's shocking. Most of all it's very, very bloody and violent. I suspect it's possible to get into a psychosis after watching this movie, if you're susceptible to it. If not, you will never forget this movie, at best. It's disturbing, not meaning to be realistic. I watched this with my wife and when our kids aged 16 and 17 came down from upstairs we stopped the movie to watch the rest later. It's not to be shown to kids, is my opinion. Does it have a message, is it art? I really couldn't tell. But yes, it's very disturbing, that I can tell you.

Japanese people don't seem to know how to make ordinary dramas (really, Asian people for that matter). Everything tends toward the melodramatic and, in a lot of cases, hyper-violent and gory. However, for most of its run time, COLD FISH remains rather restrained. Only in the final act does this movie really go over-the-top in such a way that it ruins what could have been subtle shocker. Still, the journey to the end is one worth taking. The story concerns a mild-mannered, nebbish man at odds with his family. As a consequence of his daughter's shoplifting, he is brought into contact with a man who, while admittedly weird at first, shows himself to be something else entirely. And as the movie progresses, this put-upon man is pushed to his limits. I thought everything about this movie was excellent, from the production values, the performances, the soundtrack, etc. Shion Sono has quite a pedigree and by and large, this one doesn't disappoint either. The only fault it really has is that it's about 30 minutes too long. There were a couple of detours/plot points that don't really go anywhere, and the ending was a little too protracted to be believable, considering what came before it. The average viewer might be put off by the gore, but to be honest there's not as much of it compared to other movies coming out of Japan. Definitely for fans of extreme Japanese cinema, but maybe this might not be a bad entry point for those new to it.

Mild mannered Nobuyuki Shamoto (Mitsuru Fukikoshi), owner of a modest tropical fish shop, lives with his pretty teenage daughter Mitsuki (Hikari Kajiwara) and surprisingly hot second wife Taeko (Megumi Kagurazaka); sadly, the women in his life do not see eye to eye (to put it mildly). When Mitsuko is caught shoplifting, Yukio Murata (Denden), a successful businessman who also sells exotic aquatic livestock, steps in and gets Mitsuki off with a warning. Brash, charismatic, and cunning Murata uses this as an opportunity to begin manipulating the grateful Shamoto family, offering desperate Mitsuki a job as one of his store girls (all of whom are pretty, and wear tight vests and short shorts!), bringing meek Yukio under his wing as his apprentice, and sneaking a shag with the not-very-content Taeko.Murata also reveals to a Nobuyuki his unique method of dealing with difficult acquaintances: he poisons them and then, with help from his obedient and rather sexy wife Aiko (Asuka Kurosawa), takes the bodies to a remote shack where he makes them 'disappear' (ie., chops them up, burns the bones, and sprinkles the remains in the woods). When Murata insists that Yukio help dispose of a victim, he is too shocked and scared too refuse; now, as an accomplice to murder, he finds himself trapped by the over-bearing and frankly quite scary Murata—fearful not only for himself, but also for the lives of his wife and daughter.However, a man can only be pushed so far: after several more stomach-churning visits to the shack, learning of his wife's infidelity, suffering a beating from Murata, and being forced to have sex with Aiko (the poor guy!), Nobiyuki finally snaps, attacking Mr and Mrs Murata with a biro (not the greatest of weapons, perhaps, but it does the trick). Now it is time for Yukio Murata to disappear, with Mrs. Murata only too happy to help, clearly turned on by the fact that Nobiyuki has at last grown a pair. The now empowered Nobiyuki also sets about straightening out his ungrateful wife and daughter, using methods definitely NOT sanctioned by most family guidance counsellors.Other reviews here on IMDb comment on what a harsh viewing experience Cold Fish is, with its brutal murders, bodily dismemberment, rape and in your face gore; but while it's certainly not what I'd call family viewing, I wasn't too fazed by the extreme content, finding much of the film darkly humorous rather than disturbing (but then I've watched a fair few gruesome Asian movies in my time, and am probably a tad desensitised). Indeed, I was ready to dismiss the film as a far-fetched and overlong wish-fulfilment fantasy for downtrodden Japanese males, when I decided to watch the interview with investigative journalist Jake Adelstein on the extras disc, something that altered my perception of the film slightly. Although the beginning of Cold Fish had stated that it was based on a true story, I had taken this with a large pinch of salt (so many movies make this wild claim); as it happens, most of what director Shion Sono depicts proves to be not all that far from the truth (at least until Nobiyuki snaps), making his film a lot more chilling in retrospect.