Plantiana Yawn. Poorly Filmed Snooze Fest.

VeteranLight I don't have all the words right now but this film is a work of art.

TrueHello Fun premise, good actors, bad writing. This film seemed to have potential at the beginning but it quickly devolves into a trite action film. Ultimately it's very boring.

Bea Swanson This film is so real. It treats its characters with so much care and sensitivity.

Christopher Drumme (vcn-09627) But thanks to Hollywood which is busy covering up women and being all Taliban-ish we have to go overseas to satisfy our natural inclination to watch beautiful women. This movie has it all: beautiful women, female flesh, murder, sex, deception and the women are over-the-top gorgeous. Hollywood has a lot of catching up to do. Keep watching Ghostbusters 2016 losers or crawl back to the world's only chubby Asian chick in The Last Jedi.

Paul Magne Haakonsen Director Shion Sono (known for "Noriko's Dinnertable" and "Suicide Club") has put together yet another odd, bizarre, yet entertaining movie with the filming of "Cold Fish" (aka "Tsumetai nettaigyo").While "Cold Fish" is not suitable to everyone, given its slow pace, contents of the story or just because it is Japanese. However, you should transcend these and sit down to watch "Cold Fish", because you are in for a very different type of movie.The story is about a small time seller of tropical fish named Nobuyuki who is given a chance to have his criminal daughter work at the biggest tropical fish store and he himself will have a chance to become business partners with Murata, the owner of the big store. However with opportunities comes a trade off...The storyline was odd, yes, but it worked out well enough despite the slow pace of the movie. I was thoroughly entertained by the story with its depravities, oddities, bizarreness and bloodiness.What really worked for "Cold Fish" was the all round phenomenal cast. The lead roles played by Misuru Fukikoshi (playing Nobuyuki) and Denden (playing Yukio Murata) were great actors and really carried the movie well. But the two female leads Megumi Kagurazaka (playing Taeko Syamoto) and Asuka Kurasawa (playing Aiko Murata) were phenomenal as well. A shame that the women didn't have more on-screen time though.The effects and gore, yes it has gore too, was actually quite good, despite it not being a focal point for the movie itself.If you enjoy Asian movies then you should most certainly sit down and treat yourself to some "Cold Fish".

Uriah43 "Nobuyuki Syamoto" (Mitsuru Fukikoshi ) is a quiet and unassuming man who owns a tropical fish store and simply wants to live in peace. Unfortunately, his daughter "Mitsuko" (Hikari Kajiwara) cannot stand his new wife "Taeko" (Megumi Kagurazaka ) and because of that the household is anything but peaceful. It eventually all comes to a head when Mitsuko is caught shoplifting at a grocery store which results with both Nobuyuki and Taeko driving there to convince the manager not to turn her over to the police. It's at this time that another man named "Yukio Murata " (Denden) just happens to step in and manages to convince the manager to simply let the parents handle the matter. Extremely grateful to him they are then convinced to let Mitsuko work for Yukio at his store. What they don't know is that Yukio isn't the nice man that they think he is. Now, rather than reveal any more of this movie I will just say that I thought it started off really great. The story was quite riveting and the performances of both Mitsuru Fukikoshi and Denden were truly excellent. Likewise, both Asuka Kurosawa (as "Aiko Murata") and Megumi Kagurazak were definitely attractive as well. Unfortunately, the director (Shion Sono) seemed to get carried away with the blood and gore towards the last third of the film which severely impacted the movie as a whole. And it was all so unnecessary. Despite this fact, the movie was still entertaining for the most part and I have rated it accordingly. Slightly above average.

BA_Harrison 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.