Remember the dreams you had as a kid which evoked disturbing emotions for which you had no names? The latest film, Cold Fish, by epic Japanese filmmaker, Sion Sono, recalls them all. Sono’s unique style of gore brings to mind the work of artists Paul Thek and Maskull Lasserre in the ways it makes the audience uncomfortable but introspective.
Sono builds his characters from a place the Everyman audience can relate to. He aims for this. He wants us to see ourselves in them; that’s when he flips it. The gregarious and generous shopkeeper’s eyes deepen and fade. You try to turn away, but you can’t… because you can’t believe another human being is capable of this. It’s so extreme and out of character for the people you thought you understood. We grapple with not knowing how an individual can contain such polarity.
The histories of the characters unfold slowly offscreen. We read the lifetime of shame and hate inside the eyes of protagonist, Shamoto. We witness how Shamoto, a once insecure and reserved shopkeeper, bends to severe circumstance. Cold Fish’s intense gore poetically conveyed this imperfect coexistence of mind and matter.
Ultimately, Cold Fish forces us to ask how far humans have really come from an animal existence. What would we betray in order to survive? We all have limits. What are yours?
