Within five minutes you know that Yukio and Aiko are not Ozzie and Harriet. But what they do turn out to be is not what you are thinking either. Not even close.
The film is based [loosely] on a true story. This one:
japantimes.co.jp/text/nn20010322a3.html
The scene in the “church” alone is mindboggling.
Most will tend to focus their attention on Nobuyuki. He is the one who comes closest to an everyman. It’s easier to wonder what the hell you would do if you were in his place. This guy tumbled into the Twilight Zone by way of Saw. You keep wondering: Will he become one of them? Or one of their victums? It’s a fucking nightmare.
Are they crazy? If so, does that make them more or less scary? Just pray to god you never come across someone like them.
This film is both absolutely grotesque and absolutely mesmerizing. I’ve never seen anything quite like it.
IMDb
The movie was “inspired by true events” known as the “Saitama serial murders of dog lovers”; the convicted killers in the real-life case are Gen Sekine (b. January 2, 1942) and his ex-wife Hiroko Kazama (b. February 19, 1957).
wiki
Film Business Asia gave Cold Fish a 8 out of 10 rating praising the actor Denden who without his “tour-de-force performance…Cold Fish may never have worked.” The review went on to state that “Though there’s considerable gore on display, it’s largely cartoonish. Cold Fish is not so much a blood-and-guts horror movie, more a danse macabre about social breakdown.”
trailer:
youtu.be/HmQPIBNPFBE
Note: Some explicit dialogue.
COLD FISH [Tsumetai Nettaigyo] 2010
Written and directed by Shion Sono
[b]Yukio: Mitsko-chan, I like your honesty. I, too, hated both school and my parents.
…
Yukio: Now listen good. We all die one day, right? We usually depart one day, without warning. Unfortunately, we all die, right? Nobody knows when the day will come. That’s what they say, but there are some people who do know! I’m one of them. I know how long a man lives, and when he dies. I also know where he dies, Who arranges that? I do!
Nobuyuki [watching Yoshida choke to death]: Mr. Yoshida…
Yukio: Pay no attention to him. He’ll calm down soon. No need to panic. We all die one day without exception. He’ll die today, that’s all! There’s nothing you can do…You love stars, don’t you? And the planetarium? What a joke! You think the earth is a smooth, blue sphere? I think the earth is just a chunk of rocks. Jagged, ugly rocks! That’s all there is! No planet is smooth and nice. That doesn’t exist! Look at him. Do you want to be like him? How was Mitsuka? I hope she’ll stay okay. Finally he’s gone. I hate superfical guys like him! Are you a man of substance? Look. If you try to defy me, that’s what you get. To kill someone makes you on edge at first. But after the first few, you’ll get used to it. This is my 58th. I could get hanged for it. But, you know I’m a perfectionist. I’ll never get caught.
Aiko [to Nobuyuki after Yukio leaves]: It’s best to just go along with it.[/b]
This is without much doubt one of the most goddamn bizarre scenes I have ever seen in a movie. You have to watch it 3 times though. Once focusing on Yukio, once on Aiko, once on Nobuyuki.
Yukio [to Nobuyuki after he and his wife have carved up Mr. Yoshida]: Eat some sushi! The smell? You’ll soon get used to it.
But I repeat myself: This is without much doubt one of the most goddamn bizarre scenes I have ever seen in a movie.
Then the enormous gap between Nobuyuki’s abject horror and the jocular, matter-of-fact manner in which Yukio and Aiko playfully react to the whole sanguineous spectacle.
[b]Yukio: The body’s invisible now. Nobody will know. I always win in the end.
…
Nobuyuki [to Taeko]: Let’s go to the planetarium…
…
Woman’s voice over the loud speaker at the planetarium: Please enjoy the winter sky. Our blue planet, Earth, was born 4.6 billion years ago. [Nobuyuki closes his eyes] And 4.6 billion years from now, it is said that the earth will end its life…
…
Taeko: I remember…This is where we had our first date. I was really shy at the time. I’d never known someone who loved stars. I realized then that you were a romantic. I was kind of exicited…and happy.
Nobuyuki [reaching for her hand]: I love you.
…
Detective [to Nobuyuki]: Please don’t tell Mr. Maruta we approached you. If he found out that the police had spoken to you, you’d probably become another missing person.
…
Yukio: First you chop the body into small pieces. As small as you can. Bite size. Always no larger than chicken nuggets.
Nobuyuki [gagging]: Yes.
Yukio: Next, separate bones from meat. It’s important!
Nobuyuki: Yes.
Aiko: Look, it’s his penis.
Yukio: I’ll take care of it. [grabs the penis] Shit. She put a pearl on his dick, damn it. Show-off!
…
Yukio [holding up Tsu-Tsui’s severed head]: Shamoto, look!
[Nobuyuki turns away gasping…Yukio and Aiko burst into laughter]
…
Yukio: Mitsuko-chan made a decision to leave home for your sake, you understand? So that you can make up with your wife. So that you could fuck your wife without her around. Your wife has a nice body too. She is a screamer. A cute mole on her back.
[Nobuyuki grabs him by the throat]
Yukio: That’s good. It’s about time you got mad.
[Nobuyuki punches him in the face]
Yukio [massaging his jaw and grinning]: It’s the story of your sad life. Because of you, your wife weeps. Because of you, your daughter became a criminal. But you have done nothing about it! Me, I’m different. Sure, I kill people, but I take care of myself. Look back at your sorry life and tell me you have ever dealt with a problem on your own. Have you? Well, have you?
…
Yukio: Come on, put your hatred in your fist. Hit me!
[Nobuyuki falls to the ground screaming in anguish, crying, wimpering. He’s completely broken]
Yukio: Hey. Hey, Samoto, are we in this together? Answer me!
Nobuyuki [practically catatonic]: Yes.
Yukio: Good. Get up then and fuck Aiko!
Nobuyuki: I can’t.
[Yukio shoves him on top of his wife who is laughing]
Yukio: We’re in this together. So do it now!
[Aiko starts taking off his pants while Yukio holds him]
Aiko: He’s getting hard.
Yukio: Aiko lead him in…All right, is he in?
[Yukio pushes and pulls him in and out of Aiko]
Yukio [letting go of Nobuyuki who is now, uh, on his own]: Shamoto, you’re doing fine. You’re doing good. Aiko, how do you feel? Samoto, keep going, keep going! Harder! Harder! That’s good! Atta boy!
[Out of the blue Nobuyuki takes a ball point pen and stabs both Yukio and Aiko in the neck][/b]
Another simply surreal scene as Nobuyuki continues to stab Yukio and Aiko looks back and starts to giggle with blood coming out of her neck. Then she bursts into gales of laughter.
Nobuyuki [at the “church”]: Get him out.
Aiko: Okay.
Nobuyuki [holding out a butcher knife]: Aiko, finish him off.
[Aiko ignores the knife. She grabs a television set and pummels a barely breathing Yukio over and over and over again]
Nobuyuki: Good. Take his body to the bath.
[Aiko drags it across the floor screeching like a banshee]
Nobuyuki: Make him invisible like the others. I’m the new Murata from today. And you’re my woman now.
This, to answer the question above: He becomes one of them. And what a fucking transformation!
Nobuyuki [to Taeko]: Prepare the meal.
[She hesitates, barely recognizing her husband…Nobuyuki picks up a kitchen chair]
Nobuyuki: PREPARE THE MEAL!!!
Planetarium man is now a million miles a way.
Nobuyuki: By the way, Taeko I know what you did. I know you fucked Murata.
[the tension in the air is explosive]
Nobuyuki [slapping her across the face]: YOU FUCKED HIM! YOU WHORE!
[he pins her to the ground]
Nobuyuki: Go ahead, say what you really think!
Taeko [struggling]: Our marriage is the pits! A big mistake! I hate your daughter’s guts! I hate our sorry life! I want my life back! Give it back to me!!
Then another absolutely mindboggling scene
Nobuyuki: I’m going to rape you.
Mitsuko: What the hell are you doing?
[Nobuyuki punches his daughter in the face and knocks her out]
Then back to the “church”. I won’t even attempt to describe what happens there between him and Aiko. You simply have to see it to believe it. It’s stuptifying. I’m, well, speechless.
[b][Nobuyuki stabs and kills his wife. He approaches Mitsuko with the big butcher knife]
Nobuyuki: Mitsuko, you can take care of yourself, right? You want to live on your own.
[he jabs her with the knife]
Nobuyuki: Does it hurt?
[he jabs her again]
Mitsuko: You’re hurting me !
Nobuyuki: It hurts?
[he jabs her again’
Nobuyuki: Do you want to live?
Mitsuko: I do, I do want to live!
Nobuyuki: Okay, you want to live.
[jabs her again]
Mitsuko: I don’t like pain!
Nobuyuki: Mitsuko, let me kill you!..LIFE IS PAIN!! Living your life hurts.
[he then takes the knife and slits his own throat]
…
Mitsuko [hovering hesitantly over his body]: Now you’re dead you fuckhead![/b]
Nobuyuki’s dead vacant eyes stare out into the void. Then a final shot of the blue Earth against the expanse of an endless universe.