Noriko's Dinner Table (2005) constitutes a follow-up with thematic similarities and loose narrative connections (though not a direct sequel) to Japanese filmmaker Shion Sono's dark 2002 satire 'Suicide Club". The time-fractured narrative weaves the gothic tale of the two backward Shimbara sisters, teenagers Yuka (Yuriko Yoshitaka) and Noriko (Kazue Fukiishi). The girls inadvertently become enslaved to a website, Hayiko.com, that represents a front for a perverse theatrical group, "The Family Circle" -- whereby young girls are hired by clients to act out bizarre fantasies. As a product of becoming implicated in the site, the sisters lose the ability to recognize their own identities; one is brainwashed by being forced to watch the mass suicide of 54 young Japanese girls from the earlier Suicide Club. The picture ultimately descends into blood-soaked carnage involving the titular table and a bevy of inanimate domestic objects.
Ever the formalist, Sono divides his recit into a quintet of segments, and labels four of five with the names of key characters, each of whom narrates his or her "chapter" in voice-over.
A preoccupation with suicide seems embedded in the Japanese psyche and there's always been a darkly bizarre strain in Japanese cinema. Sion Sono's "Noriko's Dinner Table" embraces these tendencies with gusto and striking originality. Just one minute short of three hours, the film is a boldly fragmented and tantalizing saga, told from five different points of view, about what happens to a family after it has blown apart.
The result is a bravura, high-risk work that raises an array of provocative questions about parent-child relationships, the treacherous quest for happiness and fulfillment, the complex interplay between reality and make-believe and the mutability of identity. "Noriko's Dinner Table" is a tantalizing mystery tale, an acute social commentary on the world of the Internet and cult mentality — and an outrageous dark comedy. It's not a film for the impatient but rather for those who enjoy challenging, high-risk artistic ventures. (Link to the complete review of Noriko's Table at the LA Times)
Very limited release (Will need to get this from Netflix.com)
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