Noriko no shokutaku
2005
Japan
Noriko's Dinner Table
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Comments: This is the closest I'll get to calling a film poetry but you probably won't. Sono has such a delicate touch with sound. It is vital to the presentation.
Summary: Noriko's Dinner Table takes place before, during, and after the Suicide Circle timeline as an attempt to resolve some questions Suicide Circle left behind. Noriko's Dinner Table explores various issues including the generation gap in modern families, the concepts of family and happiness, suicide, lack of communication, the effects of alienation and how the Internet is used as a tool. A family portrait from contemporary Japan about the generational rebellion of otherwise obedient daughters – since Nagisa Oshima started making movies, it seems that a strong generational conflict slumbers under the surface of Japanese society, a conflict which is the prime mover behind Sono’s plot as well. In the movie, which oscillates between psychothriller and Bildungsfilm, sisters Noriko and Yuka share an adolescent distaste for their father, for his rituals and values. Not even their mother’s love can protect them from ending up under the sway of a sect. The older Noriko is the first to leave her parents’ house. She meets a young woman named Kumiko in a chat room and soon takes off for Tokyo to visit her. The younger Yuka follows within a few months. With Kumiko they undergo complete transformation – they have new names and new lives, but they’re not the only ones. Their father is determined to get them back but he comes up against a conspiracy that proves difficult to penetrate. |
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