Himizu Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		4.0
Video		4.5
Audio		4.0
Extras		4.0
Overall		4.0

Himizu Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Dr. Svet Atanasov August 29, 2012

Winner of Marcello Mastroianni Award at the Venice Film Festival, Japanese director Sion Sono's "Himizu" (2011) arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of British distributors Third Window Films. The supplemental features on this release include original trailer for the film; making of featurette; deleted scenes; and a video interview with actor Denden. In Japanese, with optional English subtitles for the main feature. Region-B "locked".

You are not an ordinary guy

The film begins some time after a massive earthquake has destroyed most of Japan. There are piles of debris everywhere, roads are still closed, and many people live in tents. Because the police and military are busy rebuilding, this is the perfect time for various shady characters to blackmail, steal, sell drugs, or get rid of competitors.

Keiko (Fumi Nikaidou) is a 14-year-old girl madly in love with Yuichi (Shota Sometani). They are classmates and see each other daily, but Keiko has been unable to impress Yuichi - which is why she has started stalking him. She has also started collecting his words and taping them on the wall in her tiny room. Occasionally, she would recite them and imagine that he is with her.

One day, Keiko finally approaches Yuichi and reveals to him that she likes him. Much to her surprise, however, Yuichi asks her to leave him alone because he is going through some difficult times and could not possibly be in a relationship with a girl. Yuichi’s honesty and directness inspire Keiko to become even more aggressive and she immediately vows to help him. Then she visits his home by the river where together with his alcoholic mother he rents boats to make ends meet. There Keiko meets some of Yuichi’s friends and neighbors, who live in tents along the river and wait for the government to fix what the earthquake has destroyed.

Keiko also meets Yuichi’s father (Ken Mitsuishi), a cruel and dangerous man with an attitude, who comes out of nowhere and asks his son to give him money. He owes a lot to a local yakuza boss (Denden), who has warned him that if he does not pay his debts on time his men will have to hurt him. When Yuichi gets angry, his father tells him that he was an expensive mistake and that he should have died a long time ago. Then he beats him up and leaves. On the following day, Yuichi’s mother writes on a piece of paper “Have a nice life” and also disappears.

Soon after, Yuichi’s father appears again, this time determined to teach his son a lesson he should have taught him a long time ago. A sea of tragic events ensues.

This is the roughest and least poetic of Sion Sono’s recent films. It is loaded with so much nihilism and the main protagonists are so pessimistic that it is virtually impossible to embrace it. The graphic violence in it is also neither surprising nor problematic but the film’s extreme coldness is enormously off-putting. (Cold Fish is a much more graphic film but far more elegant and deliciously perverse).

Yuichi is a young boy who has essentially been used as an object throughout his entire life. Unsurprisingly, now he has a heart of stone and carries so much anger that it is only a matter of time before he goes off. He lives on cruise control and the only time he reacts to the people around him is when they hurt him. Keiko quickly realizes this and teaches him a game she knows he will appreciate.

The direction the film chooses after Yuichi’s second confrontation with his father is interesting. To a certain extent it justifies Yuichi’s anger. But then the second half introduces a number of bizarre subplots that convincingly throw off all logic out the window. There is nothing wrong with this, really, because after all expecting the unexpected is what makes Sion Sono’s films worth seeing.

Himizu was initially scripted as a straightforward adaptation of Minoru Furuya's manga, but Sion Sono made numerous corrections after last year’s deadly earthquake and tsunami struck Japan.

Himizu Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Presented in its original aspect ratio of 1.85:1, encoded with MPEG-4 AVC and granted a 1080p transfer, Sion Sono's Himizu arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of British distributors Third Window Films.

This is yet another very solid release from Third Window Films. Excluding some light banding that I noticed, Himizu, which was shot with the Red One Camera, looks outstanding. Virtually all of the close-ups convey very good depth and strong definition (see screencapture #11). Even during darker sequences, such as the one where the drug dealer Hitler is killed, detail is never compromised. The larger panoramic shots also boast very pleasing fluidity. Despite the fact that often there is very heavy rain and the camera follows closely the main protagonists as they confront each other right in the middle of it, clarity is also consistently pleasing. The color scheme balances warm and natural colors with brighter and at times slightly heavier darker colors (mostly neon lights and reflections). There are no traces of problematic lab tinkering. Needless to say, projected the film has a stable and genuinely pleasing look. All in all, despite the fact that I have not seen Himizu theatrically, I feel confident stating that the presentation more than likely accurately reproduces the film's intended look. (Note: This is a Region-B "locked" Blu-ray disc. Therefore, you must have a native Region-B or Region-Free PS3 or SA in order to access its content).

Himizu Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

There is only one audio track on this Blu-ray disc: Japanese DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1. For the record, Third Window Films have provided optional English subtitles for the main feature.

The lossless track has a wide range of nuanced dynamics but its intensity is fairly modest. There are only selected sequences where most viewers will appreciate the richer sound and some of the surround movement. The dialog is always exceptionally crisp, clean, stable, and easy to follow. The classic theme from Mozart's "Requiem" is well balanced with it. Lastly, there are no audio dropouts or distortions to report in this review. The English translation is very good.

Himizu Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

Note: All of the supplemental features are placed on a separate DVD, which is encoded in NTSC (480/60i).

• Trailer - original Japanese trailer for Himizu. In Japanese, with imposed English subtitles. (3 min).

• Making of - a long and very informative featurette with an abundance of footage from the pre-production process and the shooting of the film. Director Sion Sono also explains how his vision of Himizu changed after the Great Eastern Earthquake rocked Japan in 2011. There are plenty of additional comments from cast members as well. In Japanese, with optional English subitles. (73 min).

• Deleted Scenes - a collection of unedited and unmixed deleted scenes. In Japanese, with optional English subtitles. (27 min).

• Denden Interview - Japanese actor Denden, who has appeared in a number of films directed by Sion Sono, including the excellent Cold Fish, shares his impressions of the controversial director and discusses the unique atmosphere of his films, their often strange characters, and the way these films resonate with different viewers. Denden specifically addresses the dangerous character he plays in Cold Fish as well. In Japanese, with optional English subtitles. (20 min).

• Trailers - trailers for other Third Window Films releases.

Himizu Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Himizu is yet another very intense and truly unpredictable film form Japanese director Sion Sono. It is very well made and very effective but possibly a bit too bleak and nihilistic. To be honest, I think that the more graphic Cold Fish was far easier to embrace. Nevertheless, watching a Sion Sono film is always a unique experience, just like watching a Michael Haneke or Dardenne brothers film. RECOMMENDED.