Noriko's Dinner Table (2005)

A teenager called Noriko Shimabara runs away from her family in Tokoyama, to meet Kumiko, the leader of an Internet BBS, Haikyo.com. She becomes involved with Kumiko's "family circle", ... See full summary »

Director:

Sion Sono

Writers:

Sion Sono (screenplay), Sion Sono (novel)

Stars:

Kazue Fukiishi, Tsugumi, Yuriko Yoshitaka

5 wins & 2 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Kazue Fukiishi	...	Noriko Shimabara - Mitsuko
Tsugumi	...	Kumiko - Ueno Station 54
Yuriko Yoshitaka	...	Yuka Shimabara - Yôko
Shirô Namiki	...	Ikeda - Tetsuzô's Friend
Sanae Miyata	...	Taeko Shimabara
Yôko Mitsuya	...	Tangerine
Tamae Andô	...	Broken Dam
Naoko Watanabe	...	Cripple #5
Hiroshi Sakuma	...	(as Kanehiro Ri)
Chihiro Abe	...	Long Neck
Hanako Onuki	...	Midnight
Sora Tôma
Kazumasa Taguchi	...	Kumiko's 'Father'
Takako Kitagawa	...	Kumiko's 'Mother'
Shingo Ishikawa

Storyline

A teenager called Noriko Shimabara runs away from her family in Tokoyama, to meet Kumiko, the leader of an Internet BBS, Haikyo.com. She becomes involved with Kumiko's "family circle", which grows darker after the mass suicide of 54 high school girls.

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Plot Keywords:

high school | mass suicide | suicide | internet | violence | 

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Taglines:

What is a happy family?

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Genres:

Drama | Horror

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Certificate:

Not Rated

Details

Country:

Japan

Language:

Japanese

Release Date:

23 September 2006 (Japan)

Also Known As:

Suicide Circle 2

Filming Locations:

Gotanda, Tokyo, Japan

Company Credits

Production Co:

Mother Ark Co. Ltd.

Technical Specs

Runtime:

159 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

The poster in the girls' room is of the band Dessert. This was the fictional girl pop band that was a big part of the first film. The poster advertises the song "Write Once", which was the song that Dessert performed in the ending credits of Suicide Club (2001).

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Quotes

Noriko Shimabara: I was born to breathe... But I wasn't breathing just because I was born.

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Connections

Follows Suicide Club (2001)

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Soundtracks

Bara ga saita
Written by Kuranosuke Hamaguchi
Performed by Mike Maki
Courtesy of Shinko Music Entertainment

User Reviews

A film where the characters endlessly yap their mouths, but are somehow able to say absolutely nothing at the same time.

I'm a pretty big fan of Sion Sono, with "Love Exposure" (2008), "Strange Circus" (2005), and "Hair Extensions" (2007) being amongst my personal favorites from his portfolio. Even his more recent exploitation-style films like "Cold Fish" (2010) and "Guilty of Romance" (2011) have enough to hold interest, despite their skittish foundations. "Noriko's Dinner Table" (2005) is a dramatic spin off to the gruesome "Suicide Club" (2002). I read up on the film before seeking it out, so I knew what I was in for in terms of style: a slow-paced, character driven art-house flick that was very different from its predecessor. What I got was a boring movie that outstayed its welcome within the opening hour, then dragged mercilessly for another hour-and-a-half.

The plot is bland, the acting is spotty, and the primary psychological elements are unfocused and sloppy. They say a picture is worth a thousand words, but this film abuses narration to such an extreme that massive amounts of superfluous verbiage are used when only a few mere images would suffice. What results is an unbearable series of events that seem to exist for no other reason than to show something during the unending narration. The dialogue is drawn out yet somehow empty – virtually nothing of interest is said. Even after 159 minutes of characters constantly yapping (they literally cannot keep their mouths shut for more than 10 seconds at a time), the viewer inexplicably comes away from this movie with almost no additional understanding of the primary themes behind "Suicide Club", a film that also suffered from meaningless psychobabble but overpowered its flaws with horrific imagery.

Subsequent to my initial disappointment, I attempted to rewatch "Noriko's Dinner Table" on two separate occasions, but simply could not make it past the opening hour. I'm frankly amazed that I made it the whole way through the first time around.