I have to say, FISH STORY is a very strange film. It's a Japanese apocalyptic tale featuring four separate story lines that are woven together in such a way that'll have you scratching your head and trying to figure out how they all intertwine. It's all very low key, with zero sci-fi elements and an extremely slow pacing that's doubtless to put off plenty of viewers expecting something more, well, energetic.However, something about this kept me watching. It's the sense of whimsy, perhaps, or the sheer long-winded shaggy-doggedness of the storytelling. The fact that the production values are high, the script is very funny, and the actors nail the characters, too. About halfway through, I relaxed a little when I realised I was enjoying what I was watching, and then I started having fun.Things get better right up until the big reveal at the ending, which is so stupendously good that I can say, right here and right now, that FISH STORY features one of my favourite endings in a film, full stop. It's that good; a tremendous resolution, like that of THE SIXTH SENSE, that turns the whole film around and makes you realise that, actually, this is a great little film; unique and uniquely entertaining with it.

A comet hurtles towards Earth, and Tokyo is abandoned as people head to high ground. A cynical one-time guru comes across two otaku, a record shop owner and his customer, who believe an obscure seventies song, Fish Story, will save the world. Many years earlier, a timid young man laments his inability to stand up for himself. Some years after that, a narcoleptic high school girl finds herself trapped on a hijacked ship, where a pastry chef is her best hope for a champion for justice.Director Nakamura fashions a likable, engaging human drama here, but deserves most credit for the naturalistic performances he elicits from his actors. Too often Japanese films are sunk by TV-style mugging from the principles, but here, there is a subtlety and nuanced portrayal evident throughout the ensemble cast. In the band, leader Atsushi Ito and Vocal Kengo Kora have betrayal and remorse to deal with between them. The tension is played out in a series of looks and never over-cooked. Kiyohiko Shibukawa as the drummer takes a while to speak, but when he does, it is with reason and tact. It would be so easy to have proto-punk band members sink into spats and histrionics. These portrayals resonate and convince. Gaku Hamada is especially effective as the meek friend who loses the girl (a spooky, sexy Mai Takahashi) to his overpowering alpha-male 'friend.' His tormenting of himself in the car after that particular episode is tragic and comic in equal degree, and proves the trigger to his redemption.The portmanteau structure is an over-used trope these days and detracts from the drama here. However, the film succinctly ties it all up at the end, and visually too - the lack of expository dialogue here as compared to other J-cinema is refreshing. A wonderful soundtrack tops it all off, the best use of a song for thematic purpose since Gimme Heaven. "Summer Days" is now the anthem to my August.

Sweet charming shaggy dog story about how a song saves the world from destruction. This is film that is rather impossible to describe simply except with the opening line of this review (to say more would either give too much away or require too much explanation). Beginning in the last five hours before a giant comet is set to hit earth and wipe everyone out, the film starts in a record shop (still open because "its business hours") where a discussion of punk music leads to the album and song called A Fish Story. The film then spins out telling the story of the song, the group that created it and the sequence of events, of which it is but one part, that lead to the saving of the earth and to the men standing in the record store.A frequently funny and smiling producing film this is a movie that will occasionally confuse you (you will wonder how it all ties together a mystery which remains until they reveal how it all ties together at the very end). It's a film with enough plot for five or six movies as threads are spun out and dropped once we see the relevant bits. We could have probably followed any one of them to the conclusion as well but many are just stops in the greater scheme of things.I liked this whimsical little film a great deal. My only real reservations come from my unhappiness with the over selling that the film got from the staff of Film Festival where I saw it. Many people went out of there way to tell everyone how great it was. Don't get me wrong it's a good movie, but its not quite the religious experience that at least one person inferred. Over selling or not I don't think I would have ever raved about the film. It's too rambling and too fragmented to ever be a full meal of a movie (I think some of the threads, especially the story of the band, would have been a better focus), it's really good after dinner piece of chocolate. This isn't to say that there is anything wrong with it, there isn't, its more something that you need to discover for yourself and not have handed to you with an impossible level of expectations. See the film if you get a chance, just don't worry about how it is, just know its worth your time.

This story is about a comet which is due to hit the earth in a matter of hours and how a song from 1975 called "Fish Story" will save the world in 2012. How? Thats part of the fun in watching the film. The film has some comedic moments in that you have references to superhero(ine) series from Japan, as well as other cultural mores. You see what appears to be a series of unconnected events somehow gel. The song itself is a proto punk song, recorded before the Sex Pistols, and its actually a good song. The acting goes all over the map, as there are flashbacks with disparate characters, but it is pretty much all good. Whatever the ending, you have to stay for it to see how things tie together. The world could come to an end (Japan would be pretty much submerged) if the comet hit, so just watch. It has a kind of new wavish sensibility, especially the scenes with the band who recorded "Fish Story". Not perfect, it drags slightly at times, but its worthwhile. I recommend it.