Movie Details
| Title: | Fish Story | |
| Director: | Yoshihiro Nakamura | |
| Year: | 2009 | |
| Genre: | Apocalypse | |
| Times Seen: | 1 | |
| Last Seen: | 09.26.09 |
Other Movies Seen By This Director (0)
| Date Viewed | Venue | Note |
| 09.26.09 | Alamo South Lamar | This Screening is part of event: Fantastic Fest 2009 Geez. It's 3:03 right now. Let's get today written up. When I woke up this morning, people were already twittering about the non-vips lined up outside the Drafthouse for today's tickets. So I grabbed a quick shower and hit the road. Luckily the hotel I'm staying at is less than 10 minutes from the Drafthouse. By the time I got there, the line was around the corner, but was moving fast. When I got inside, though, the first two films I wanted to see - Fish Story and Morphine - were sold out. So I grabbed alternates of Tokyo Onlympics (a movie I had no interest in seeing) and Toy Story 1 in 3D, a movie I'll be able to see soon in the theaters. I was kinda bummed, but what can you do. After grabbing a quick breakfast at Guerro's, I headed back to the Drafhouse and found Jason Whyte in the standby line for Fish Stories. After he got in, they made a general call for anyone in the theater who wanted to see Fish Stories. Which meant that I got to see my first choice after all. There were plenty of seats, and the theater never did fill up. The same thing happened with my next film: I got into Morphine on standby and it never filled up. I'm not sure if the Drafthouse is intentionally underselling movies and calling them "sold out," or if that many VIP badges reserved tickets and didn't show up. Strange. Anyway, here's the Fantastic Fest Synopsis: "Before the Sex Pistols, there was Gekirin, a Japanese punk band struggling to carve out a space for their music apart from the easy listening, soft rock ballads dominating the airwaves in 1975. Although they failed to achieve recognition for their pioneering sound, the group managed to release one single that later sparked a cult following among a small set of collectors. While all manner of urban myths circulated over the years as to the meaning of the song “Fish Story,” no one could ever have guessed the fantastic destiny the recording would someday fulfill. Gekirin’s story is the anchor at the center of director Yoshihiro Nakamura’s decades-spanning, brain-teasing, apocalyptic, alternative universe, in which seemingly disparate narratives are woven together to form a portrait of the extraordinary from the raw material of each character’s tiny trials and triumphs. The film opens on a deserted Tokyo neighborhood in the year 2012. Disaster is about to strike the earth in the form of a comet that scientists predict will cause the extinction of the human race. Three strangers, who’ve met by chance at the only place in the city still holding regular business hours – a record store - debate whether or not it’s possible to avert the world’s impending end." And this movie is now my favorite of the festival. It's got an incredible story that has us jumping back and forth between several time periods. Hustle and Flow has my previous favorite "making the music" scene, but this movie's centerpiece sequence blows it away. I'm 100% sure I'll buy (or otherwise obtain if it isn't available for purchase) the soundtrack to this film. The central song is amazing, especially given the context we're introduced to it. I loved loved loved this film. If you're a fan of butterfly-wings-flap-create-a-hurricane story, this movie is for you. Special props to the band's drummer, one of the festival's most likeable characters. |