Himizu

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Movie: Himizu
Romaji: Himizu
Japanese: ヒミズ
Director: Sion Sono
Writer: Minoru Furuya (manga), Sion Sono
Producer: Haruo Umekawa, Masashi Yamazaki
Cinematographer: Sohei Tanikawa
Release Date: January 14, 2012
Runtime: 129 min
Distributor: Gaga Communications
Language: Japanese
Country: Japan

Plot

Set after the Tohoku earthquake and tsunami, all 14-year-old Yuichi Sumida (Shota Sometani) wants to become is a regular boy and live a decent life. His environment though repeatedly drags him into the mud. He runs his parent's rental boat business, which is located next to a nondescript lake. His mother frequently comes home with different men and soon she leaves him entirely. His father only comes around looking for money. Whenever Yuichi's father is drunk he tells Yuichi "I wish you were dead."

Keiko Chazawa (Fumi Nikaido) is a classmate of Yuichi Sumida. She harbors a severe crush on Yuichi. Keiko's home life isn't much better than Yuichi's. Her mother builds a gallows with a noose in place for Keiko to take her own life. Her mother believes her life would be better off without Keiko.

Under these circumstances, Keiko pays a visit to Yuichi's home. A group of people are lingering nearyby who live in make shift tents on the property. Keiko tries to befriend Yuichi, but she is berated and even physically assaulted. She doesn't get deterred though and sticks around.

One day, the yakuza come by Yuichi's home. They look for Yuichi's father who is nowhere to be found. The men then tell Yuichi that he has to come up with 6 million Yen by tomorrow to pay off his father's debt. Yuichi already heartbroken by his mother's abandonment and abuse from his father nears a tipping point. A string of incidents then occurs that brings Yuichi's world to a screeching halt. Is there light at the end of the tunnel for Yuichi?

Notes

Movie is based on Minoru Furuya's manga "Himizu" (2001–2002, Young Magazine, Kodansha).
Title "Himizu" refers to a breed of moles found in Japan.
Director Sion Sono originally planned to make a straight movie adaptation of Minoru Furuya's manga, but following the Tohoku earthquake & tsunami adapted the story to fit into the post-Tohouku earthquake & tsunami Japan.

Cast



Shota Sometani	Fumi Nikaido	Tetsu Watanabe	Mitsuru Fukikoshi	Megumi Kagurazaka
Yuichi Sumida	Keiko Chazawa	Yoruno	Keita Tamura	Keiko Tamura



Denden	Ken Mitsuishi	Makiko Watanabe	Asuka Kurosawa	Keisuke Horibe
Kaneko	Yuichi's dad	Yuichi's mom	Keiko's mom	Keiko's dad



Jun Murakami	Yosuke Kubozuka	Fuyuki Moto	Taro Suwa	Setchin Kawaya
Tanimura	Teruhiko Iijima	Tetsu	Makun	Kenkichi



Yuriko Yoshitaka	Anne Suzuki	Takahiro Nishijima
Miki	waitress	street performer

Trailers

Image Gallery

Film Festivals

2011 (68th) Venice Film Festival - August 31-September 10, 2011 - Venezia 68 *World Premiere
2011 (36th) Toronto International Film Festival - September 8-18, 2011 - Contemporary World Cinema *North American Premiere
2011 (16th) Busan International Film Festival - October 6-14, 2011 - A Window on Asian Cinema
2011 (44rd) Sitges Film Festival - October 6-16, 2011 - Noves Visions - Fiction
2011 (8th) Hong Kong Asian Film Festival - October 18-November 18, 2011 - Cineaste Delights
2011 (26th) Mar del Plata Film Festival - November 5-13, 2011 - Panorama - Auteurs
2012 (14th) Deauville Asian Film Festival - March 7 - 11, 2012 - The Features Competition
2012 (30th) Brussels International Fantastic Film Festival - April 5-17, 2012 - 7th Orbit Competition
2012 (3th) Terracotta Far East Film Festival - April 12-15, 2012 *UK Premiere Closing Film

Awards

Marcello Mastroianni Award for Best New Young Actor or Actress (Shota Sometani & Fumi Nikaido) - 2011 (68th) Venice Film Festival - August 31-September 10, 2011
7th Orbit Prize - 2012 (30th) Brussels International Fantastic Film Festival - April 5-17, 2012
Terracotta Far East Film Festival Audience Award - 2012 (3th) Terracotta Far East Film Festival - April 12-15, 2012

Comments

Comment #2
Ki Says:
Oct 15 2011 1:12 pm

Watched "Himizu" at the Busan International Film Festival and felt completely floored by the movie. Imagine standing in the middle of a tsunami and you'll get an idea of what the movie feels like. There is also a lot of pain and hurt bottled up within the film.

I haven't watched Sion Sono's "Guilty of Romance" yet, but compared to his more recent films, "Himizu" feels a lot closer to (a shorter & much angrier version) "Love Exposure" than "Cold Fish." Without a doubt my favorite part of "Himizu" is the ending. The final scene made my eyes watery and I really felt it was one of the more memorable endings I have watched.

Also came away really impressed with Shota Sometani & Fumi Nikaido who really nailed their characters. Fumi Nikaido bears a strong resemblence to Aoi Miyazaki in the movie, but after a few minutes thoughts of Aoi Miyazaki quickly dissipated. Highly recommended!

P.S. - Lived in New Orleans when Hurricane Katrina occurred, so watching "Himizu" brought back a lot of feelings I felt post-Katrina. Movie may hit home to me more than others.
Comment #1
Jeff K Says:
Sep 18 2011 7:02 pm

I saw this at the TIFF on 09/16/2011. This movie is a total waste of time. There isn't one sane character in the movie, because the movie never ventures out of it's own "asylum", so to speak. I left the theatre wanting to engage the psychos on the streetcar back to the subway in some sort of battle. Just move on. Nothing to see here, leave the psychos to the cops.