Noriko no shokutaku (Noriko's Dinner Table) poster & wallpaper

Kazue Fukiishi, Ken Mitsuishi, Shiro Namiki

"Noriko's Dinner Table" is the semi-sequel to "Suicide Club" (Jisatsu Saakuru), a suspense classic concerning a mass suicide of 54 schoolgirls involved in a disturbing cult. Leaving behind its predece...( read more  read more... )ssor's horror film structure for a more personal dramatic approach, "Noriko" shows us the same world, connected by the events surrounding the suicide circle and the mysterious cult website haikyo.com, but from a more interior perspective--and presents us with enigmas even more seductively intriguing. Seventeen-year-old Noriko Shimabara, who is now a runaway in Tokyo, gets involved with Kumiko, a friend from the haikyo.com, right before the fabled suicides that initiate the first film. Far from a conventional narrative, however, Sono poses trippy, philosophical questions about the nature of reality, identity, and technology as Noriko struggles with questions about her role in an increasingly alienated society.

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81% liked it

740 ratings

Critics

64% liked it

11 critics

Unrated, 2 hrs. 39 min.

Directed by: Sion Sono

Release Date: July 4, 2005

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DVD Release Date: May 27, 2008

Stats: 125 reviews

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Flixster Reviews (125)

  • ceWEBrity
    July 25, 2009
    ceWEBrity
    I came into Noriko's Dinner Table with no real preconceptions created by Suicide Club. I haven't seen that movie in over two years and I wasn't exactly bowled over by it in the first place. This was a blank-slate film experience for me, and it's not a sequel or prequel so much as...( read more) an independent movie operating laterally to Suicide Club, so why am I even talking about all this. I guess what I mean to say is if you're searching for Suicide Club's meaning in this film you're not bound to find any; instead, consider yourself treated to a director who has no idea what the fuck he's doing. I really liked Strange Circus, but this and Suicide Club are convincing me that Sion Sono just likes to masturbate all over his film reels and see if what he produces is worth anything to his viewers. This, far more than Suicide Club, is a collection of half-developed themes and psychological dead ends, posing plenty of interesting tidbits but never really following through on them.

    Most of the movie is engaging, and by the time you realize it's completely meaningless you feel obligated to finish it anyway because it's so goddamn long. The primary theme of the film, "feeling connected to yourself," is poorly developed and far too oblique to sustain it for its 160 minute running time. If Sono's intention was to get his viewers to examine the subtleties of the film, perhaps he could have kept the voiceover out of it, one of the most overbearing narrations in any recent film. The first hour sounds and plays like a cheap J-drama to no real effect. The flashbacks don't illuminate or deepen the emotional connection to the film at all. All these blank shots suggest to me that Sono had a handful of underdeveloped concepts and images from his novel that he wanted to string together on screen, but discovered that it wasn't as deep or profound as he thought. Admittedly, the notion of a "family rental" unit is great, and the undeniable pain of a father who has lost his daughters to indifference is a juicy emotional crux to stable the movie with (enhanced by strong performances from the father and the older sister). Its lack of focus is frustrating, though. This film is based on a 2002 novel by Sono, and though the adaptation came out the same year as his magnum opus Strange Circus (2005), it's clear that in that three year gap he learned a lot about restraint and framing.

    Gravest of all is Sono's ignorance of a harsh truth: if you're going to make a three-hour art film, it needs to be artistic. If you choose to disregard unconventional narrative and A-to-B storytelling, you need to anchor your project in the world of cinema. Noriko's Dinner Table looks and sounds like shit, probably a trapping of budget. Its cheapness and lack of cohesive vision make the whole project seem like an exceptionally violent soap opera, or again, a trashy J-drama. I would never have expected it from Sono, considering his penchant for pomp, but the movie is so utterly uncompelling on all levels that I feel like it shouldn't exist at all.
  • sitenoise
    May 28, 2008
    sitenoise
    Poetic. Dreamy. Surreal. There's just something about the way Sion Sono puts together a film that appeals to me. The assemblage maybe more than the film.
  • threefolddado
    July 15, 2009
    threefolddado
    A surreal semi-sequel to Suicide Club has interesting, and disturbing things to say about identity, teenage herd mentality and the Japanese family unit. One of those films that will either click with you or not. It's quite lengthy but manages to retain your interest throughout.
  • rhadynascimento
    October 24, 2009
    rhadynascimento
    Very eerie and interesting story that redeems Sono for "Suicide Club".
  • kyo9
    July 21, 2009
    kyo9
    wow.. it has to do with another movie called Jisatsu sa-kuru..
    huhu~
  • acatnamedmoustache
    July 5, 2009
    acatnamedmoustache
    still kinda confused? but cool
  • FilmEstAmour
    June 3, 2009
    FilmEstAmour
    After seeing Suicide Club i'd love to see this.
  • heavyd2000
    December 1, 2008
    heavyd2000
    There is nothing disapointment about this. In many way's better than Suicide Club. This is the greatness I was hoping for from lynch when I saw Inland Empire. This is brilliant. Sion Sono is one of if not THE most important directors working now, and he has made porn. I have yet ...( read more)to see a bad film from this man. I Recommend a night where you watch all of his films in a row. It will blow your Fing Mind.
  • hiversky
    November 26, 2008
    hiversky
    will i be connected to myself? the answer. things or people, we are discovering it.
  • meiubadon
    August 25, 2008
    meiubadon
    This is the squeal to Suicide Circle and some answers are answered

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