Nakamura Yoshihiro is perhaps the nearest Japanese equivalent to M. Night Shyamalan. Nearly all his films, from the medical mystery Glorious Team Batista (Team Batista no Eiko, 2008) to the cult hit The Foreign Duck, The Native Duck And God (Ahiru to Kamo no Coin Locker, 2007), mess with audience minds on various levels, from the whodunit mundane to the meaning-of-reality cosmic.
Based on a novel by Isaka Kotaro, Nakamura’s latest film, Fish Story, keeps us in the dark until the final minutes as to its true message, while carefully preparing us for it from scene one. The big revelation, though, is less a clever-clever plot trick than one of those eternal verities that everyone knows, but seldom really feels.
The film skips back and forth between four stories in four main time periods. From 1973-1975 it follows the fortunes of a struggling punk band. In 1982 it focuses on a weak-spirited, but well-meaning college boy (Hamada Gaku) and the friends who use and abuse him. In 2009 its two central characters are an earnest ferry boat waiter (Moriyama Mirai) and a lost teenage passanger (Tabe Mikako) he befriends.
The final period, 2012, is where the story starts, however. Only five hours remain, we are told, until a comet slams into Earth, obliterating all life. A midde-aged man (Ishimaru Kenjiro) in a wheelchair tools comes across an open record store. Inside he finds the goateed manager (Omori Nao) with a nerdy customer, discussing the aforementioned punk band.
The man thinks they are insane - don't they know humanity is kaput? - but the manager stoutly denies it: "A fighter for justice will save the world," he says. Obviously the poor deluded fellow watched too many so-called "five ranger" superhero shows when he was a kid.
The heroes of four stories are all losers and dreamers who resist the realities of the world around them, to the detriment of their status, career and even survival. It is hard, however, to see how their stories will ever all tie up, as the chronology shifts back and forth - and the comet draws ever closer.
Also, at certain points, the action grinds to a halt, as when the band members and their dedicated-but-hard-pressed manager (Omori again) debate and discuss the title of their new song at incredible length. Why Fish Story? And what on earth does it really mean? By the time the comet arrives, we may have an answer.
Mark Schilling