Sushi Girl (2012) User Reviews

Psychos, torture, fish and diamonds...

[paul_haakonsen · 7/10 · 22 July 2013]

Well, appearances can be deceiving and I must say that I initially didn't have much expectations to this movie given the poster and DVD cover for this movie. But still, I decided to give it a go, and I am glad that I did, because this movie took me by surprise.

The movie turned out to be a really interesting movie with a very well-told story. However, I will point out that albeit the story is compelling and the movie is interesting, this is the type of movie that you watch once and never again because it just doesn't have enough to offer for a second watching. That being said, I am not saying that "Sushi Girl" is a bad movie, far from it.

The story is a tale of revenge and betrayal, where the audience is left in the dark trying to grasp out what is going on, and the movie tends to take turns here and there, and those turn are for a better twist and a more gory twist. So if you enjoy blood and torture, stick around for the movie.

Now what really surprised me was the people they had assembled for the cast. The main cast was really nice and they did good jobs with their given roles, and there were some great appearances in the movie as cameos as well. All together a very good ensemble of actors on the billing list. Personally, it was great for me to see Mark Hamill in this role, after having seen him flunk out with the last couple of recent movies. And seeing him in this particular pseudo-psychotic role was just brilliant. But also hats off to Tony Todd for his usual gloomy, charismatic performance. Noah Hathaway and Andy Mackenzie also did really great jobs. And for the cameo appearances you have Jeff Fahey, Michael Biehn and Danny Trejo. Of these latter three, Michael Biehn's role was just off the rails, it was awesome.

"Sushi Girl" is a heist movie gone bad, and it was great from the very beginning to the very end - despite it being a single shot movie (in the terms that you watch it once and never again).

I can highly recommend "Sushi Girl" if you want to be entertained for about an hour and a half. Just be warned that there is some torture scenes that can be quite graphic to watch for those faint of heart.

Come sashimi sometime

[Quebec_Dragon · 7/10 · 1 July 2013]

It's what I would call a high-concept movie on a silly premise. You have a handful of criminals talking and eating sushi placed all over a beautiful naked woman in the back room of an abandoned Asian restaurant. Of course, not all of them are there by choice, so secrets and double crosses are to be expected. I found the movie engrossing despite its limited setting. It didn't feel claustrophobic, but it was conducive to tension. This closed room dramatic suspense was offset by flashbacks to a heist gone wrong 6 years ago. The way it was filmed and edited didn't make it feel boring or like a play either. The torture scenes seemed particularly brutal and effective to me, and I consider myself a jaded viewer. Praise to the person who did one particular makeup involving a face. I enjoyed the different personalities of the 5 main characters and their more or less revealed pasts.

Most people praised Mark Hamill's acting (Luke Skywalker), but I found him an annoying, affected gay caricature, until later on where he channelled his inner Joker and became more sinister. Your own appreciation might vary. On the other hand, Tony Todd's(Candyman) was impressive and he just emanated quiet foreboding menace. When he talks about his past to the guy tied up, he's just so good, it's like he brings himself to tears by himself. The sushi girl herself is basically a pretty accessory except for the start and ending where some acting chops are shown. I liked the story and I liked the twists that I didn't see coming. It has a definite Tarantino vibe back when he was better.

Rating: 7 out of 10 (very good)

Reminiscant of old school Tarantino, only better.

[malbanese · 7/10 · 22 December 2012]

It's been a while since a film has held my attention span, when trying to imitate the likes of Tarantino or Rodriguez. Come to think of it, seldom has a film come along (Way of The Gun being the standout exception) with such cliché's and unoriginality, yet has pulled it off as a stand alone great film. Tony Todd produces the film and holds his own in a terrific performance as the head of a failed crime group looking for their lost diamonds, however the film is stolen by Mark Hamill's performance as a violent sociopath (and psychopath). A completely different role and a welcome one (shame it wasn't earlier in his career as I feel he may have been a bigger hitter with performances like this under his belt). The film is centered around a Sushi Girl who is the serving platter for an array of delicious sushi prepared for ex con Fish who has just been released from prison. As the story unfolds, the plot thickens (predictably) but holds the attention span as the performance from everyone is top notch. Beautiful cinematography and direction make this a perfect Saturday night warmer. Although there are no real surprises, the film carries you through the violent turbulence (a scene with a sock and a sake bottle made me wince a little)quite well and delivering what you would expect from a film like this. I left this feeling pleasantly full and glad I sat through what I expected to be another Tarantino ripoff. Instead I got a surprising and refreshing take on the genre (actually better than most Tarantino films). Worth the price of admission, the rental fee or the bandwidth on your download.

I'll eat the foogu first.

[drnrg35 · 5 January 2013]

I was wanting to watch this movie ever since I heard Tony Todd was gonna produce it and I gotta say, that I wasn't disappointed in the least. It had strong Tarrantino elements and a lot of suspense. I was intrigued every step of the way.

The storyline is simple. 5 criminals are summoned for a Sushi Dinner by Tony Todd who's waited 6 years for one member ; who was caught; to be released and tell him where he hid the diamonds. What transpires; once the 6 men reunite is a clash of egos and personalities}, which ends up "Opening wounds for the past" or the present in order to get some strait answerers as to what happened to the diamonds?

Tonny Todd hasn't been this sinister since his Candy Man days and Mark Hamill was a real treat. I wasn't aware that he had such a huge career in voice overs. Particularly , lending his voice for tons of Super Hero villains. I've seen some of those animated Batman flicks and whereas Heath Ledger and Cesar Romero were perfect as Joker in their respective eras; I believe Hamill does a perfect Joker in the animated series. He obviously found a way to bring his Joker persona onto the screen for his Crow character in Sushi Girl. Add a little flamboyance and passive lunacy and I believe he gave his best performance ever. I kinda felt his performance like I did when Tarrantino first resurrected John Travolta's career in Pulp Fiction.

Besides the great storyline, we also get a lot of favorites from yesteryear. Danny Trejo donning a Machete was a pure classic Grindhouse element that he also played out in one of Steve Austin's latest action films.Jaff Fahey and Michael Beihn also Starr in minor roles. I would have loved for Michael Beihn to have played one of the characters at Tonny Todds table.

The newcomer; Courtney Palm has one killer bod and seemed perfect for this kinda Tarrantinesque Grindhouse flick.

the action scenes were incorporated in flashback style, but it never got boring. IT actually all takes place at Tony Todd's Japanese Restaurant, so expect a lot of Tarrantino style dialog. Throw in a couple of nail biting torture scenes and Mexican Style stand Off ending and you have the movie that Tarrantino easily could have directed.

The cinematography is very stylish and attractive. Mot just for the naked Courtney Palm, but also for the various decorations amidst the restaurant. It is, after all, Japanese- inspired. Very classy. This is definitely, my kinda flick.

Hamill Steals the Show in Better Than Average Crime Thriller

[gregsrants · 7/10 · 25 October 2012]

If the poster for Sushi Girl wasn't enough to get me relatively excited, the cast sure does. Sure, you may consider Tony Todd, Mark Hamill, Michael Biehn and Danny Trejo to be B-List actors, but damned if they aren't consistently the best thing in A-List movies. So putting them together in a violent crime thriller is my idea of sushi-meshi.

As the film opens, we are introduced to Fish (Noah Hathaway) who has spent six years in prison due to a robbery that went horribly wrong. But Fish is no stooley. He kept his mouth shut did his time like a man. Now, freed from his imprisonment, Fish is invited to a Sushi restaurant (hmmmm), where those involved with the robbery have reunited including Crow (Hamill in a wonderfully evil role), Francis (James Duval) and Duke (Tony Todd). The five men sit around a table with a naked body of a beautiful woman covered in a lavish meal of various Sushi and it becomes clear that after six years there are still scores to settle and the location as to the heist diamonds remains a dangerous lurking question.

Written and directed by Kern Saxton, Sushi Girl was a moderately interesting story propelled by the wonderful performances of the recognizable cast. Tony Todd plays a mean-ass ringleader calling the shots around the table, but it is Mark Hamill's performance as Crow that stands out as the real screen-stealer. Mark Hamill embodies his Joker persona he uses for the Batman animated cartoon and he is devilishly good in his best performance ever on screen (sorry Luke).

In supporting cameos shown through flashbacks, Michael Biehn (Aliens), Jeff Fahey (The Lawnmower Man) and Danny Trejo (Machete) have throw away roles with Trejo getting the biggest rousing applause from our accepting audience. But the movie is firmly planted in the sushi restaurant and it is here where an interrogation of Fish occurs in increasingly violent fashion.

Upon receiving our invitation to the screening, we had already concluded that the strong genre based cast would be enough to help us enjoy our 98-minute commitment. But we didn't expect to enjoy the crime thriller as much as we did and we were pleasantly riveted to the screen watching the various performances unfold. The story and the eventual twist at its conclusion were hardly 'Sixth Sense-ish', but we credit Kern Saxton for at least keeping it interesting if not a bit predictable.

There have been some comparisons to Sushi Girl and Tarantino's Reservoir Dogs. And it is understandable. Both revolve around a small group of men and a heist that has gone awry. Both movies contain violent offenders that are looking to piece things together to determine who might have been behind some of the more unsatisfactory events. And both have a Mexican-style standoff towards the end where everyone seems to have a gun (or two) cocked and pointed in another robber's direction. Sushi Girl doesn't deliver the punch that Tarantino hit our guts with back in 1992, but this stylish and violent gathering of evil people had us entertained beyond expectations and we lapped it up like a desert dog after a long run.

www.killerreviews.com

Competent crime drama in the vein of Reservoir Dogs

[dmeister72 · 7/10 · 2 March 2013]

"Sushi Girl" is a very competent crime drama in the vein of gritty, low-budget films like Reservoir Dogs. And I have no doubt that many others will make similar comparisons to this Tarantino flick.

Film industry veterans deliver competent performances in a movie that combines plenty of tension with subtle twists and turns. The violence is sometimes gratuitous but always powerful, although the torture porn promised by the trailers serves more as exhibitionism than anything.

Tony Todd arguably delivers the performance of his career. Hathaway, Hamill, Mackenzie, and Duvall all deliver competent performances that effectively keep the tension in the movie high.

Danny Trejo, Michael Biehn, and Jeff Fahey share a brief cameo scene that plays out like a Rodriguez Grindhouse reunion, although Fahey and Biehn are sadly underutilized in this movie. Sonny Chiba also makes a brief appearance.

Cortney Palm in the titular role serves mainly as eye candy for much of the movie, and absolutely fantastic looking eye candy at that, with what I would consider a perfect figure. But she also shines in those critical moments in front of the camera, whether she is delivering dialogue or just conveying subtle emotion with those expressive eyes of hers. And I'm sure that her performance here will garner her higher profile roles in the future.

All and all, "Sushi Girl" is a solid genre film with good acting, tight directing, and above average production values.

Slow and unbearable at times but I had to find out if I was right

[spotlightne · 2/10 · 3 February 2013]

First of all, this movie had a promising start.

A cast of five dodgy characters gathered together for sushi eaten off a young brunette lying on a table.

We quickly learn that there had been a robbery six years ago and some diamonds are missing, possibly in the possession a guy called Fish, who has just spent those past six years in jail.

And then follows a slow, drawn out mixture of action from six years ago and interrogation talk in the present day, the characters sitting as they are in this room eating sushi off this brunette lying on a table.

It took me a while to work out that was Star Wars actor Mark Hamill as ageing blond gay man Crow. Good acting by him, but Tony Todd gives another of his over-acting performances.

I'm sorry but this movie is far too talkative. Most of the dialogue is forgettable filler. I spent half an hour trying to get into this film but it wasn't working for me. Besides I had already figured out the ending: so impatient as I was, I whizzed right through to the end.

Yeah, I was right. Maybe you will be too. I would have given this film one star, BUT I was intrigued to know if my suspicious were right about the ending, so I gave it a 2. And it doesn't take an Einstein - the clue is in the title.

Not my type of film, for definite.

Awesome

[gavin6942 · 7/10 · 24 June 2013]

Fish (Noah Hathaway) has spent six years in jail. Six years alone. Six years keeping his mouth shut about the robbery, about the other men involved. The night he is released, the four men he protected with silence celebrate his freedom with a congratulatory dinner. The meal is a lavish array of sushi, served off the naked body of a beautiful young woman.

Look at this cast: Tony Todd, Michael Biehn, Mark Hamill, Jeff Fahey, Sonny Chiba, Danny Trejo. And then we start out with the song "Diamonds Are Forever" -- known from James Bond, but with a very different meaning here.

We have James Duval -- is he all grown up? And we have the sensibility and spiritual feeling of "Reservoir Dogs", one of the all-time greatest heist movies.

I do not even need to write a real review because this movie is just so darn good.

Awful Storyline

[billcr12 · 3/10 · 22 March 2013]

A silly title for an equally pointless movie. The sushi girl is a naked woman lying on a table covered with the food, never moving, while bad guys argue about missing diamonds from a robbery six years previous. Tony Todd is the big, menacing leader of the pack, who has joined the guys together after the one who has just been released from prison is suspected of hiding the precious gems. He is tortured while tied to a chair, while the nude girl remains silent, and they eat the food off of her body. No explanation is ever given of how she ever got there in the first place. The plot holes are big enough to drive a bus through. Sushi girl(Cortney Palm) does look quite good without clothes, but that is not enough reason to watch this film. The acting is decent, although the script is torturous. Director Kern Saxton seems to be trying for Reservoir Dogs, but drop the first word, and all you have here is a dog.

Something fishy...

[bushtony · 7/10 · 20 December 2012]

Any movie that has the cheek to kick off to the strains of "Diamonds Are Forever" and to rip-off the Bond theme motif throughout is likely to grab and hold my attention.

Fish is an unlucky career crim who has just spent six years behind bars keeping his mouth shut after an abortive diamond heist. On the eve of his release, he finds himself forcibly escorted to a gathering of his criminal comrades in an abandoned Japanese restaurant. The centrepiece of this gathering is a prone and stark naked girl (Cortney Palm) artfully covered in sushi dishes (the "Sushi Girl" of the title). The idea being that the food is eaten off of her naked body. The gang leader, Duke (Tony Todd), has arranged this "party" in order to find out from Fish what became of the diamonds, as they were never seen again following his arrest.

Borrowing heavily from Tarantino styling – hip dialogue, flashbacks, stories to tell, torture to be inflicted – this independent thriller-drama is a relatively diverting experience. There are cameos from Jeff Fahey, Sonny Chiba, Michael Biehn and Danny Trejo (complete with machete in hand).

Two things really stand out - and I'm not talking directly about Sushi Girl's ample physical charms. First is Mark (STAR WARS) Hamill in the best acting performance I've ever seen him give. As Crow, a straggly-haired, bespectacled, camp and utterly sleazy sociopathic sadist, he is quite a revelation – outshining just about every other cast member. Second, is the luminously beautiful Cortney Palm as the titular Sushi Girl. She has quite the most exquisite naked physique, and even though most of her role involves her just lying there motionless with food on her body, her minimal facial expressions and eye movements convey a multitude of obscure emotions and expressive reactions.

The twist at the end is unpredictable and not revealed until the last ten minutes, up until then it is impossible to know what part the Sushi Girl really has in this grand guignol interplay.

It's off the beaten track and is a nice mix of grisly black humour, unpleasant violence and dark mystery. A bit too contrived and theatrical, maybe, and perhaps a little too eager to be seen as a future cult item by design rather than default, yet certainly worth a look if a sub-Tarantino fix is what you're in the fish market for.

Sushi Girl amounts to Tarantino film karaoke and torture porn, with a twist.

[ljbk5 · 3/10 · 23 May 2013]

SPOILER WARNING!!!! You've been warned.

Sushi girl is a wannabe Reservoir Dogs as far as the plot goes. It looks like it wanted to be a love letter to Tarantino, but unfortunately it falls really short.

It is like Sushi Girl's writers took every cliché' stereotype bond/batman/reservoir dogs criminal they could think of and mashed it up. Crow is gay joker, period the end, and not gay as in the character really likes the same sex, but gay as in its all a character device (like Silver from Skyfall) specifically to up the creepy factor of the villain by playing to homophobia. Duke is the Japanese fetishist/yakuza lover who insist everyone following the rules...I knew someone would be losing a finger in this film the second the word Yakuza was uttered and shared a scene with a cigar cutter. Then you have Max the blunt object, all violence and no finesse or intelligence, Francis the one who has softened because he has a kid, and Fish, the new guy, who went to prison and didn't roll on anyone he barely knew, stashed the diamonds from the heist, and who becomes the victim of the rest. (Honestly though the audience is the victim here)

None of the plot makes any sense, it all is force funneled into making sure the story, realism be damned, arrive exactly at the plot twist the writers need it to. I mean why is Fish suddenly the most stoic person alive while being beaten to death, if he knew where the diamonds were, why not tell? You can't spend them if you are dead? The idea of him double crossing the guys he didn't roll on in 6 years of prison makes little sense. He could've rolled on them for a reduced sentence, put them all away, got out, and spent the diamonds. Similarly if he was loyal enough not to roll, why not split the diamonds with them? Or even just crack under the torture that was way over the top? Garbage character motivation and realism is why. Also, many uncontrollable events that no one could've planned for had to happen just right to arrive at the last scenes with only the Sushi Girl and Duke, with Duke paralyzed from tetrodotoxin from the blow fish. It wrapped a little too neatly and again makes the whole thing feel forced.

This movie seeks to get over just by hitting the beats of over the top cliché's, graphic violence/torture porn, casting, and the fact that there is a naked woman in almost every scene. So 14 year old boys will love this, and no one else.

To be fair, I enjoyed the plot twist of the Sushi Girl getting vengeance, that was pretty satisfying unrealistic or not, but it was diminished by the train-wreck that was the first hour I had to suffer through getting there. So all in all, I wouldn't recommend this movie, which is a shame, there is a great deal of wasted potential that could have been salvaged with a better story, more well written characters, and a premise that started out as more than a random joke idea of "Hey dude? What if a bunch of criminals were gathered around a Sushi Girl talking about their crimes?"

story-driven gore is under-appreciated.

[redbean-2 · 10/10 · 20 September 2012]

HOOK: members from a diamond heist gone wrong six years ago gather for a celebration dinner where sushi is served on the body of a naked woman.

LINE: presumably one would watch this based on the premise alone (what do you mean it's sushi served on a naked woman?!). ten seconds in and my mind's been taken over by the lush visuals and crazy performances. Fish (played by noah hathaway) has just been let out of a six-year prison sentence -- waiting for him in the prison parking lot is a guy twice his size, with an invitation he cannot refuse. Duke (tony todd) is the heist ringleader who's dinner invite to celebrate Fish's prison release is accepted by Crow (mark hamill), Francis (james duval), and Max (andy mackenzie). all four men are convinced Fish hid the diamonds from the botched heist and seize the opportunity to force a confession. a dinner with your four ex-con buddies in a remote restaurant on a dark, rainy night? guaranteed pee-in-your-pants freak-out, no matter how beautifully naked your dinner is served. two-thirds of the film is lavished on the dinner -- each delicious, nail biting, gum chewing moment of it. every second is punctuated by in-your-face dialogue -- mark hamill's Crow (the perfect unhinged jester) in particular gets quite a few memorable one- liners. when Crow is not making withering observations, Max is busy breaking apart the room and the people in it. Francis is the cowering conscience of the audience while Duke's even, measured menace casts the shadows overall. and you, the audience? you get to watch Fish suffer through literal torture. crazy, intense, holy-crap-they-did-not-just-do- that torture. and all the while, the sushi girl is laying on the table. not making a peep admist the cursing, the gushing blood. what in all hells is going on around here!?

SINKER: now here's the thing -- it'd be easy to dismiss sushi girl as a b-grade gore fest. which is the laziest of all lazy conclusions. the first ten minutes tell you otherwise, from the sushi girl's reaction to Duke to Fish's anguish over his son not recognizing his voice. while the film happily (gleefully) takes you to those moments where it wallows in torture pr0n, there is quite a revenge story lurking beneath all the flashy talk and flying bullets. a twist ending worthy of many repeated viewings. a movie can be pretty (which sushi girl most definitely is) but without a good story supported by convincing performances, it cannot be memorable. the cast of sushi girl gave all that and bag a chips to bring to life extreme characters that, at turns, make you laugh and then scare the bejesus of you. the film rides on these highs until it slams you with a climax that turns the roller coaster on its head -- where you're left savoring the bittersweet emotions that only the best revenge stories can evoke. i wax fancy verbage but i do not lie. sushi girl is the kind of film that everyone will reference in the future -- or at the very least try their damnedest to imitate and post to you-tube.

Engaging low budget thriller

[Leofwine_draca · 6/10 · 23 December 2015]

SUSHI GIRL is a single location thriller with a nice setting and sense of time and place. It was written and directed by Kern Saxton as an obvious labour of love and tribute to, not only Quentin Tarantino - whose RESERVOIR DOGS is an obvious inspiration - but the B-movie thriller genre as a whole. The setting is an elaborate banquet in which Japanese food is served on the naked body of a woman (the unknown Cortney Palm, effective in a difficult part). A gang of thieves lost a fortune in diamonds six years ago, and upon the release of one of their number from prison, they're determined to find out what happened to it.

Obviously, how much you enjoy SUSHI GIRL depends on how much you like the actors involved. I had a ball with them. Tony Todd inevitably towers over everybody as the cruel boss but the rest of the cast match him, particularly Noah Hathaway's sympathetic rookie; you may recall Hathaway as a child actor in THE NEVERENDING STORY back in the day. James Duval (THE BLACK WATERS OF ECHO'S POND) actually plays his age for once, while Andy Mackenzie is completely believable as a brutal thug. Most notably we have Mark Hamill who hams it up in a Joker-style turn as a sneering, laughing villain. He's unrecognisable and certainly unforgettable in the part.

The running time flies past and the film never bores despite the single location. The flashbacks of the robbery are done effectively and there's a fine sequence featuring brief cameos from Danny Trejo, Michael Biehn, and Jeff Fahey. Even better, the inimitable Sonny Chiba also cameos. The only thing that dragged this film down a bit was that the ending twists were very obvious and that there's a little too much dwelling on extensive torture scenes - never my favourite - to pad out the running time. Other than that, it's a decent B-movie.

I had hope

[JMAN-8 · 4/10 · 20 December 2012]

I have been following this project since I saw the panel at Comikaze long before the film was coming out (they have since gone back to Comikaze). I remember watching the trailer with a high degree of hope and optimism.

Truly, I thought, this could be something special. A good cast, interesting idea, and seemed to have some talent attached to it.

Ultimately the result has been a disappointment. I give credit for the attempt, but there are several problems with this film from the beginning.

First and foremost, the music. It's an odd place to start, but stick with me: the music is formulaic, tinny, and lacks the timing to know when to fill the space with notes and when to let the ambient sound give us time to breathe. I don't know whether to blame the filmmaker or the composer, but I know the composer is responsible for the lackluster scoring. There was no vibrancy and life to the music, so it seemed to siphon the energy from the film too.

The cast was fine, although uneven. Specifically, Mark Hamill plays a very odd character that never quite seems the fit into this gaggle of characters.

The pacing is definitely a problem too. After about 30 minutes in we paused to note how long had passed with almost nothing happening. The character introductions dragged and weren't very engaging. The writing is primarily responsible, as the dialogue lacks the same vibrancy that the music does. It feels cheap, in the same way a movie of the week is cheap. And this is not an issue of budget, as I've seen other films do much more with much less. When you don't have the budget to support you, you need to have the script be sharp as a bladed diamond or the audience will drift.

The whole film seems like echoes of Pulp Fiction, as realized through a narrow, uninteresting lens. I realize that on a small project like this the filmmaker likely reads these reviews, so I want to say something specifically to him: I remember you from the panel, and how enthusiastic and excited you were. I could feel the same excitement and energy from the whole cast (except for Hamill, who exudes this persona of a disinterested deity, which suits him). I'm glad you were so invigorated and excited, but this is not the best you could have done.

The script should have been more polished with more engaging dialogue and situations. The editing was at times to frenetic, giving talking scenes an unnecessarily jumpy quality more reserved for action sequences. And the music was really poorly done, and there's no nicer way to say that.

I feel like there are better things for you on the horizon, but I'd be lying if I said this was a great start. You have better projects ahead of you, but you need better material to work with, and better people to help with the creative process, from writing to production. I do believe you have some really interesting work ahead, so don't let negative reviews discourage you. Take them under advisement, ignore the ones that are petty and useless, and become a better filmmaker.

I want to see what you can do next, so show me something.

B movie wonder

[Reno-Rangan · 6/10 · 29 September 2013]

Well made and quite surprising, a perfect B movie. Except Tony Todd none were familiar to me. I was not expecting anything, I knew the limit of B movie's budget so no disappointment with second stream actors and production quality. All I needed was something new that big star and big budget movie won't offer in such a style. And got it.

The story begins with a man being released after completing his 6 year term in the prison who was in for a robbery. He was picked by his gangmates who are arranged to celebrate it in a sorta Japanese hotel. So the real story begins there when they started to dig the 6 years old robbery incident that went wrong. They all wanted to know where is the robbed items and of course the equal share. They talk then it turns into torture and later the chaos situation brings them who and what to believe.

The movie was all about that particular incident and about the missing robbed items. So the 80% of the movie has been just the investigation to reveal its flashback in pieces. And then the twist came, I really did not know it was coming, it surprised me a little. That turn in the story made whole movie look better than what one can expect from a mystery movie. It was not a QT's movie or Alfie's and all the above it was not a masterpiece but a simple, low budget's wonder. There are many amazing B movies and it is one of it and never compare those with A movies.

6½/10

From the Underfunded Public School of Tarantino Thought

[Judge_Bullets · 7/10 · 2 March 2014]

About 3 years ago I saw a trailer for a movie. I had no idea what the plot was, who wrote it, or who directed it. It sorta just coalesced out of the indie film ether. A patchwork amalgamation of niche genres and indie tropes. It mesmerized me...

The song is perfect. The visuals are strikingly grind-house. The girl is exquisite... and, wait, was that... Luke Effing Skywalker?! And Candyman? And Machete? Dwayne Hicks?! What is this nerdgasm, physically manifested on my video-sharing website of choice? It appears to ape, at least in spirit, Reservoir Dogs, and 70's exploitation flicks, and the kind of gritty crime dramas made mainstream by the likes of Tarantino himself.

Must. Watch. Now.

Fast forward ahead 3 years... A lot of junk happened, horrible movie schlock was watched, and... that one cool looking indie grind-house flick, what was it called, crap, Fish Lady? Salmon Female? Erin Brockovich?

Well whatever it was called, I completely forgot about it. Hell, it took them a dog's age, it seems, to even get a limited release. So I start digging...

After the movie was filmed, the director Kern Saxton and his production crew raised the money for a premiere on Kickstarter.

And was met with mixed reviews. But, seeing as I consider myself, at least, a tourist in genre subversive independent film peeping, I decided to finally give it a whirl.

How bad could it really be? Well... I was underwhelmed, to say the least. It's hardly a cinematic abortion *cough, all Adam Sandler films, cough* but the overly derivative nature of the narrative kept it from reaching god-tier.

Let me explain; as is the case with any film, there's a right way, and a wrong way to tell a story. And any story can be interesting, it just boils down to execution. In the case of SUSHI GIRL (finally remembered the damn name), the lurid, seductive, visually entrancing, memorable opening pulls you in better than any indie flick I've seen in a while. I mean, it's got Sonny Chiba chopping up raw fish and placing it on a chart-topping unknown sex-exuding vixen (READ: the actual sushi girl).

The perfect curves of her naked flesh laying on a table, centered amidst a Japanese themed hole-in-the-wall (which Mark Hamill's character, Crow, sarcastically points out is more Ming Dynasty in its design), effectively sets the mood for what's to come. It's a fantastic opening sequence... but then the characters start talking. Blah.

Tarantino perfected gangster speak in Reservoir Dogs and Pulp Fiction in such a fashion that, even though his characters are vile, mostly immoral, scumbags, you actually enjoy hearing their diatribes. It's one of the highlights of his films. Here, it just plays like a hackneyed imitation, devoid of any genuine thought or cleverness. Clunky is a good word for it.

Continuing with that theme, as the plot chugs along, and you start to understand why these characters are meeting in a dive, partaking of the delicious spread, you realize what you're in for... Now, if I weren't dead inside already, I'd call the torture scenes graphic, gory, and ultimately unnerving. But alas, my imagination, and ability to suspend my disbelief, is so shot to hell that nothing grosses me out or unsettles me (unless I'm looking in a mirror... GET A TAN, YA PALE FREAK). Horror movies bore me, unless they're hilariously gory. Torture porn is a big yawn. But thankfully the story is written in a way that, as you piece together where it's all going, the twist ending actually slaps you in the genitals. You forgot about the bad jokes, and forced genre dialog. It was so memorable and out of left field, I honestly want to watch it again.

Great music, pointless, albeit appropriate, cameos by horror and grind-house regulars, excellent cinematography, sub-par performances, with a few bright-spots here and there, and an unexpected twist, Goldfish Woman (pretty sure that's what it was called) was a surprising treat that unfortunately wasn't necessarily worth how long I waited to see it. But then again, that was my own dumb-ass fault. I, lukewarmly, recommend it.

Now if I could only eat some SUSHI off a beautiful GIRL...

Yeah, no.

[aarond12 · 2/10 · 19 March 2013]

I watched this movie with high expectations. Instead, I got a movie with a naked woman (hence 2 stars instead of just 1), flat dialog with poor pacing, and a story line that attempts the non-sequential story telling trick... and falls on its face.

From the first few moments of the movie, noticing the flat acting, it felt like a low-budget film. To its credit, this IS a low-budget film, but that doesn't mean poor acting and editing are required. Look at the original Clerks movie. With a budget less than 1/3rd of Sushi Girl's, they made a movie with likable and relatable characters, a story line that works, and editing that makes the pace of the movie brisk.

Lines were delivered like this: "You know WHY we're here." (longer-than-necessary pause) "WHY are we here?" (long pause) "YOU already KNOW why." (Caps indicate vocal emphasis.) Everything felt so forced; the emphasis on random words made the dialog sound very unnatural.

The story was boring. Typical storyline with a single twist. Yawn. This is a terrible movie in its execution, editing, and acting. But I liked the naked woman.

It looks like four-fifths of a reunion at a titty buffet in Tienanmen Square.

[lastliberal-853-253708 · 7/10 · 25 August 2013]

I absolutely could not recognize Mark Hammil (Star Wars). Yes, there is a 30+ year age difference, but he has really changed.

Tony Todd Candyman), however is ageless.

Five robbers gather to eat a meal off the body of a Sushi Girl (Cortney Palm). Her naked body was exposed throughout the evening as they tortured Fish (Noah Hathaway) in an attempt to discern where the diamonds were from a robbery six years earlier. It was pretty gruesome, and the ending was predictable.

But, wait, it didn't end when I thought it would. There was another ending that was just fantastic. It was definitely worth the wait.

Cortney Palm is a combination of Angelina Jolie and Audrey Hepburn - beauty and grace. See more of her in Seance: The Summoning and Silent Night.

Besides the sushi girl and Tony Todd this movie is below average

[KineticSeoul · 5/10 · 5 March 2013]

This is a alright movie to sit through but nothing mind-blowing. It kinda has that "Reservoir Dogs" vibe going for it. But in this case it didn't stand out all that much. The story is about a group of guys pulling off a heist and stole a lot of diamonds and after the heist they want to know where all the diamonds has gone. And it all points to a guy that took the fall and didn't snitch anyone out while in prison. But the group points the finger at the guy that took the fall and went to prison for over 6yrs. After they reunite and dine together while eating sushi off some naked girl. Kinda felt like the Batman villains reuniting with one another and it's not just because it has Mark Hamill in this. I kinda slightly felt bad for the actress that plays the naked sushi girl though cause all she does for the majority of the movie is lay on the table naked with sushi all over her. She does have a amazing body though. But besides the naked sushi girl on the table, the movie doesn't stand out all that much. Even with the twist and turns near the end, it just wasn't mind-blowing but just alright. As a matter of fact some parts of this movie didn't make any sense. But Tony Todd played his role well as this unclear character, sadistic but unclear until near the end. So good casting for a straight to DVD movie and seductive to a degree because of the sushi girl. The rest just didn't seem all that original and lacked the shock factor it probably needed. Maybe a movie like this needed a bit more craziness. Few of the cameo appearances was kinda cool when it comes to Sonny Chiba. He played a expert sword maker in "Kill Bill" in this he is a expert sushi chef. And Danny Trejo makes this Machete character like appearance.

5/10

Dishing out

[kosmasp · 7/10 · 29 December 2012]

Mark Hamills performance alone is worth watching this movie. He plays a colorful and interesting character. A movie that has quite a bit of violence in it. Some might put it in the torture department, which wouldn't be completely wrong. There are a few scenes, that are very hard to watch and endure.

The story is revealed in bits and pieces (with a few nice "cameos" in one flashback scene), but might be easy to guess for a lot. The journey is still worth taking, if you are not too squeamish. The acting is decent enough and the thrill factor will keep you entertained (if not guessing) throughout.

A Self Quarantine Random find

[wm_Howell · 3/10 · 17 June 2020]

Going through my Amazon stick I stumbled across this movie solely based on the name and seeing that it was going to be a crime thriller (of sorts)

Decent cast of seasoned name actors ( some who appeared as favors to the production and the "blink and you'll miss them' screen time)

**SPOILERS**



If it wasn't for the "pacing"+ waaay too much villain exposition leading up to the big reveal at the end I would have enjoyed this homage to "Reservoir Dogs" more But everybody getting their "torture time" with the character Fish by way of an egg timer?🙄 gratuitous at best.

Also it wasn't clear to me that Sushi Girl found all the loose diamonds in the asphalt next to her dead husband, because there's no way she would've had time to pick up every single rock in between the glass when the cops are literally in earshot.

Again stellar cast but ...meh

Bloody disgusting!

[rjwilliams5150 · 9/10 · 3 February 2013]

A character called "Fish" (Noah Hathaway ) is released from Prison after serving six years for a diamond heist, he meets up with his accomplices whom he protected during his sentence, for a 'celebratory' meal, a lavish array of sushi, all laid out on a beautiful young woman...well it beats a Bernie Inn I suppose!

I wasn't expecting much from this film, I'd never even heard of it until now, just a seen it all before yarn, but what you get is an intriguing blood soaked plot, plenty of twists, a more than satisfying 'twist' finale, and a cool Tarantino style exploitation cast of Tony 'Candyman' Todd, Sonny Chiba, Danny Trejo, Micheal Biehn and an almost unrecognizable Mark Hamill looking like the love child of John Presscott and Eddie Izzard!!

A bloody enthralling slice of cinema that the aforementioned Tarantino could have served out.

A wild ride with some good characters!

[MayhemPaul · 23 October 2013]

Mark Hamill is one twisted bastard, and that is a good thing! This movie was an odd one for me, didn't know much about it, but I loved the artwork. I am glad I took a chance. Basically it plays out like many Post-Tarantino movies, but this one is a bit different. For one thing, it is actually pretty damned good. For another, it has some good twists and will keep you engaged. Finally it has a killer cast that really makes the most of their characters. The violence erupts in glorious style at points in the film, but it is more about the story and finding out where the road will take you. Each character holds a key to the final twist, and some huge genre favorites do great work here. Come for the sushi, stay for the fun!

For naked sushi lovers and Hamill fans

[videorama-759-859391 · 6/10 · 22 May 2014]

I hate sushi, but after seeing this, I could almost come to like it. I didn't mind this film. The acting impressed the s..t out of me, especially that of a very plump Mark Hamill, with long stringy hair, a sort of Paul William's lookalike, if not acting him too, a bit. Coming across as a Machete type film, with Tarantino story telling, this was a real let down on the shoot em' up action factor, that disappointed us the way Death Proof did, but when you watch it again you accept it for what it is, as still finding it enjoyable. It's the crazy and interesting characters, that make it so, with some of the most odd casting I've ever seen But the casting is spot on. The formulated story is nothing new at all, our one attraction, the naked sushi girl, who lies her flat supple self down for most of the film, as a bed of food, while our nasty nasties, occasionally eat an array of sushi pieces off of her, the short tempered hot head, Max, who sucks at using chopstix. A group of ex cons, have been summoned to dine at their boss's (Tony Todd) house. Why? Cause the other ex con Fish (Never Ending Story's Noah Hathaway) has just got out, and could know where the missing diamonds are in a bungled robbery. Honorable to his partners he never gave up, where this doesn't mean jack, he's taken hostage and forced to tell him what really happened with those jewels, and I'll tell ya, Hathaway takes one hell of a beating, suffering a couple of different tortures, including taking a real glassing. I also was impressed by wire wearing James Duval, as one of Todd's crew, as the only other things were those Greg Araki movies. I must say Hamill as one of crew, is unbelievable though, and funny, and VERY gay, where at times he so hated and repellent. But remember he's only acting. No performance lacks, and that even goes for the brief performances of Biehn, Fahey and Trejo who house some stolen diamonds, where our nasties snatch them. Somewhere along the way the diamonds go astray, hence the present torture situation. Actually the sushi girl provides the twist, much in the exact same vein to another film I know of, but won't mention. Don't expect this film to happen many surprises, cause it doesn't. I actually liked Hathaway's character, and his performances wasn't bad either. The other characters of this crew I loathed, though James Duval's I didn't mind, where really he was the most singularly impressive. All actors impressed me in this, but you have to watch it for Hamill, and for the sushi girl, too, which will have many eyes, poring over her.

Wannabe David Mamet flick that misses the mark

[mpcurrivan · 2/10 · 4 May 2022]

Note: I only lasted 45 minutes...wasn't put off by language or violence, no, I couldn't take it because it is simply not good. Plays like a stage production in which each ( very 1 dimensional) character explains himself fully, nobody talks over anyone else, the core issue is rehashed continuously, and (biggest turn-off), no character is at all interesting or worth caring about.

Perhaps the second half of the movie blossomed into something spectacular, and it's my loss that I missed it. But, somehow, I know that is highly unlikely.