Noriko's Dinner Table
Encyclopedia
, is the sequel
to the cult film
Suicide Club
(Jisatsu Sākuru), a Japanese film, written and directed by Sion Sono
, concerning a mass suicide
of 54 schoolgirls and how it leads the law to a shadowy cult
. Noriko's Dinner Table takes place before, during, and after the Suicide Circle timeline as an attempt to resolve some questions Suicide Circle left behind.
Noriko's Dinner Table explores various issues including the generation gap
in modern families, the concepts of family and happiness, suicide
, lack of communication, the effects of alienation and how the Internet
is used as a tool.
The film was released theatrically in Japan on September 23, 2006, and won the Don Quixote award at the 40th Karlovy Vary International Film Festival
in the Czech Republic
and a special mention.
) lives with her quiet family, formed by her sister Yuka (Yuriko Yoshitaka
), her mother Taeko (Sanae Miyata), and her father Tetsuzo (Ken Mitsuishi), in Toyokawa. Feeling alienated and misunderstood by her parents, Noriko resorts to the internet where she finds a website where other teenagers from Japan gather. There, after making new and unknown friends, she feels truly at "home" and eventually runs away from her unhappy life to Tokyo, where she plans on meeting the website's leader, a mysterious girl who uses the screen name "Ueno Station 54". On December 10, 2001, there was a blackout (a common occurrence) and Noriko takes advantage of this moment to quickly gather her most valued objects with the intent of running away to Tokyo and flees to the subway station. Once in Tokyo
, Noriko logs onto the website and contacts Ueno54. They meet up at Locker #54 in Ueno Train Station, where it is revealed that she is a relatively young woman named Kumiko. She introduces Noriko to her "family" and sweeps her off into her bizarre organization. The purpose of the organization is to be contacted by people that want them to act out a role for them (families, lovers, spouses, etc.).
Six months later, 54 girls decide to act out their roles by jumping in front of a train at Shinjuku station and committing suicide. They happily die in their roles, splattering all of the onlookers (including Noriko and Kumiko) in blood. After the events of Suicide Club transpire, Yuka (back in Toyokawa) hears about it. Suspecting that her sister is involved, she also runs off to Tokyo. After Taeko commits suicide, Tetsuzo starts looking for clues as to what happened to cause both of his daughters to abandon their family. It all eventually brings him to Kumiko and her role in the "Suicide Club". In order to get his daughters back, Tetsuzo gets a friend to rent Kumiko as his wife and the two girls, Mitsuko and Yoko (Noriko and Yuka respectively), as his daughters. Once Tetsuzo reveals himself to the girls, the cult's "thugs" come in and start to beat him up. He brutally kills them all with a knife. Then Tetsuzo, Kumiko, Noriko, and Yuka sit at the dinner table and start to eat, and go to bed a happy family. Yuka, however, decides to shed her roles and become a new person, leaving the house early the next morning. Mitsuko awakens shortly after Yuka has left and, to herself, says goodbye to Yuka, goodbye to her childhood, goodbye to haikyo.com, and goodbye to Mitsuko. Lastly, she says "I am Noriko."
By the end, two years have passed in this film and 18 months since Suicide Club.
(自殺サークル 完全版 Jisatsu Sākuru: Kanzenban) was written by Sion Sono
in April 2002. This book was as a draft of sorts for Noriko's Dinner Table, according to Sono. In fact, the movie is divided in four "chapters", as the book, and is constantly narrated by its characters, like the book. The story of The Complete Edition deals with both the events of this film and those of its prequel, Suicide Club. So far no plans for an English edition have appeared.
Sequel
A sequel is a narrative, documental, or other work of literature, film, theatre, or music that continues the story of or expands upon issues presented in some previous work...
to the cult film
Cult film
A cult film, also commonly referred to as a cult classic, is a film that has acquired a highly devoted but specific group of fans. Often, cult movies have failed to achieve fame outside the small fanbases; however, there have been exceptions that have managed to gain fame among mainstream audiences...
Suicide Club
Suicide Club (film)
Suicide Club, known in Japan as is a 2002 Japanese independent horror film that gained a considerable amount of notoriety in film festivals around the world for its controversial subject matter and gory presentation, and has since developed a significant cult following. It won the Jury Prize for...
(Jisatsu Sākuru), a Japanese film, written and directed by Sion Sono
Sion Sono
is a controversial Japanese filmmaker and poet. He was born in Toyokawa, Aichi, Japan, and is best known for his films as well as avant-garde poetry performances.-Early career:...
, concerning a mass suicide
Mass suicide
- Examples :Mass suicide sometimes occurs in religious or cultic settings. Defeated groups may resort to mass suicide rather than being captured. Suicide pacts are a form of mass suicide unconnected to cults or war that are sometimes planned or carried out by small groups of frustrated people...
of 54 schoolgirls and how it leads the law to a shadowy cult
Cult
The word cult in current popular usage usually refers to a group whose beliefs or practices are considered abnormal or bizarre. The word originally denoted a system of ritual practices...
. Noriko's Dinner Table takes place before, during, and after the Suicide Circle timeline as an attempt to resolve some questions Suicide Circle left behind.
Noriko's Dinner Table explores various issues including the generation gap
Generation gap
The generational gap is and was a term popularized in Western countries during the 1960s referring to differences between people of a younger generation and their elders, especially between children and parents....
in modern families, the concepts of family and happiness, suicide
Suicide
Suicide is the act of intentionally causing one's own death. Suicide is often committed out of despair or attributed to some underlying mental disorder, such as depression, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, alcoholism, or drug abuse...
, lack of communication, the effects of alienation and how the Internet
Internet
The Internet is a global system of interconnected computer networks that use the standard Internet protocol suite to serve billions of users worldwide...
is used as a tool.
The film was released theatrically in Japan on September 23, 2006, and won the Don Quixote award at the 40th Karlovy Vary International Film Festival
Karlovy Vary International Film Festival
The Karlovy Vary International Film Festival is a film festival held annually in July in Karlovy Vary , Czech Republic. The Karlovy Vary Festival gained worldwide recognition over the past years and has become one of Europe's major film events....
in the Czech Republic
Czech Republic
The Czech Republic is a landlocked country in Central Europe. The country is bordered by Poland to the northeast, Slovakia to the east, Austria to the south, and Germany to the west and northwest....
and a special mention.
Plot
A 17-year-old teenage girl named Noriko Shimabara (Kazue FukiishiKazue Fukiishi
is a Japanese actress. She won the award for best supporting actress at the 28th Yokohama Film Festival for What the Snow Brings, Tegami and Memories of Tomorrow.-Filmography:* Sabu...
) lives with her quiet family, formed by her sister Yuka (Yuriko Yoshitaka
Yuriko Yoshitaka
is a Japanese actress who is represented by the Japanese agency Amuse.-Career:Yoshitaka made her acting debut in 2006. She was given the lead role in the live-action adaptation of Hitomi Kanehara's award-winning novel Snakes and Earrings in 2007...
), her mother Taeko (Sanae Miyata), and her father Tetsuzo (Ken Mitsuishi), in Toyokawa. Feeling alienated and misunderstood by her parents, Noriko resorts to the internet where she finds a website where other teenagers from Japan gather. There, after making new and unknown friends, she feels truly at "home" and eventually runs away from her unhappy life to Tokyo, where she plans on meeting the website's leader, a mysterious girl who uses the screen name "Ueno Station 54". On December 10, 2001, there was a blackout (a common occurrence) and Noriko takes advantage of this moment to quickly gather her most valued objects with the intent of running away to Tokyo and flees to the subway station. Once in Tokyo
Tokyo
, ; officially , is one of the 47 prefectures of Japan. Tokyo is the capital of Japan, the center of the Greater Tokyo Area, and the largest metropolitan area of Japan. It is the seat of the Japanese government and the Imperial Palace, and the home of the Japanese Imperial Family...
, Noriko logs onto the website and contacts Ueno54. They meet up at Locker #54 in Ueno Train Station, where it is revealed that she is a relatively young woman named Kumiko. She introduces Noriko to her "family" and sweeps her off into her bizarre organization. The purpose of the organization is to be contacted by people that want them to act out a role for them (families, lovers, spouses, etc.).
Six months later, 54 girls decide to act out their roles by jumping in front of a train at Shinjuku station and committing suicide. They happily die in their roles, splattering all of the onlookers (including Noriko and Kumiko) in blood. After the events of Suicide Club transpire, Yuka (back in Toyokawa) hears about it. Suspecting that her sister is involved, she also runs off to Tokyo. After Taeko commits suicide, Tetsuzo starts looking for clues as to what happened to cause both of his daughters to abandon their family. It all eventually brings him to Kumiko and her role in the "Suicide Club". In order to get his daughters back, Tetsuzo gets a friend to rent Kumiko as his wife and the two girls, Mitsuko and Yoko (Noriko and Yuka respectively), as his daughters. Once Tetsuzo reveals himself to the girls, the cult's "thugs" come in and start to beat him up. He brutally kills them all with a knife. Then Tetsuzo, Kumiko, Noriko, and Yuka sit at the dinner table and start to eat, and go to bed a happy family. Yuka, however, decides to shed her roles and become a new person, leaving the house early the next morning. Mitsuko awakens shortly after Yuka has left and, to herself, says goodbye to Yuka, goodbye to her childhood, goodbye to haikyo.com, and goodbye to Mitsuko. Lastly, she says "I am Noriko."
By the end, two years have passed in this film and 18 months since Suicide Club.
Cast
- Kazue FukiishiKazue Fukiishiis a Japanese actress. She won the award for best supporting actress at the 28th Yokohama Film Festival for What the Snow Brings, Tegami and Memories of Tomorrow.-Filmography:* Sabu...
as Noriko Shimabara/Mitsuko - Ken Mitsuishi as Tetsuzo Shimabara
- Yuriko YoshitakaYuriko Yoshitakais a Japanese actress who is represented by the Japanese agency Amuse.-Career:Yoshitaka made her acting debut in 2006. She was given the lead role in the live-action adaptation of Hitomi Kanehara's award-winning novel Snakes and Earrings in 2007...
as Yuka Shimabara/Yôko - Tsugumi as Kumiko/Ueno54
- Sanae Miyata as Taeko Shimabara
- Shirô Namiki as Ikeda
- Yôko MitsuyaYoko Mitsuyais a Japanese gravure idol and actress.- Biography:Yoko was born in Tokyo but moved to Saitama shortly after she was born. She began practicing ballet as a first grader; her dream was to become a ballerina. When she was in sixth grade, she applied for the Horipro Talent Scout Caravan and was...
as Tangerine - Tamae Andô as Broken Dam
- Chihiro Abe as Long Neck
- Hanako Onuki as Midnight
- Naoko WatanabeNaoko Watanabe (actress)is a Japanese actress and model who was born in Kanagawa Prefecture on July 30, 1984. She should be distinguished from the Japanese voice actress , born November 21, 1959....
as Cripple - Hiroshi Sakuma
Novel
Suicide Circle: The Complete EditionSuicide Circle: The Complete Edition
is a novel written by Japanese poet and filmmaker Sion Sono, based on his Suicide Circle trilogy. It was published by Kawade Shobo Shinsha in 2002.-Plot summary:...
(自殺サークル 完全版 Jisatsu Sākuru: Kanzenban) was written by Sion Sono
Sion Sono
is a controversial Japanese filmmaker and poet. He was born in Toyokawa, Aichi, Japan, and is best known for his films as well as avant-garde poetry performances.-Early career:...
in April 2002. This book was as a draft of sorts for Noriko's Dinner Table, according to Sono. In fact, the movie is divided in four "chapters", as the book, and is constantly narrated by its characters, like the book. The story of The Complete Edition deals with both the events of this film and those of its prequel, Suicide Club. So far no plans for an English edition have appeared.