Miranda Crohan (randi2016) Two things brought me to this movie initially: the casting of Mark Hamill, and the description of it as "crime fiction". I watched this movie last night after recording it, and it quite honestly exceeded my expectations. A criminal named Fish has been let out of jail after 6 years. He is brought to an abandoned restaurant, where his old crime buddies Francis, Duke, Crow, and Max are waiting. Also in their presence is a naked girl covered in sushi, who has been told that she cannot move or speak, no matter what she sees or hears. It turns out that the diamonds from heist that the group had pulled six years earlier are missing, and the others all place the blame on Fish. Thus begins a night of relentless torture for Fish, and the reveal that Francis was wired to record the meeting for the police, Duke planned to have them all dead, and a shocking tie-in involving the sushi girl.I've heard that this is a retread of Reservoir Dogs, and some even say a bad one at that. I haven't seen Reservoir Dogs, but it is certainly possible that this movie is trying to be that movie, and that Kern Saxton is trying to be Quentin Tarantino. However, taking that out of it, Sushi Girl works incredibly well on its own. The style reminds me of any Tarantino movie, but the setup is creative in my opinion. I loved looking around the restaurant they are in, and the flashbacks of the actual heist taking place are very well done.The cast is this movie's other strong suit. Tony Todd does excellent as Duke, the "mob boss" of them all. Noah Hathaway, the actor behind The Neverending Story's Atreyu, makes you feel for him, despite him being a criminal. The torture done to him is brutal in every way (by the way, the makeup artistry is great) and it's hard not to feel sorry for him. But the best has to be Mark Hamill as Crow. Crow touches both ends of the spectrum by being not only hilarious, but also downright intimidating. He is willing to put anyone's life on the line but his, and his menacing smile and voice just complete the picture. Every character, while somewhat of a cutout, is unique and has their own quirk to them.The movie is NOT appropriate for kids at all. There is nudity, an abundance of swearing, and like I mentioned before, intense blood and gore. If you are able to stomach all of that, and want a great character study, this film is for you,

poundpig I went into this film with reservations but as with all films, I wanted to give it a chance. I found it boring at best. The premise of the film sounded ridiculous to me but at the same time, somewhat interesting. It seems that the story was an afterthought and they just wanted to make a movie based around a nude girl, used as a sushi platter.It could barely hold my attention but I suffered through it in the hopes it would get better. It did not. There wasn't much to the story and I was not impressed with the acting. I agree with others; it is very similar to a Quentin Tarantino film. I, however, have a disdain for Tarantino's work so this movie was, unsurprisingly, a disappointment for me.In films like these, the story needs to be very engaging but the story in Sushi Girl lacked steam and left me with an unbearable taste in my mouth.It could have been better but it seemed that the focus was more on shock value than on the story, where it should have been. I really wanted to like it but now I know why it was in the bargain bin.

videorama-759-859391 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.

Judge_Bullets 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...