NORIKO'S DINNER TABLE (2005)

[Update 06/09/2026: Rewatched the film. Will work on updating this review, including the screenshots.]

You better be ready to invest some time when you stick this mother in the DVD player. How much time? 159 fucking minutes worth...and you know what? This movie could have been an hour longer and I would have loved it even more!

The story takes place in the same universe as SUICIDE CIRCLE and it even answers some of the questions, but in the end it ends up creating even more! Noriko is a 17-year-old who lives in a small country town where nothing much goes on. One night she's had enough of this boring shit, so she runs away to Tokyo. Once there she meets her online friend, Kumiko. Kumiko is fucking fucked in the head big time!!! She supports herself, by running a "family rental" business where a person can rent a family for whatever they want: reliving a happy memory over and over, reconnecting with lost love ones, arguing, whatever. Eventually Noriko's sister Yuko runs away from home too and joins her sister, even though they are not allowed to actually be sisters any longer. Like I said earlier, Kumiko is totally unstable and since her entire reality is the false families and false memories she becomes even more unstable and things start to take a dark turn: Suicide Club.

Even though I watched the movie and loved the shit out of the fake family stuff (it reminded of BELLE DE JOUR) I still have no clue about all of the supernatural stuff going on in the original SUICIDE CIRCLE movie. None of that is explained here. Pretty much all I got was that Kumiko organized the mass suicide at the train station and she was even present, but it still doesn't explain how she did it or the supernatural aspect.

I really dug this movie and in the extras there was an interview with writer/director Sion Sono where he said this movie was based on a novel that he had written. That sounds awesome!

If you like mind-bending cinema, like Lynch's MULHOLLAND DRIVE, then you should check this movie out. I thought it was great and really, really hope Sono follows up on his promise to make a Part 3.

SUICIDE CIRCLE (2001)

One evening at 7:30pm 54 teenage girls lined up side-by-side at a subway station and jumped in front of an oncoming train. The only clue the police find is a white sports bag with a coiled up roll of human skin inside. After that, things start to get weird. One evening at 7:30pm 54 teenage girls lined up side-by-side at a subway station and jumped in front of an oncoming train. The only clue the police find is a white sports bag with a coiled up roll of human skin inside. After that, things start to get weird.

SUICIDE CLUB, or SUICIDE CIRCLE as it was originally called upon release, starts out strong with a great open sequence. After that, the police get involved but are baffled with the weird clues and the continuing suicides. Then somewhere around the 62-minute mark things fall apart and the movie slowly fizzles out. As harsh as that might sound, SUICIDE CLUB is still very much worth watching. I was especially a fan of the camerawork. Very natural almost to the point of looking like a documentary at moments.

Prequel - Noriko's Dinner Table (2005)