Cold Fish (Japan: Sono Sion, 2010)

        Through its disturbing and unbalanced characters, in particular the film's protagonist Nobuyuki Syamoto (Mitsuru Fukikoshi), Cold Fish explores the evolution of insanity in the face of one's disillusionment about the nature of the planet we live on. When Syamoto's daughter Mitsuko (Hikari Kajiwara) gets caught for shoplifting, the exotic-fish dealer and his new wife Taeko (Megumi Kagurazaka) are introduced to fellow fish dealer Yukio Murata (Denden), an overly cheerful man who manages to get Mitsuko off the hook for theft on the condition that she works in his exotic fish shop where he hires and lodges troubled females youths (Mitsuko has been acting out in response to her father getting re-married so quickly, including giving a beatdown to her new step-mother). As Murata slowly gains the trust of both Taeko and Mitsuko, he, along with his wife Aiko (Asuka Kurosawa), begin to use Syamoto as an assistant in their extracurricular activities, which mainly revolve around serial homicide, or making people 'invisible', as Murata likes to call it. Supposedly based on true events, Cold Fish details Syamoto's downward spiral into the Muratas' twisted world of casual depravity. The former's fascination with astronomy is often invoked (through Planetarium footage) as a way to illustrate the discrepancies between Earth's beautiful, peaceful-looking surface seen from afar and its potentially ugly, degenerate character when viewed up close. This shattering of life's self-enforced illusions leads to Syamoto's mental unraveling, which culminates in drastic crimes of passion. While Sono's typically disturbing imagery is usually balanced out by polished and picturesque photography, the general cinematography in Cold Fish  consists of chaotic hand-held camera work that tries to mirror the protagonists' shocked bewilderment. When the camera remains still, however, we become privy to Sono's masterful composition and resplendent images. While the film's action and unstable camera movements pick up speed when the characters themselves get agitated (or excited), it is the moments of respite and inaction that are most satisfying.