Shark Skin Man and Peach Hip Girl

Customer Reviews:

Tarentino-esque fun........2006-05-29

Okay, I admit this has a lot of elements similar to Pulp Fiction (quirky, disturbed hitmen, a non-linear ending where a character is brought back to life, incidental scenes of thugs talking about funny random things, etc.), but a lot of it works (when the gay hitman and the Tadanobu Asano character meet in the bathroom, it's borderline genius comedy). Unfortunately, the pieces don't come together in any satisfying way at the end. Check out the very different but much superior Cha no Aji (The Taste of Tea) for a better outing from this director (also featuring Asano).

Oh how this movie rocks!.......2006-05-13

The movie opens as a young worker Toshiko (played wonderfully by Shie Kohinata) is being urged by a coworker to follow his example and finally quit her job at the stale, low-rent hotel managed by Toshiko's uncle Sonezaki. When Toshiko finds out that her uncle has "invested" all the money in her savings into the hotel, she decides that this is the breaking point. Samehada (Tadanobu Asano; Ichi The Killer) has stolen some serious cash from his former yakuza bosses and, after being tracked to a woodland cabin, (where he's sequestered himself with some sexy "hired help") he's forced to flee the scene in little more than his tighty-whiteys to save from being caught. Cut to Toshiko fleeing the hotel life. Who should she come across? Yep, Samehada, sprinting into the winding, mountain road and causing Toshiko to collide with the yakuza cruiser giving chase.

SSM&PHG has wit and style to spare. It also sports one of the most unique gang of characters I have ever witnessed. From the quirky, salary-man type yakuza boss who collects rare soft drink tins, to his spoiled, style conscious, ingrate of a son who uses his nose like a dog, is afraid to get wet and is draped in bullet-proof white leather. A 3-some of hapless yakuza wanna-be hangers-on that have zero cred, to a homosexual assassin hired to retrieve Sonezaki's niece. Add in the remaining cast of ill-mannered yakuza associates and how could you go wrong? I'll answer that; you can't.

O.K., I could see how some may say SSM&PHG might lack the action required for a decent yakuza tale. I can say with complete confidence that you will not be bored watching this movie. The humor alone carries SSM&PHG high above the waterline. Katsuhito Ishii's direction is reminiscent of Quentin Tarantino's Pulp Fiction, in regards to the short segments of confined dialogue between small groups of characters. The banter seemingly has little to do with the overall story at the moment, and acts like a reprieve (or maybe more precisely, Ishii's way of character development) from the superficial plot. He also employs well placed, short bursts of time-lapse editing during a hilarious chase scene near the beginning and again later, as the group convenes at Sonezaki's hotel. It's not all humor and jocularity full-time though. Again, like QT's Pulp Fiction, there are moments of introspection from the characters, but the movie never allows itself to get weighed down in the morality of what's happening. It retains it's light-hearted and irreverent feel from start to finish. Shark Skin Man & Peach Hip Girl is quite the hidden gem that manga fans may already be somewhat acquainted with, but something that comedy lovers should track down for sure.

Ichiban!.......2005-05-19

Off the cuff, cool, decadent and funny. It's loads of nutty fun, strange characters and weird scenarios. About destiny and fate, I loved it, a hot film. The music at the beginning is sublime. A couple really high voltage, creative, shoot 'em up scenes, boooyah! Quirky, goofy, something for everyone...

wish i could give it 6 stars........2005-02-25

this movie is amazing. it's fast-paced, it has great action, it's funny, it's bizarre, and the music kicks your booty. if you filmed a gangster anime instead of celanimating it, it would be like this. when i saw it at a film festival 6 years ago, it was described as "a japanse pulp fiction with high fashion". yes indeed.

I fell asleep........ TWICE!!.......2004-08-13

I love japanese film. I really wanted this to be good. Even though I liked the character development and the plot was ok I just couldnt get into this. I actually fell asleep.... twice! The camera work at times can be interesting but some scenes are way too drawn out without really going anywhere. The mood and pace of the film is very monotone and flatline, especially for a film that touts itself as being this grand rollercoaster ride. And in response to another reviewer here, Taranteno does take alot from asian cinema, but asian cinema borrows alot from western culture as well, at this point there is alot of equal give and take. If you want to see an interesting so called "cool" japanese film see Samurai Fiction instead.

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