hyped garbage

Fun premise, good actors, bad writing. This film seemed to have potential at the beginning but it quickly devolves into a trite action film. Ultimately it's very boring.

A great movie, one of the best of this year. There was a bit of confusion at one point in the plot, but nothing serious.

The movie's neither hopeful in contrived ways, nor hopeless in different contrived ways. Somehow it manages to be wonderful

Fish Story has a very unusual and rather daft sounding plot that boils down to how a song recorded in 1975 saves the world. The film was on TV recently and when I read the plot I thought it sounded silly but for some reason was curious enough to watch the film.As a curiosity piece, it is definitely worth a watch. It's a very unusual, multi-character, multi-era film that was a lot more enjoyable than expected. The down point for me, hence only giving it a 6, is because the sequences that focus on the band that wrote the song in the 70's are really dull and drag on for far too long. All the other plot lines (featuring a hostage situation on a ferry rectified by a kung-fu expert; a current-day record shop employee who discusses the said band's history with a customer and; a strange chance meeting seemingly orchestrated in part by a legend of a screaming girl in a song) are quite entertaining.It's still silly overall, as you would expect from such a premise, but it was enjoyable nonetheless.

I have to say, FISH STORY is a very strange film. It's a Japanese apocalyptic tale featuring four separate story lines that are woven together in such a way that'll have you scratching your head and trying to figure out how they all intertwine. It's all very low key, with zero sci-fi elements and an extremely slow pacing that's doubtless to put off plenty of viewers expecting something more, well, energetic.However, something about this kept me watching. It's the sense of whimsy, perhaps, or the sheer long-winded shaggy-doggedness of the storytelling. The fact that the production values are high, the script is very funny, and the actors nail the characters, too. About halfway through, I relaxed a little when I realised I was enjoying what I was watching, and then I started having fun.Things get better right up until the big reveal at the ending, which is so stupendously good that I can say, right here and right now, that FISH STORY features one of my favourite endings in a film, full stop. It's that good; a tremendous resolution, like that of THE SIXTH SENSE, that turns the whole film around and makes you realise that, actually, this is a great little film; unique and uniquely entertaining with it.

Sweet charming shaggy dog story about how a song saves the world from destruction. This is film that is rather impossible to describe simply except with the opening line of this review (to say more would either give too much away or require too much explanation). Beginning in the last five hours before a giant comet is set to hit earth and wipe everyone out, the film starts in a record shop (still open because "its business hours") where a discussion of punk music leads to the album and song called A Fish Story. The film then spins out telling the story of the song, the group that created it and the sequence of events, of which it is but one part, that lead to the saving of the earth and to the men standing in the record store.A frequently funny and smiling producing film this is a movie that will occasionally confuse you (you will wonder how it all ties together a mystery which remains until they reveal how it all ties together at the very end). It's a film with enough plot for five or six movies as threads are spun out and dropped once we see the relevant bits. We could have probably followed any one of them to the conclusion as well but many are just stops in the greater scheme of things.I liked this whimsical little film a great deal. My only real reservations come from my unhappiness with the over selling that the film got from the staff of Film Festival where I saw it. Many people went out of there way to tell everyone how great it was. Don't get me wrong it's a good movie, but its not quite the religious experience that at least one person inferred. Over selling or not I don't think I would have ever raved about the film. It's too rambling and too fragmented to ever be a full meal of a movie (I think some of the threads, especially the story of the band, would have been a better focus), it's really good after dinner piece of chocolate. This isn't to say that there is anything wrong with it, there isn't, its more something that you need to discover for yourself and not have handed to you with an impossible level of expectations. See the film if you get a chance, just don't worry about how it is, just know its worth your time.

This story is about a comet which is due to hit the earth in a matter of hours and how a song from 1975 called "Fish Story" will save the world in 2012. How? Thats part of the fun in watching the film. The film has some comedic moments in that you have references to superhero(ine) series from Japan, as well as other cultural mores. You see what appears to be a series of unconnected events somehow gel. The song itself is a proto punk song, recorded before the Sex Pistols, and its actually a good song. The acting goes all over the map, as there are flashbacks with disparate characters, but it is pretty much all good. Whatever the ending, you have to stay for it to see how things tie together. The world could come to an end (Japan would be pretty much submerged) if the comet hit, so just watch. It has a kind of new wavish sensibility, especially the scenes with the band who recorded "Fish Story". Not perfect, it drags slightly at times, but its worthwhile. I recommend it.