is 2011 Japanese drama film based on the manga series of the same name by Minoru Furuya and directed by

Sion Sono Sion may refer to * an alternative transliteration of Zion People * Sion (name) or Siôn, a Welsh and other given name and surname, including a list of people and fictional characters with the name * Shion or Sion, a Japanese given name Plac ...

. The word ''himizu'' is the

Japanese Japanese may refer to: * Something from or related to Japan, an island country in East Asia * Japanese language, spoken mainly in Japan * Japanese people, the ethnic group that identifies with Japan through ancestry or culture ** Japanese diaspor ...

name for a species of mole. The film competed in competition at the

68th Venice International Film Festival The 68th annual Venice International Film Festival was held in Venice, Italy between 31 August and 10 September 2011. American film director Darren Aronofsky was announced as the Head of the Jury. American actor and film director Al Pacino was p ...

in September. At the festival,

Shōta Sometani is a Japanese actor from Koto, Tokyo. He is known for his protagonist roles in ''Himizu'' and ''Parasyte''. Career Sometani was a child actor. He has worked in both film and television, gaining his first leading role in ''Pandora's Box'', ...

and

Fumi Nikaidō is a Japanese actress and fashion model. Career Starting as a model in Naha, Okinawa, Nikaidō made her film debut in 2009 in ''Toad's Oil'', directed by Kōji Yakusho. She and Shota Sometani received the Marcello Mastroianni Award for Best ...

received the Marcello Mastroianni Award for Best New Young Actor and Actress for their work in the film.

Cast

as Yuichi Sumida *

as Keiko Shazawa *

Megumi Kagurazaka is a Japanese actress and glamour model. She is married to the director Sion Sono and has starred in some of his films. Career Kagurazaka has appeared in films such as ''Cold Fish'', ''Guilty of Romance'', and '' The Land of Hope''. Filmograph ...

Asuka Kurosawa is a Japanese actress and gravure model. She has appeared in more than 20 films since 1988. Selected filmography Film Television Awards She won the best actress award at the Tokyo Sports Film Awards for ''A Snake of June ''A Snake of Ju ...

Denden is a Japanese actor and former comedian.http://japancinema.net/2012/05/29/creative-spotlight-episode-126-denden He has appeared in more than 100 films since 1981. Selected filmography Film Television References External links * { ...

Mitsuru Fukikoshi is a Japanese actor. Career Born in Aomori Prefecture, Fukikoshi moved to Tokyo at age 19 and joined the Wahaha Honpo theater troupe. Since leaving Wahaha in 1999, he has appeared in many films and television dramas, while continuing to act on ...

* Tetsu Watanabe * Makiko Watanabe *

Ken Mitsuishi is a Japanese actor. He has appeared in films such as '' Chaos'' and ''Tokyo Playboy Club''. Filmography Film ;1980s *'' Tora's Tropical Fever'' (1980) *''Foster Daddy, Tora!'' (1980) *'' Sailor Suit and Machine Gun'' (1981) *''Tora-san, the Exp ...

Jun Murakami is a Japanese actor. He is not to be confused with Japanese stunt actor Jun Murakami. Career Murakami starred in Sho Miyake's ''Playback'' (2012). He co-starred in Sion Sono's '' The Land of Hope'' (2012) with Megumi Kagurazaka. He has also a ...

Yōsuke Kubozuka is a Japanese actor and musician. Career Yosuke Kubozuka has been a model for many magazines and TV commercials before starting out his acting career where he debuted in a 1995 TV crime drama ''Kindaichi Case Files''. In 1998, he starred in the ...

as Teruhiko *

Yuriko Yoshitaka is a Japanese actress. She has played numerous roles in film and television, including lead roles in ''Snakes and Earrings'', '' Yurigokoro'', and the NHK asadora ''Hanako to Anne''. Career At age 16, her first year of high school, Yoshitaka joi ...

as Miki *

Takahiro Nishijima is a Japanese singer and actor who is the main vocalist of the group AAA AAA, Triple A, or Triple-A is a three-letter initialism or abbreviation which may refer to: Airports * Anaa Airport in French Polynesia (IATA airport code AAA) * Logan ...

as You *

Anne Suzuki is a Japanese actress. Career Suzuki co-starred in Shunji Iwai's '' Hana and Alice'' with Yū Aoi. She voiced the title character Ray Steam in Katsuhiro Otomo's animated film ''Steamboy''. Suzuki played a supporting role in Andrew Lau and Ala ...

as Waitress

Production

Development

The director Sion Sono had already written the film's script when the Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami struck Japan on 11 March 2011. After this disaster, he decided to rewrite the script to adapt the film to this disaster.

Casting

The lead stars of the film were officially announced on 10 June 2011. The lead actor for the film is

, who plays the role of Sumida, a 15-year-old who suffers from the violence that his father inflicted onto him. Actress

his co-star, plays Chazawa, a rich girl who is Sumida's classmate. Additional cast members of the film are

and singer

. Actress Yoshitaka previously starred in the 2006 film ''

Noriko's Dinner Table is a 2005 Japanese psychological horror film, and a sequel to the independent horror film '' Suicide Club'' (2002), written and directed by Sion Sono. ''Suicide Club'' concerns the mass suicide of 54 schoolgirls and how it leads the law to a sha ...

'', which was also directed by Sion Sono. Nishijima is from the music group

AAA AAA, Triple A, or Triple-A is a three-letter initialism or abbreviation which may refer to: Airports * Anaa Airport in French Polynesia (IATA airport code AAA) * Logan County Airport (Illinois) (FAA airport code AAA) Arts, entertainment, and me ...

, and also previously starred in Sion Sono's 2009 award-winning film ''

Love Exposure is a 2008 Japanese comedy-drama film written and directed by Sion Sono. The film gained a considerable amount of notoriety in film festivals around the world for its four-hour runtime and themes including love, family, lust, religion and the crim ...

''.

Filming

Most of the filming took place at a special set in

Ibaraki Prefecture is a prefecture of Japan located in the Kantō region of Honshu. Ibaraki Prefecture has a population of 2,871,199 (1 June 2019) and has a geographic area of . Ibaraki Prefecture borders Fukushima Prefecture to the north, Tochigi Prefecture ...

during May 2011.

Reception

Critical reception

''Himizu'' currently holds a 94% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes. The film was a ''

New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'' Critics' Pick, with Miriam Bale praising its sound design and noting Sono "uses sound, a low, grumbling noise like an earthquake, to convey ystopian Japan He also gives the film a harrowing cacophony and a sense of trauma with sound effects, including subtle echoes." Deborah Young of

The Hollywood Reporter ''The Hollywood Reporter'' (''THR'') is an American digital and print magazine which focuses on the Hollywood film, television, and entertainment industries. It was founded in 1930 as a daily trade paper, and in 2010 switched to a weekly larg ...

criticized the film as being "fraught with brutal violence and needless repetition that draws out its two-hour running time" and added that the film "is still not an easy film to like". However, the reviewer praised the ending of the film, which she describes as "achingly real" and "extraordinarily intense and effective". She also praised the film's young leads Shōta Sometani and Fumi Nikaidō, who she said "grow in stature as the film progresses".

Accolades

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Himizu 2011 films 2011 drama films 2010s Japanese-language films Japanese drama films Japanese serial killer films Films directed by Sion Sono Films about the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami Live-action films based on manga Patricide in fiction 2010s Japanese films