Review

Every year, as the end of the dry season approaches, bodies begin appearing under Mosulin Bridge. In the 1920s Hasumi, a reporter for a third-rate tabloid magazine, is dispatched to make the crossing to nearby Cantella Island, a large offshore brothel built whose foundations are rotting in every sense of the word. He is on a mission to find Tsuge, a cameraman from his magazine who has recently disappeared. On the island, he immediately falls spellbound by Hakua, a prostitute with a uniquely enigmatic, ethereal charm all her own. As he hunts for information about Tsuge, he begins to learn more about the enormous fish, the raigyo, said in local legend to prowl the local waters feeding off people's dreams. Shaken by a mysterious phone call warning him to get off the island immediately and by a glimpse of an enormous fish, he realizes his life is in serious danger, but by now he is fully entangled in Hakua’s trap.

Erotic, mystical and beguiling, Thunderfish plays like an exotic far-eastern take on The Wicker Man, and boasts some dazzling cinematography by cameraman Tetsuhiro Kato. One would never guess that this exquisitely-crafted fantasy, was a first-time effort for its director Toru Hano, nor that it was independently produced on the most modest of budgets. It certainly bodes well for the future of all the talents involved in this remarkable debut.

Jaspar Sharp