Noriko's Dinner Table – New Wave Video (Blu-ray)

Theatrical Release Date: Japan, 2005
Director: Sion Sono
Writer: Sion Sono
Cast: Kazue Fukiishi, Tsugumi, Yuriko Yoshitaka, Shirô Namiki, Sanae Miyata, Yôko Mitsuya, Tamae Andô, Ken Mitsuishi

Release Date: March 26th, 2026
Approximate Running Time: 159 Minutes 7 Seconds
Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1 Widescreen / 1080 Progressive / MPEG-4 AVC
Rating: NR (Australia)
Sound: DTS-HD 5.1 Japanese
Subtitles: English
Region Coding: Region Free
Retail Price: $34.95 AUD (Australia)

"A companion piece to Sono’s cult classic Suicide Club, this film expands the story into an emotionally gripping exploration of identity, family, and the hidden loneliness of modern life. Following the journey of 17-year-old Noriko, who flees her small-town home for Tokyo, the film pulls viewers into the unsettling world of a “rental family” agency. More than just a “J-horror", Noriko’s Dinner Table is a chilling exploration of connection and alienation in the digital age. Combining intimate storytelling with Sono’s signature surreal flourishes, it is both heartbreaking and unforgettable." - synopsis provided by the distributor

Video: 5/5

Here’s the information provided about this release's transfer, "The film was originally shot in using a lo-fi SD Panasonic AG-DVX100B digital camera (MiniDV). For post production and its original Japanese theatrical release, the material was transferred to 35mm film.

This Blu-ray features a new 4K remaster created from the original 35mm picture and sound negative, sourced from The Omega Project in Tokyo, Japan. The restoration and 4K scan were carried out by Piccolo Films in Sydney, Australia, under the supervision of New Wave Video.

The final transfer was approved by director Sion Sono."

Noriko's Dinner Table comes on a 50 GB dual layer Blu-ray.

Disc Size: 46.1 GB

Feature: 39.1 GB

My only reference point is TLA’s 2007 DVD release, and this new release from New Wave Video is a marked improvement over that release. Flesh tones look healthy, colors are nicely saturated, image clarity, contrast, and compression are solid, black levels are strong, and there are no issues with digital noise reduction. That said, it's hard to imagine Noriko's Dinner Table looking better than this release.

Audio: 5/5

This release comes with one audio option, a DTS-HD 5.1 mix in Japanese with removable English subtitles. The audio sounds excellent; dialogue always comes through clearly, and everything sounds balanced and robust when it should.

Extras:

Extras for this release include a behind-the-scenes photo gallery with music from the film playing in the background (poster/stills), a theatrical trailer (2 minutes 4 seconds, Dolby Digital stereo Japanese with non-removable English subtitles), an introduction by director Sion Sono (35 seconds, Dolby Digital stereo Japanese with non-removable English subtitles), an archival interview with Sion Sono (14 minutes 32 seconds, Dolby Digital stereo Japanese with non-removable English subtitles), 2006 Tokyo Premiere, featuring comments by Sion Sono, actresses Kazue Fukiishi, Tsugumi, and Yuriko Yoshitaka, and actor Ken Mitsuishi (22 minutes 34 seconds, Dolby Digital stereo Japanese with non-removable English subtitles), an archival making-of documentary (31 minutes 26 seconds, Dolby Digital stereo Japanese with non-removable English subtitles), an archival interview with Kazue Fukiishi (13 minutes 30 seconds, Dolby Digital stereo Japanese with non-removable English subtitles), an archival interview with Yuriko Yoshitaka (10 minutes 7 seconds, Dolby Digital stereo Japanese with non-removable English subtitles), an interview with Sion Sono titled Sono’s Dinner Table (14 minutes 58 seconds, Dolby Digital stereo Japanese with removable English subtitles), reversible cover art, a spot gloss slipcover, and a 20-page booklet with an essay titled Finding Yourself by Losing: Identity, Parental Neglect and the Loss of Innocence in Noriko's Dinner Table written by Dustin Putman, an essay titled ‘Are You Connected to Yourself?’: Identity and Alienation in Noriko's Dinner Table written by Celeste de la Cabra and information about the transfer.

Summary:

Sion Sono directed Noriko's Dinner Table. He’s known for Suicide Club, Strange Circus, Exte: Hair Extensions, Cold Fish, and Love Exposure.

Tetsuzo Shimabara is a reporter who loses sight of what is important in life. He fails to recognize his two daughters’ unhappiness before they run away. Heartbroken Tetsuzo quits his job as a reporter and uses his investigating skills to find his missing daughters. Tetsuzo’s wife, riddled with guilt over the loss of her children, commits suicide. With the clues his daughters left behind, Tetsuzo is able to piece together their last known moments before they disappeared. His investigations lead him to a woman named Kumiko.

After the success of Suicide Club, director Sion Sono wrote a novel inspired by the film. As he developed the project, the novel transformed into a new story that he loosely connected to Suicide Club. Upon completing the novel, titled Suicide Circle: The Complete Edition, he began working on a film adaptation called Noriko’s Dinner Table.

The narrative centers on four characters. The main character is a seventeen-year-old girl named Noriko, who feels confined in her current life. Using the username Mitsuko, she connects with another like-minded individual on a message board, who goes by the username Ueno Station 54. One evening, during a blackout, Noriko musters the courage to run away to Tokyo. Upon her arrival, she finally meets Ueno Station 54 in person, revealing that this individual is a young woman named Kumiko.

Kumiko has her bag, a reminder of her childhood when her mother abandoned her at the Ueno Train Station, leaving it in locker number 54. Since that time, she has collected discarded items and crafted memories to accompany them. In many ways, taking Noriko under her wing after her arrival in Tokyo allows Kumiko to shape a human being and their past in the same way she has shaped inanimate objects throughout her life. Kumiko has been using the internet to gather weak-minded individuals like Noriko. She even orchestrated the subway suicide of fifty-four girls. Kumiko also operates a family rental business, where she and the individuals she takes in portray deceased or missing family members. Through these jobs, she generates new memories. Additionally, she utilizes these roles to manipulate and brainwash girls like Noriko.

Another key player is Noriko’s younger sister Yuka, who follows her sister down the same path. They both come from a home that is almost devoid of joy. Their parents are oblivious to Noriko's and Yuka’s need for affection from them. The other main character is Tetsuzo, Noriko's and Yuka’s father. Out of all the characters, he undergoes the most significant transformation after his daughters run away and his wife, Taeko, takes her life. At the beginning of the story, he is an overbearing father who refuses to allow Noriko to attend college in Tokyo, citing the fact that two of her cousins became pregnant while studying there.

Loneliness and suicide are the two main themes that connect Noriko’s Dinner Table to its predecessor, Suicide Club. Some footage from Suicide Club is incorporated into Noriko’s Dinner Table. The tone of Noriko’s Dinner Table, while gut-wrenching and depressing, is as a whole not as graphic or violent as Suicide Club. It is appropriate that Noriko’s Dinner Table is a dialogue-heavy film since all the characters in the film are unable to express their feelings and communicate with each other. At just over two and a half hours, Noriko’s Dinner Table is an engrossing story that builds up to an unforgettable ending. The line from the film best sums it up. “The only way to figure out what we can be… is to lie openly and pursue emptiness.” Ultimately Noriko’s Dinner Table is Sion Sono’s most accomplished film to date.

If you are a fan of Sion Sono or this film, you should definitely consider owning this release. It is region-free, and the packaging does not include any ratings logos. That said, Noriko’s Dinner Table gets an exceptional release from New Wave Video that comes with a solid audio/video presentation and insightful extras, highly recommended.

Note: This edition is limited to 1500 units.

Written by Michael Den Boer