Not long ago Sion Sono was known abroad mainly as a maker of cult shockers, starting with his 2001 international hit "Jisatsu Sakuru (Suicide Club)."
His films still supply rude jolts to the system, though in his latest work he has also shown a more serious side. "Himizu," originally intended as another in a long line of local films about disaffected youth, was reworked by Sono in 2011 in the wake of the Great East Japan Earthquake into a drama about the impact of the triple disaster on the disturbed teenage hero and those around him. Though its extreme violence was familiar, "Himizu" delivered a surprisingly cathartic charge.
Sono is not yet finished with the subject, however. His newest film, "Kibo no Kuni (The Land of Hope)," focuses on the victims of a future Fukushima-like reactor meltdown caused by a massive earthquake in rural Japan.