"Fish Story" is about a punk rock band that saved the world. And the movie is just as clever, witty, and fun as that premise would lead you expect. Hell, there's a reason this movie always lands on lists for "Top 100 Japanese Movies of All Time." The reason is that it is perfection. No, perfection incarnate.

Consider the opening scene, which depicts a meteor on its way to destroy the earth in a couple of hours. Corporate buildings are deserted, cars abandoned in the middle of the street, and litter strewn everywhere in the wake of public panic. Yet there, in a vintage record store, two dudes are calmly debating whether or not a certain band qualifies as authentic punk rock. It's funny as hell because rock nerds truly do regard such things as more important than the end of the world. It's a terrific opening scene for what continues to be a terrific movie every second of its duration.