Starring: Leo Morimoto, Hirono Kudo, Kirari, Nana Okada, Yukie Nakama Directed By: Hideaki Anno Average Rating: Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1 Audience Rating: Unrated Binding: DVD Format: Closed-captioned, Color, DVD-Video, Full Screen, Subtitled, NTSC Label: Kino Video Number of Items: 1 Region Code: 1 Release Date: July 06, 2004 Running Time: 110 minutes Theatrical Release Date: 1998
Disturbingly arresting viewing I was a huge fan of Anno's anime series Neon Genesis Evangellion when I was a teenager. It was full of teenage angst and I related to it a lot at the time. As an adult it hasn't faired so well on repeat viewings but his live action feature Love and Pop (shot straight after Evangellion) was fascinating. I'd heard of enjo kosai (a term for subsidised dating in Japan) before and found the idea perplexing. Young women selling their companionship (and it would seem that this can simply involve talking with a man at a cafe through to far more dangerous situations) for money to buy the expensive items that normally wouldn't be affordable on a regular teenage salary. The film is adapted from a book by Ryu Murakami (In the Miso Soup, Almost Transparent Blue) which I haven't read but it's typical Murakami. There will be characters who disgust you and the fact that the closing credits show the young women marching though an open sewer speaks volumes about the dangerous game the young girls are playing and its affect on them. The camera angles are strange to say the least. While it could be argued these ugly camera shots are used to represent the ugly world these characters live in they can be off putting at times and almost seem childish. And yet...I liked this film but I am a film student. I worry that people used to more mainstream cinema may tire of this very fast. The performances from the young girls are great and some of the male performers did well but were never a threat of stealing a scene. If you can appreciate an artistic take on an unsavoury subject and forgive unusual cinematography, pick this up. Doubly so if you have a fondness for Japanese culture or you're a fan of Anno or Murakami. Otherwise steer clear.
Anno Hideki at his most severe Dont get me wrong, this was a great movie. between the mad low res camera, and the disgusting sexual situations, it suceeds in what it sets out to do: Disgust you. For at least two hours after I watched it I felt literally sick to my stomach, and even now I find it hard to to sleep as I think about it. It was similar to the feelings I got from watching the end of evangelion, however this was more powerfull, and felt less like a glimpse into anno's mind, and more like a plunge into darkness
Perfect antidote to "The Last Samurai" As real as "The Last Samurai" was false. Better than any documentary in showing how far modern Japan has fallen from the mythological high point of bushido. A hard honest look, from the viewpoint of alienated Japanese schoolgirls, at a society without any real reason for existing besides accumulation. I love Japan, and I'm sorry to see it going down the tubes (though, quite honestly, when I'm in Japan, everything seems fine -- but then, the people I associate with aren't teenaged schoolgirls). Perhaps enough honest self-criticism of the kind embodied by this film will turn things around before it's too late. Children are the future. If children don't see one, then there isn't much hope. "Bounce Ko Gals," a very similar film with a much bigger budget, is also worth seeing, but more "Hollywood" than this one. I'm soap-boxing, but the film doesn't. Very entertaining despite its (hidden) moral, and the guerilla film-making technique adds to the sense of veracity.
Talk about deceptive packaging... "School girls by day...call girls by night." Er, okay, as long as you ignore the fact that the characters aren't really call girls, none of the action revolves around school and the movie takes place almost entirely during the day. More like an "Afterschool Special" directed by a mad genius (Anno) from a story by another mad genius (Murakami). Alhough sometimes a tad preachy, the final shot of the girls walking through the open sewer at the end, their legs ever so slowly becoming submerged in the muck (accompanied by an inane J-pop ending theme) is pretty unforgettable. Worth watching for fans of subversive cinema.
Fascinating ground-level view of Japan... For the record, I thought 'Lost in Translation' was an extremely OK film, in every way tasteful, thoughtful and, hey, there's Bill Murray and panoramic views of Tokyo and so forth and ... well, like a lot of people, I couldn't quite explain what it was about Sofia Coppola's film that bothered me, and I ended up taking a swing at poor old Paul Thomas Anderson. I am not an Asian film specialist, nor an Otaku, nor deeply enamored with Ozu or Mizoguchi, so my first impressions of 'Love and Pop' are simply those of a general film afficianado (read: not a snob) who was baited with the promise of 'maximum eye candy' (DVDBeaver.com) and the opportunity to make a blind purchase during a release schedule slow patch. Anyways, imagine if you will, the nooks and crannies of everyday urban Japan, downright attractive Japanese schoolgirls (Scarlett who?), and the there-you-are quality of video windowboxed with immersive, eavesdropping elan and, voila, the unlikely (single disc) DVD of the year so far. As with LIT, the storyline is merely a tether for 'emotional scenery' and the usual Zeitgeist-y rambling of artier fare. In L&P, however, the rambling is easier to appreciate as we aren't constantly reminded that feelings of alienation are kinda like 'being a white person in Tokyo'. The cultural imposition of watching Japanese catering to the whims and expectations of Westerners--or self-consciously going against type--is supremely distracting. No amount of beautiful cinematography can compensate for this, or for the apprehension of watching people of another culture being objectified.
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