A beautifully filmed comedy about complete opposites meeting and clashing....repeatedly. A lolita fan-girl (Kyoko Fukada) and a "yanki" biker girl (Anna Tsuchiya) stuck in the middle of nowhere (Shimotsuma, Ibaraki)...but somehow it works.
Honestly....I gotta say I came for the look (all lolita fashions by actual designer Baby the Stars Shine Bright)...and stayed because it's freaking hilarious. Aside from the obvious incongruities - and cute fashions - you have repeated 4th wall breaking in the best way possible and even animated sequences (imagine a Yakuza anime done in the style of Powerpuff Girls). Director Tetsuya Nakashima also helmed "Memories of Matsuko" - another movie I'm fond of (albeit far, far more melancholy) and "Paco and the Magical Book" (which also features Anna Tsuchiya - a big fan of her music). Kyoko Fukada played the smoking-hot Doronjo in the Takashi Miike live-action adaptation of "Yatterman".
If you watch a lot of contemporary Japanese cinema, you're bound to recognize a number of the other stars - quite a few other popular comedians show up - there's a great tone set throughout the pic with humor interspersed with more serious character development. The music also fluctuates between classical pieces and toned back j-pop. (OST is also worth picking up IMO - may be OOP now).
This time around, I watched my new UK Blu-Ray of the film (still have the HK DVD and UK DVD....can probably unload them when I get back stateside). This is another disc I'm happy to report is non-region coded, despite the "B" label. I had no issues with it at all - although I'm pretty sure the bonus DVD is still R2 (and probably the same one included with the R2 UK 2 disc DVD).
Highly recommended.
No comments:
Post a Comment