review
Platonic Sex
Review By: Matthew Anderson
Company: TOHO/FUJI TELEVISION
Running Time: 2 Hours
Region: 2
Rating: R (Adult situations and subject matter)
SHORT VIEW
Aoi
is one step from death. Gang raped by her classmates, kicked out by her
parents, and with no where to go, she is about to kill herself. Before she
takes that finial step, she receives an e-mail on her cell phone. The
e-mail was sent from a man named Toshi to a girl named Ai. In the message,
he thanks "AI" for being a live. Touched by this message, she
decides to find another way to survive.
Unfortunately, there are not a lot of places to go, and Aoi (now calling
herself AI), has no choice but to enter the world of compensatory dating,
hostess bars, and because of her rampant debt, porn. Despite meeting a
large assortment of people, they either use her or ignore her.
However, now Aoi and Toshi are starting to share more than e-mail, and
this relationship has the potential to save her, or destroy the both of
them.
THE LONG VIEW
VIDEO:
The video is fantastic. No specks, blemishes, pixels or color bleeds. With
this being a recent movie, there was not any need for clean up.
AUDIO: With the 5.1, the sound is very good. However, since this movie is
a dialogue based move, there is not a lot of need for surround sound. The
scenes at the clubs do have directionality, as do some street scenes.
The commentary track is typical. The guest speakers are in the front, with
the movie in the back ground.
EDITS: As with any movie, there are edits. However, these do not detract
from the overall narrative. A deleted scenes section is included, so you
can see where the cuts were.
EXTRAS: With the special edition, there are deleted scenes, commercial
spots, a making of, and a booklet that covers the costumes and product
placement. Also, the movie has English subtitles. The standard release is
minus the booklet and the cool case.
STORY:
Platonic Sex is not a happy story, but it does have a lot of heart.
Yoshiko Morishita's screenplay is based off of the novel by AI Ijima, and
it pulls no punches. From her parents disgust about Aoi being raped, to
her spiral into porn and debt, it is presented in a frank and honest way.
While the message about alienation in Japan may seem overly harsh, it
actually gives you some hope that perhaps she will finally find her self
respect and become a true woman.
ACTING: Saki Kagami plays the part of Aoi, and it is amazing. At first she
plays here as a self centered yet innocent school girl, who is trying to
come to grips with the rape and her parents betrayal. As you see her
downward spiral into sex and money she uses her body to show how the
emotional strain affects her. Then as she tries to make a change, you can
see the change in her face. For her performance Saki Kagami should receive
an award for her portrayal.
A big surprise is Joe Odagiri as Toshi. Having started his career in the
Sunday morning kids show Kamen Rider Kuuga, he entered the fast track to
stardom. After 5 years of secondary characters in movies and television,
he has finally managed to get a staring roll in a dramatic film. I this
film he shows he can do more that beat up monsters. His portrayal of a
young man, who wants to follow his dream, yet haunted by his past, all the
while repressing an anger at the world he lives in, is also award winning
material.
The stand out performance of this film is Hiroshi Abe as Mr. Benefactor.
His portrayal of a nihilistic yet generous man who reviles in suffering,
is at the same time funny and sick. It's hard to believe that he was in
Godzilla 2000.
FAN SERVICE: Despite the title, this movie does not have a lot of sex in.
There is only one brief nude scene, and it is not very sexy.
THE 2 VIEW
This
is an intense and powerful movie. Exposing a side of Japanese culture most
never get to see, you wonder how America survived it's cultural revolution
in the 60's.
Aoi shows exactly how hard it is to be a woman in Japan these days.
Instead of being supported by her family after she is raped, her father
beats her and kicks her out. Instead of finding friends to help her, she
finds people more than willing to use her for what they want, and then
dump her when she becomes to needy. Life doesn't get any better with Toshi.
The two of them are so young, and neither uses birth control, they
constantly run the risk of getting her getting pregnant. Plus, their
relationship seems doomed to fail when Aoi fails to tell him of her other
life.
This is not a happy movie, but it is not depressing. It is a cautionary
tale of what happens when you have a society that emphasizes trends and
uniformity, and doesn’t allow for either individuality or deviation.
Where the issues that many Americans acknowledge and attempt to deal with,
most Japanese try to ignore, and say, "it doesn't happen here".
"Platonic Sex" also shows that Japan and American, are not as
different as most people think.
Most movies that come out of Japan are either Sci Fi or Action films.
Platonic Sex is a chance to see something that is even rare in Japanese
cinema, a though provoking and powerful drama.