| Tetsuya Nakashima’s Kamikaze
Girls is probably one of the more enjoyable,
unique and, most importantly, humorous films to
come out of Japan in ages. Gaining a great critical
reaction during its limited theatrical release
in the states, the movie is now also quickly developing
a cult following behind it, and for good reason.
After all, Kamikaze Girls doesn’t
just excel with its great sense of humor, but
nearly all aspects of the production succeed with
wonderful results. The story, for example, works
as a great platform to keep the jokes coming,
although its true strength comes in the form of
its extraordinary level of character development
present along with the phenomenal chemistry found
in the two lead actresses, as the great production
values and pacing of the movie lead to one of
the more memorable films in modern Japanese cinema.
In terms of plot, the movie follows
Momoko Ryugasaki, a high school girl with a fascination
behind the 1700’s Rocco period and the frilly
style of dress associated with the era, and her
efforts to live an isolationist lifestyle. Unfortunately,
her shopping habits have left her in need of income,
as her washed-up father is stuck without a real
job. This leads Momoko to place an ad in an effort
to sell some of the bootleg Versace clothes her
father used to sell. The advertisement attracts
the attention of Ichigo Shirayuri, a biker “Yanki”,
who arrives at the Ryugasaki household. Feeling
indebted to Momoko for selling her a Versace jacket
for only 20,000, despite Momoko insistently telling
her that it’s fake, Ichigo continually returns
to the household as an unlikely friendship begins
to broad between the two.
As far as the story goes, it’s
more or less an Odd Couple “buddy
flick”, yet Nakashima’s sense of style
and humor makes what could have been a mundane
storyline into something exceptional. The movie
starts out in a non-linear fashion, showing an
event near the end of the film where Momoko, on
a bike, gets into a crash with an oncoming truck.
The film then works backwards to tell the story
from the start and slowly lead up to this sequence.
This works to create a sense of anticipation as
to when this crash might actually take place,
and also adds a great foreboding feeling when
Momoko does finally get on a bike near the end
of the movie. Despite this more seemingly serious
aspect, the movie is at heart a comedy, and it’s
in this respect that the film succeeds so well.
There are just tons of great gags here, everything
from the reoccurring Jusco bit (think the Japanese
equivalent of Walmart or K-Mart) to the tracksuit
wearing, Yakuza conrolled, “Jersey Country”.
Now, to be honest, not all of the jokes hit their
mark here. There are some that tend to fall a
little flat, but then I can’t think of any
comedic medium, even the Simpsons' during their
glory years in the 1990's, that were 100% consistent
with their jokes. The strength here is simply
that the vast majority of them do succeed in generating
a laugh while the screenplay and direction by
Nakashima keep them constant enough that the ones
that don't work will hardly even be an afterthought.
What makes this movie so admirable,
though, is simply the phenomenal level of character
development present, something so lacking in a
good deal of modern cinema in Japan. As expected,
this works to make the audience really grow attached
to the characters and keep them interested as
to where their exploits might lead. Of course
the movie does a bulk of this in a very blunt
fashion, as the two characters are given flashback
narrative sequences into their past. However,
given the more off the wall and very metaphoric
world of Kamikaze Girls, where strange
sequences are often inserted to generate a laugh
and stress a point, these “origin pieces”
seem natural and not at all shoehorned in as they
might in a different flick. Character development
isn’t exclusive to these segments, though,
as the two lead characters are constantly evolving
during the course of the movie as their relationship
continues to change. It’s because of the
script’s emphasis on this aspect that their
relationship amidst polar opposite philosophies
and personalities is actually very believable,
something which is no easy task given their outlandish
characters. Character development isn’t
reserved for the two leads, though, as some of
the supporting cast is fleshed out as well. The
film’s choice to even develop Momoko’s
parents, a wannabe-Yakuza and a loose women who
ends up leaving her husband for the doctor who
delivered Momoko, might seem like an odd one considering
they hardly come into the story past the half
way mark; however, it gives some great insight
into Momoko’s very cynical nature while
also providing a good number of laughs.
In terms of the acting, this is
another area where Kamikaze Girls shines.
The two lead actresses, Kyoko
Fukada and Anna Tsuchiya, have an amazing
degree of chemistry together to the point where
it’s simple nice to see them interact with
each other on screen. The two actresses also both
fit their respective roles perfectly. For example,
Fukada pulls off the adorable, one would be hard
pressed not to get touched when she takes offense
to some “Yanki” spitting in front
of her, yet cynical nature of her character perfectly.
I was never much impressed with her more serious
work in Onmyoji
II (2003), but she seems to do wonders
with her more untraditional character in this
film. Tsuchiya also deserves a level of praise
for her acting. Her range in particular is something
to commend as she plays both the “biker
chick” persona that she has in the film
along with her more shy schoolgirl character that
Ichigo used to be, as seen during a lengthy flashback.
Her tearful scene after learning that Ryuji, for
whom she had a crush on, is already engaged to
her friend and mentor is also very credible and
well acted, even if it seems a little over the
top that it would generate this type of reaction
considering she hadn’t known Ryuji for very
long. The rest of the cast here is fairly good
as well, although no other performances really
stand out or deserve much praise in their own
right. However, the film is so focused on the
two principal characters that even had the supporting
cast been marred with horrible acting the movie
still could have easily risen above it.
The movie doesn’t just excel
in terms of its story and acting, though, as production
values in general tend to be great. The cinematography
in the movie, for example, is also extraordinary,
as the director of photography Shoichi Ato shows
a good deal of finesse in his craft. His camerawork
here mostly utilizes very stylish techniques with
a lot of panning and movement within the same
shot, although there are several more traditional
approaches Ato tries with breathtaking results
as well, with the best example being the sweeping
crane shot as Momoko and Ichigo stand on a hillside.
Of course another aspect to consider
as to why this film works so well is simply the
well constructed pacing and flow of the movie.
There really isn’t a slow part of the film,
as it’s entertaining from start to finish
as it quickly moves from one element to the next.
The movie never really lets up, yet it never moves
so quickly as to leave the audience behind or
with a sense of confusion. This is especially
praiseworthy given the manner in which the film
can quickly jump from one setting to the next
very quickly, as it’s easy to imagine that
editor Chiaki Toyama certainly had a tough task
in trying to compile this all together, although
the use of narration during a lot of the early
sequences certainly helps.
In regards to the music, Yoko Kanno
does a commendable job, even if her score tends
to slip into the background without a good deal
of memorable themes to its credit. Kanno's greatest
strength, though, is simply her range, as she
is more than capable of producing dramatic, retro
(as seen during the grainy segments in Tokyo)
and more outlandish pieces of music that the film
might require with wonderful success.
In closing, Kamikaze Girls
is one of those rare films that just seem to come
together almost perfectly. By all appearances
the movie seems like an improbable candidate for
this level of praise, but Nakashima and his crew
certainly seem to know what they are doing as
they have managed to craft this remarkable little
film. The movie clearly was a hit with audiences
in Japan as well, as it wasn’t long before
movies like Nana
(2005) came on the scene utilizing the same “female
bonding” formula seen in this movie. As
for those who are smitten by the more off-the-wall
comedy style seen in this film, they might want
to check out Gen Sekiguchi’s Survive
Style 5+ (2004), which was produced in
the same year although the comedy is much more
“mature” (i.e. “R” rating
vs. “PG-13”) and lacks the kind of
cute touch found in Nakashima’s work.
|
(4/5)