'Kabukicho Love Hotel' is another example of how English titles are often designed to draw in Western audiences. 'Sayonara Kabukicho', the original title, is much more befitting, though that wouldn't suggest sex scenes to the ignorant among us.
Young Toru is supposedly an ordinary young man trying to make his way in the world, with plans to marry his musician girlfriend. It just so happens he manages a love hotel in Kabukicho, Shinjuku's slightly seedier part of town. Pulling an extended shift, we follow a day in the life of the hotel, with focus on a select few that tread its dirty carpets, all seeking an escape route.
Cleaner, Suzuki has just two days to wait before the case dangling over her fugitive lover will be closed, allowing them to come out of hiding. 'Delivery girl' Hena hopes to return to Korea to open a boutique having now saved enough money. And young Toru, with aspirations of fronting a top hotel, spends the day discovering his younger sister is a porn star and that his girlfriend is taking less moral routes to the top. None are there by design, nobody is, and it is now time to break free.
This is not a film about sordid sex, therefore, but more about escape, as the Japanese title would suggest. Though Ryuichi Hiroki's early days as a pinku eiga director are put to use, with a couple of rather graphic fruit 'n' veg fondling scenes accompanying some more tame efforts, in the overarching storyline. These scenes are perhaps not necessary, as we all know what goes on behind these closed doors, though thankfully they don't detract from the film's narrative flow.
The character's are written to know that their situation isn't a great one, all aware that their place of occupation is below society's moral standards. This self-awareness creates sympathy with the characters that fate has led them here, with the film acknowledging that everyone has their reasons for ending up in a place like this, and they probably don't need to be spoken about.
This film, and indeed the Japanese title, are perhaps in response to the 2013 awarding of Tokyo as host city for the 2020 Olympics. Much as London sort to bulldoze most of Stratford and ensure that the Tube actually worked for once for 2012, Tokyo intends to paint a good international image for itself. Therefore, Kabukicho, sitting in the heart of Tokyo's Shinjuku hub, will be taken to the cleaners; the area ridden of all the seedy activities and establishments.
By the film's conclusion, escape from the district brings with it a sense of relief and looking to the future. Whether the same will be said for the city at large, is another matter.
politic1983.blogspot.co.uk
Young Toru is supposedly an ordinary young man trying to make his way in the world, with plans to marry his musician girlfriend. It just so happens he manages a love hotel in Kabukicho, Shinjuku's slightly seedier part of town. Pulling an extended shift, we follow a day in the life of the hotel, with focus on a select few that tread its dirty carpets, all seeking an escape route.
Cleaner, Suzuki has just two days to wait before the case dangling over her fugitive lover will be closed, allowing them to come out of hiding. 'Delivery girl' Hena hopes to return to Korea to open a boutique having now saved enough money. And young Toru, with aspirations of fronting a top hotel, spends the day discovering his younger sister is a porn star and that his girlfriend is taking less moral routes to the top. None are there by design, nobody is, and it is now time to break free.
This is not a film about sordid sex, therefore, but more about escape, as the Japanese title would suggest. Though Ryuichi Hiroki's early days as a pinku eiga director are put to use, with a couple of rather graphic fruit 'n' veg fondling scenes accompanying some more tame efforts, in the overarching storyline. These scenes are perhaps not necessary, as we all know what goes on behind these closed doors, though thankfully they don't detract from the film's narrative flow.
The character's are written to know that their situation isn't a great one, all aware that their place of occupation is below society's moral standards. This self-awareness creates sympathy with the characters that fate has led them here, with the film acknowledging that everyone has their reasons for ending up in a place like this, and they probably don't need to be spoken about.
This film, and indeed the Japanese title, are perhaps in response to the 2013 awarding of Tokyo as host city for the 2020 Olympics. Much as London sort to bulldoze most of Stratford and ensure that the Tube actually worked for once for 2012, Tokyo intends to paint a good international image for itself. Therefore, Kabukicho, sitting in the heart of Tokyo's Shinjuku hub, will be taken to the cleaners; the area ridden of all the seedy activities and establishments.
By the film's conclusion, escape from the district brings with it a sense of relief and looking to the future. Whether the same will be said for the city at large, is another matter.
politic1983.blogspot.co.uk