100 Yen Love (2014) User Reviews

Sakura Ando turns in a stunning performance in this life growth/boxing flick.

[cremea · 8/10 · 16 August 2015]

100 Yen Love (2014 Japanese movie). Premise: A lazy and aimless woman in her thirties finally finds her passion for life through amateur boxing.

SPOILERS AHEAD!

Our story begins with our heroine to be (Ichiko) living at home with her parents. She's slovenly and lethargic, and she's also jobless, never had a boyfriend, and has zero ambition or desire to accomplish anything. She's portrayed as a shut in type that mostly stays in her room eating junk food and playing video games. Her mother is fed up with this routine, and she and Ichiko sort of mutually agree that it's time for Ichiko to start experiencing life on her own. With a few bucks in hand, Ichiko sets out to find a place to live, and takes the graveyard shift at the local convenience store she frequents where everything costs 100 yen. On her way home from work each morning, she passes a local boxing gym that soon begins to draw her interest. She eventually approaches this gym for some boxing lessons one day, and from there, she's off on her journey from awkward un-athletic girl to a more confident and fit woman. Along the way, she finds herself, and a boyfriend (sort of), and generally starts to emerge from her shell overall while experiencing life's ups and downs.

I suppose one could compare this movie to a female version of the original 'Rocky', or something similar. This isn't really a sports themed movie though, as the boxing aspect really serves as just a metaphor. More than anything, this movie is one of those meandering life growth stories that the Japanese film making industry specializes in. And although the boxing element does eventually play a big part here, this film is more tonally aligned to other semi-recent films from Japan such as 'Breathe In, Breathe Out', 'Sawako Decides', 'Funuke, Show Some Love You Losers'. None of these films are the same by any means, but they all share similar dramatic elements with '100 Yen Love', and they all tend to progress at a very unhurried pace which are occasionally punctuated by periodic instances of humor, quirky characters, weirdness, and pivotal moments, until they reach their climax.

Sakura Ando plays the lead as Ichiko, and, everybody else is basically a supporting character. I've seen Sakura Ando in a number of roles over the last decade, and she's always gotten the job done quite well in my opinion. This is a head turning performance though, and one that is well deserving of some best actress consideration. She doesn't really say a whole lot throughout, as she mostly lets her expressions, mannerisms, and body language, do the talking instead; she utilizes these physical traits to speak volumes though, and this is one very effective portrayal of emotional and physical development within the framework of the story.

This is somewhat of an odd and uneven film, and at times, it almost feels like two entirely different films smashed together. It can be equally as dull as it is exciting, annoying as it is funny, heartwarming as it depressing, and so on. I'm not sure I would've even liked it if the lead actress wasn't so imminently watchable (regardless of what was happening on screen). This is a front & center role that requires a good deal of nuance and subtlety until it's time to let it fly athletically, and Sakura Ando owns every bit of it from start to finish. And although I suspect there was some early use of a body double and/or prosthetics (in order to make her initially look a little more out of shape than she actually was), it's obvious she put in some serious workouts in order to get lean and toned when the time came to step into the ring. If you tuned into to watch only the first and last 10 minutes, you'd have a hard time reconciling the fact that it was the same actress playing the same role in the same movie. I'm really not sure if that's a good or bad thing, but it is a decent indication of both the lead's incredible diversity, and the movie's ambition.

PROS: This film is pretty solid and enjoyable overall, the lead actress is outstanding in her role, the movie is very appropriately scored to suit varying moods & themes (including the insanity inducing background music that is perpetually played at the 100 Yen store, which perhaps explains why every employee & regular customer there is a bit "off"). It features a simple, and often easy going, story w/o any frills, and it utilizes a minimal budget effectively in order to produce an entertaining life growth/semi-boxing movie that's also fairly well shot, written, and directed. So, not much to dislike here!

CONS: This story won't work for everyone and many people may find this film to be a bit boring (particularly during the first half). The movie is disjointed on occasion and the transition of the lead from shy dork to determined boxer girl could have been smoothed out in order to be a little more seamless & cohesive (so that the movie would not appear to be broken down into two distinct halves quite as much), and there was one early scene regarding the lead character's virginity that did not seem appropriate to the tone of the story at all (although I suppose one could consider such an event to be an entirely relevant possibility under the circumstances).

Summary: I loved it for the most part! Clearly not the best movie I've seen from 2014, but definitely one of my personal favorites from that year. Be forewarned though, it pays to have a lot of patience and/or some prior positive experiences with these types of Japanese movie productions in order to get the most mileage out of it. Worth it alone though, just to watch Sakura Ando's mesmerizing performance.

Bottom Line: 8 out of 10 stars.

you can change your life if somehow you find a motive

[Hombredelfuturo · 8/10 · 13 November 2015]

...well, 100 yen love is a very good movie. The pace is slow but is very important for the development of the story, so be patient and immerse in this simple images of a complicated life. Excellent work by the main character, Ichiko played by Ando. From start to finish she is the movie, all the other parts revolves around her. The other actors perform pretty well their respective characters, included the slum guy ( ) that barely appears. She s a 32 years old slacker that lives with her mother and recently with her sister and nephew and her not so useful father. Ichiko is the definition of apathy, lack of enthusiasm, laziness, disinterest, etc plus she does not help with their own store. Seems that she does not have ambitions and of course does not work or has a boyfriend.

The mother spoiled her too much until a big fight with the other daughter, after that Ichiko is invited to leave the house; however, the mother gives her some money to rent a place and to see if she can start a new life. Somehow she managed to get a job in the local store (Konbini) that s open 24 hours per day. Night shift so she can earn almost a minimum Japanese salary but working part time. She always passing by a box gym; flashing with another particular guy that practice there. All along the story you can see the transformation in body and mind of Ichiko, due to training hard and to have a pursuit in life; these things seem that s going away in new generations in many countries; in my opinion is the fault of the parents and the cooperative/protective governments (mostly in populist ones) Not so many dialogues in the movie and the few, are short and straightforward; most it said by the looks, intentions, actions, etc. -Now she lives in a rented apartment, has a job, a training schedule and fell in love with that other particular character. Lots for a gal that few weeks before only lived in a room playing video games and eating junk food. It s more like self esteem is to be found self dignity. But is not all beautiful and "Hollywoodesque", many problems along that she face up to but there s hope ahead; just like real life.

There is no climax on most of us.

[ewjun · 8/10 · 4 October 2019]

I am pretty sure that most of us here are never ever going to be the best in the world, just like the protagonist here. Yes, she started off as a perfect loser then put more effort than any others. Yet, her effort was never good enough since she found her passion too late. This is life to be honest. You might find your talent late, and the reality might hit you too hard to the point you might think it is impossible to achieve anything. However, she achieved something greater than a win in regional boxing match; her purpose on life.

From then on, she is most likely to have no climax in her life just like most of us. Yet, that isn't too bad of a life as long as she has a goal to achieve.

Meandering, disjointed, shallow

[danielknox11 · 6/10 · 25 March 2020]

Meandering, disjointed, shallow, this is pretty much what I've come to expect from Japanese movies. I was intrigued initially, having seen the kind of captivating performances Sakura Ando is capable of, in Shoplifters for example. The first five minutes also seemed to pretty authentically portray a dysfunctional family and a lead character with serious and plausible human flaws. Unfortunately, that got my hopes up a little too high. From there, the entire premise seems to sink into the mold of another typical Japanese movie, with the eccentric and quirky shallow characters and meandering, arbitrary storyline. It really got me thinking about why all these sorts of movies are always set in rural areas. One theory is that the irrational behavior of the characters is better justified in these kinds of places. For example, I found it ridiculous that Ichiko still had feelings for Yuji after being so unceremoniously spurned by him and after surely gaining a bit of self respect through her boxing success, but in a small town perhaps we can justify this kind of behaviour by assuming that there simply weren't any other guys around.

The acting in most Japanese movies really irks me because you can see that they're obviously "performing". Look at the side-to-side movements from Noma as he's talking to Ichiko. He looks as though he is doing some kind of manzai performance with her as the straight character. But the director needs to realize that he's directing a movie that is supposedly reflecting the real world. This kind of TV acting performance has no place there. It completely kills any tension or empathy you might have for the characters and reminds you that you're watching actors trying to perform for you. I was really hoping this movie would be different and have some kind of genuine human element to it the way Shoplifters did. Sakura Ando is a class act and I really feel she was let down by pretty much everyone else, in front of and behind the camera.

The storyline also bugged me in that I didn't understand the motives of the characters or the relevance of any of the motifs. Like, why did Yuji keep leaving bananas on the counter? I thought something would come back about little things like that, but they just left it. I can imagine the director thinking that he was expertly "leaving things to the viewer's interpretation" but the viewer is simply left thinking they've been abandoned by the director completely.

The rape of Ichiko, which should have had more bearing on the story and been treated with a bit more gravity, seemed like an insignificant after-thought. At no point are we given any indication that she took up boxing based on that. And it seems a bit sloppy that we see her soon after enjoying sex with Yuji despite having lost her virginity by being abused and raped.

Why did Ichiko suddenly feel that she was justified in assaulting her boss? He was simply telling her to abide by the company rules. It simply does not make sense. It seems that whoever wrote the story and decided what the characters would do didn't think about the plausible motives for those actions. It just felt so arbitrary.

Not that the characters were nearly well-developed or relatable enough to care about by the end of the film, but I was at least hoping that someone would show some kind of significant change by the end of the film. All I noticed was that Ichiko suddenly found an interest in boxing. I thought she'd at least punch the guy who broke her heart and is obviously a selfish prick, but she decides to go out for a meal with him. Roll the credits. Is that the message of the film? Try something new and give it a go, and even if you fail, it's the journey that matters? Are we in high school or something?

I charitably give this 6 stars, but please bear in mind that a movie has to be grievously flawed to get 5 or less. Sakura Ando's acting (physical especially) and the thrilling fight at the end are pretty much the only redeeming factors in the film.

In this film, the actor is bigger than the story.

[DawsonChu · 8/10 · 3 August 2018]

It's smart to drive type stories through unconventional characters. As it turns out, as long as it is done properly, traditional themes can be unconventional. The more intense the depression, the more transparent the catharsis, therefore, when Sakura Andô appeared on the screen, the film had already succeeded in half. However, I think that the ending part is a bit long, in addition it may be better if the ending is bolder.

From almost scrap wood to sunshine step by step

[yoggwork · 7/10 · 19 February 2019]

From almost scrap wood to sunshine step by step, although the final result is still flat, but this is true, Loser's life has no climax. Unfortunately, I don't like this Japanese decadent style, the dull expression of the first hour, the deliberate dark scenes, the relationship between the deformed people and the characters, and even the large plot of the 100-yuan convenience store, I can't see the relationship with the main line.

It's not about winning, it's about trying!

[missraze · 10/10 · 6 April 2016]

Poor Ichiko! She's self-indulgent and grungy. A humorous Million Dollar Baby (you know...that female boxer trained by Clint Eastwood), but still dramatic and sad as well. It's dramatic because of the ending which I *loved* because it was so intense wondering if she'll win or lose. But no, it's not this boring boxing film.

It's closer to Girlfight with Michelle Rodriguez actually, even though Ichiko's just as angry but in the beginning way less inclined to boxing, which makes her heroic when she starts getting better! OK to be honest the reason I adore this film and laugh and cry all throughout and sometimes both at once is because I literally AM Ichiko; only difference is, she actually went to become a boxer when all I did was approach the owner of a gym to my mother's chagrin as a disgruntled teenager. Ichiko also starts dating and living on her own after a very similar family dynamic to my own: A thin crow of an older sister who antagonizes couch potato Ichiko with nasty insults and instigating fights; there's a small child in the house, an indifferent dad and a stout, bespectacled, hard-working, sort of worry wart mother. And then the cave-woman that Ichiko is, who over the years has clearly let herself go in complacence. So her mother forces her out on her own, after too much dysfunction and sibling rivalry and entitled negligence of chores in the household.

However, the climb (especially sudden climb) to independence as an adult on her own reveals (in a hard to watch but also very funny way) Ichiko's clumsiness, loneliness, insecurity, and her lack of social, professional, fashion, and dating skills! That summary up there ^^^^ is literally my life. So I laughed because I related but also cried because I related. I was rooting for Ichiko all throughout because she ran into predators of men, horrible bosses, found no friends, a basic job, with a fringed relationship to her family. Yet the ending blasts viewers (at least me) with a realistic ass ending that really should remind you: It's not about winning; it's about trying!!!!

Well, blow me down!

[timmmit · 9/10 · 7 January 2016]

I really liked this movie,

If by chance you're worried this is some type of Japanese Hollywood spin-off cliché' movie - I'd say it's actually quite a ways away - like in another planet from that, so no worries there.

In fact it was so un-typical, un-what I would normally expect - all the way to the very end - that it was shocking to me.

I really appreciated that quite a bit about this movie - certainly a unique journey for sure. They way they set it up - felt like an elaborate set up from one minute to the next.

If there's some type of moralistic or main message in this movie - good luck pinning it down and figuring it out. (as far as I'm concerned, that's a great thing!)

I watch a ton of movies - including tons of out there ones (mostly actually). This one certainly stands on it's own. Like another reviewer said - you've got a full range here. I found myself laughing out- loud from the extreme absurdity - and then truly depressed/almost going straight from one to the other - and then everywhere else in the same fashion.

If you're looking for comedy and light hearted laughs and that's it - I would suggest skipping this one. This one's pretty intense, and in my opinion extremely realistic somehow.

At the same time I'd say don't expect too much - I'm going on and on but it's not some ground breaking/earth shattering flick - it's just it's own thing.

If you're looking for something different, unique, you like quirky humor, can handle movies that show really serious subject matter, and maybe if you're a shut-in and feel like taking a break from the noise even - I'd say give this one a try. It might be the new rare gem you've been looking for - even if you're having a hard time really knowing what you actually think about this movie afterwards - like I am right now.

Good luck! haha :)

Sometimes Just Life Happens

[meliketeke · 7/10 · 23 September 2023]

At first I started to watch, I was expecting a movie which has some heroic chraracters. But seems like this one is not one of them... in a good way. I didn't watch much Japanese movie so i can't evaluate correctly maybe but in the movies I watch in general it has a unique place now. It was intense, has a humour in it and also this good feeling about trying. We saw our lead character as a person in real life. I think she is kinda shallow person-not just because of the dull expression :) - but it's not the issue because we can see deep levels of her as we need.

As I mentioned before about good feeling about trying, I didn't expect from her anything to be honest at first. And the way she took the control of her life was so inspiring while it is realistic, too. She is nothing like a heroine so as we are. I may be good or best in my field but in the end it is all about trying and knowing what you want. Because we could be a winner or loser however at one point we are gonna fail and it is okay. This isn't about winning, sometimes just life happens.

Sluggy pace and overall deceiving

[fury_jin · 5/10 · 10 December 2019]

This film is 40min too long, the relationships between the caracters are way to strange and creppy to get into it, it's hard to feel empathy.

This is a 2h scream against herself.

Ando let down by absent premise

[LunarPoise · 3/10 · 15 March 2022]

Sakura Ando gives an outstanding performance in a film that fails to match her levels, and ultimately frustrates. Director Masaharu Take seems unsure of the journey our protagonist Ichiko is on. She is introduced to us as a recognizable hotchpotch of archetypes from recent Japanese cultural output - the slacker, the parasite single, the socially withdrawn hikikomori, the thirty-something virgin, the dame-ren unable to hold down regular employment, playing video games all day instead. When her family has finally had enough and turfs her out, she finds a dead-end job in a 100-yen convenience store. Her boss is over-bearing, and a particularly creepy co-worker takes a sinister interest in Ichiko. When she spots Yuji (Hirofumi Arai) at a local boxing gym, she finally shows a spark of interest in life beyond just existing.

These are the ingredients, but it is uncertain that writer Shin Adachi knows how to combine them into a satisfying dish. The creepy co-worker rapes Ichiko, an episode that is simply glossed over. Tonally, there is too much uncertainty around this incident. Does the film not examine it in order to offer up the banality of evil? Or are the filmmakers simply glib and tone deaf?

This is indicative of an unevenness, a cartoon-ish approach to cause and effect, that permeates the film. Ichiko is kind, offering expired food to hungry beggars, but these beggars are more Dickensian scamps than social commentary on contemporary Japan. Yuji abuses Ichiko terribly, yet she meekly goes off hand-in-hand with him at the end. Are we supposed to think that this woman who has been abused by the only two men she ever dated has now turned her life around? Ichiko's failure to break free at the end, taken at face value, is Chinatown bleak indeed. Despite her acquired prowess in boxing, emotionally she is worse off than when the film started.

It would be interesting to see what female filmmakers would have done with this protagonist. Ando's performance is faultless, but that is not enough to save this film against the mountain of problematic elements.