Bud gave me the heads up after seeing it on the telly. Muat turun was available but the bleedin’ subs weren’t in sync.
So, I relented and bought it online. Ahem.
It was a 2004 film called Kamikaze Girls [1] aka Shimotsuma Story (下妻物語), and I’ve to say that it has been a while since I enjoyed a quirky film. The premise of the story (based on a ライトノベル [2] – light novel penned by Takemoto Nobara) revolves around the friendship between Momoko, a lolita [3] aficionado, and Ichigo, a yanki biker girl belonging to an all-girl bosozoku group called The Ponytails. I couldn’t help but to draw comparisons with Jean-Pierre Jeunet’s Amélie to this piece of cinema directed by Tetsuya Nakashima. The flashback describing how Momoko’s loser low-ranking yakuza dad got them to where they were and her dream of living in 18th-century France (which explains Momoko’s penchant for frilly lolita fashion) were whimsical to say the least. Hey, just see the photo above with the moo-cow.
Kyoko Fukada (I’ve seen her in Karei Naru Spy and Fugoh Keiji) plays Momoko and the delectable Anna Tsuchiya [4] plays Ichigo. The film’s aimed for teens, I guess, but it gives a concise insight into current Japanese youth culture. I think the film has a great soundtrack (it is Yoko Kanno) and thanks to it, Tommy Heavenly6 [5] is on my regular iTunes playlist. Watch out for the piss-take on the eponymous departmental store, Jusco.
Kelakar siut.