I'm guessing the whole point of this movie was to show a realistic "slice of life" look at gay men in Tokyo and how they connect with each other. The idea behind it is actually pretty interesting, but the film spends a good 35 to 40 minutes just setting up the characters. The problem is it feels so disjointed that you start wondering why they bothered giving these people backstories when those details are never mentioned again later on! The story kicks off by introducing us to Tomayo, a student in his early 20s who is hanging out with two close friends. He meets a gay bar owner who takes an interest in him right away, which basically starts Tomayo’s journey of figuring out his own sexuality. Then we meet an 18-year-old guy who is more on the effeminate side; he’s desperate to find love and be in a relationship, but he keeps getting rejected. He ends up sleeping with one of Tomayo's close friends. After that, we meet Akiko, a 33-year-old corporate worker whose coworker...
Michael and Josh are college friends who lost touch when Michael took off to Japan without a word and Josh settled in Los Angeles. Michael is back in country for the college reunion and wants Josh to take a road trip from LA to Chicago. the 2 guys are very dissimilar. Michael is playful, peppy and a bit vague while Josh seems more settled, quite and lonely type. The exact terms of their past relationship are never fully divulged, it's clear from the sexual tension between them that a longstanding mutual intoxication still exists. They visit their college friend Lisa, who is now 6 months pregnant where Michale recounts the college time when they all had a threesome. Josh gets very mad at this, yet the journey continues. At one point they both give in to the sexual tension between them and spend the night together. Just when they seem to think their life could be good together, they visit Michael’s brothers home where it is revealed that Micael is set to marry someone soon. This pisses off Josh, understandably, who finally tells Josh that he is ready to make the move. It is upto Michael to decide.
The film according to me was quite lame and boring. It felt unnecessarily stretched for no reasons. Te dialogues seemed to be spoken without forethought or reason. Michael is really annoying. He is the kind of guy I would NOT want to take a road trip with. And on the complete contrast Josh is super quiet. But I guess thats probably to show his unhappiness at being lonely and later we find out his hurt at Michael leaving suddenly because Josh could never find a connection with anyone else in life. I don’t think the acting by the actors was bad, but I d blame the screenplay and direction. Also there was very little chemistry between the prime actors, which just completely spoils the fun.
It a slow, unnecessarily stretched film, despite trying to show something new. Crisp editing and make it a 30 minute short film, and this film can hold you attention for far more benefit. (4/10)
Comments
The only excuse was the few seconds they showed the " family jewels " : very poor . At the end the most soporific of the two leaves may be he could do it before.