The debate of porn vs art will never end. Tis film for me was primarily porn in which was hidden a love story, of sorts. The fact that you can easily get away from all of those explicit scenes and not make any impact on the story tells you clearly that these scenes were added purely for excitement. And wen your film as 80% of its time dedicated to explicit sex scenes in full glory, it stops being an art.
Two Japanese men in Berlin are seeking genuine connection in their own ways, and in doing so come together and drift apart over the course of a few lusty weeks. Ryota moves from Tokyo to Berlin after online flirting with a guy. When the guy refuses to let him stay with him, he meets Koichi at a bar, who allows him to stay with him in exchange for sex. But soon, Ryota starts meeting various guys for sex and comes back home to tell stories repeating the entire sexual act with Koichi. Even tough he is getting sex, Koichi is a bit jealous since e is getting attached to Ryota. Wen Ryota meets a dutch traveller more tan once, e starts dreaming of love again and leaves Koichi to stay wit the stranger. But soon it's time for stranger to go back to Netherlands. In the meantime, Koichi's ex partner shows up to take him to Japan since is mother is getting a surgery. We ten find is backstory were Koichi was in a stable relationship but is partner kept continuously cheating on him, leading to eventually both becoming HIV positive and splitting up. Ryota realizes is mistake and comes back to Koichi but its too late since e as already gone back to Japan.
Given the amount of sex in the film, I would assume that the actors were primarily porn stars of some form. Not just the leads but we see so all details of Ryota's sex escapades wit each guy he meets and then a repeat with Koichi. However hard you try, its difficult to get past that, ignore it and review just the storyline. Te production quality is really low-budget and performances are hit or miss. Sometimes you connect and other times it just comes out very amateurish. The men ave similar journey in that they are both looking for love, one has learned the lesson the hard way and other is on a similar journey now. te only section tat I connected was when Koichi's ex comes back to take him. Even wen couples separate, you can still feel the love that they once shared. The story could have been powerful as a short story minus the sex scenes or just a few here or there. But for this film, it is almost a full on porn with a storyline. (3.5/10)
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