From AmpedAsia:
Asako is your typical seventeen-year-old, high school truant. She has no goals for the future and doesn’t know what direction her life is taking. Then she meets Aoki Kazuyoshi, a ten-year-old boy living nearby. Although still a precocious child, Kazuyoshi poses as a twenty-six-year-old housewife on an erotic internet chat site. Kazuyoshi invites Asako into the erotic business world, and she immediately becomes immersed in an adult world that she had no idea existed. The door is wide open for the curious Asako, who discovers things that she has never dreamed of, but is this truly the right path for her life?
Sounds hilarious, right?! Well, for the good first forty mins up to an hour it really is. The two main characters, school truant Asako and 10 year old boy Aoki work well together and there are some hilarious dialogues;
Aoki: If you’re going to kill yourself, could I feel your breasts a little first?
Asako: I’m not going to kill myself… Wait! Who do you think you are?!
Aoki: Don’t worry, I don’t want to touch them really. It was a diversion tactic to scare you out of suicide. I thought that line might work.
That got a good laugh out of us, anyway. It’s all very sweet and cute, which contrasts nicely with the fact the kids are masquerading as adults in a very adult chat room. But still the light comedy is maintained until it all goes wrong.
At some point director Kei Kataoka felt he had to pander to the slightly creepy “Phwoah look at that schoolgirl” crowd, and shoves a very creepy thirty seconds of lead actress Aya Ueto admitting she’s turned on whilst the camera focuses on her chest. Now Ueno is hot, there’s no way around it, but just jamming a Eurotrash-wannabe scene in there makes the whole film feel like the sort of thing a creepy old man goes to see in a cinema with a secret entrance.
The film wants to be deep but it really isn’t. Every time they look a little at some deep social issue, back comes the quirky jokes and terrible background music. Imagine a tribute to Britney mixed with an ice-cream advert jingle played entirely on a Kazoo whilst underwater.
So there you go. The film itself is funny, is well acted and the plot is well written and enjoyable. Huge cheers go to the young Kamiki Ryunosuke, who’s only 15 now, for the best acting in the film despite being 12 at the time, and I would recommend this film to anyone who can watch a film with friends without feeling awkward, even when the film does. I gave up just after half way through as the rest of the film had been sort of ruined for me. Hope you have better luck!
More film reviews coming soon!
Possibly Related Content:
watched install with my friends. we thought the bed scene was well creepy!!!
I think I watched it back in 2007, and I also bought the DVD afterwards. I thought it was good, I like weird and awkward stuff :P
Han: Agreed!
Yonasu: Yeah, I feel a bit like a chicken now. But I have a load of other films to review so it’s all good!