Obscure Japanese Kamikaze Girls gets belated praise

Mention that you’ve watched a film called Kamikaze Girls the first thing people tend to ask is whether you have a fetish for Japanese adult videos. Appearances can be deceptive however, and this adaptation of Novala Takemoto’s novel tells the story of the quirky friendship that develops between two girls of vastly differing tastes.

The story begins in medias res, with Momoko (Kyoko Fukada) being thrown into the air after colliding with a small vegetable truck. Flashing back, we discover her history and the events leading up to this accident. Born in the city of Kobe, she feels like a displaced soul who should have been in Rococo-era France (think Marie Antoinette et al). Her father, a low level gangster who makes a living selling fake designer goods runs into trouble with the local mob and is forced to flee with his daughter in the small town of Shimotsuma, where she is the only ‘Lolita’ in the village. It is through her desire to fund her fashion by selling her father’s counterfeit goods that she meets the tomboyish Ichiko (Anna Tsuchiya in her big screen debut). As a pairing, they seem outrageously mismatched, even for regular ‘odd couple’ movies. The innocent, aloof girl with a penchant for the frilly, fairy tale dresses of the ‘Lolita’ style and the thuggish ’Yanki’ biker chick put a fresh twist on the genre.

What makes this film different to other stories of its ilk is that it manages to go deeper into the characters and themes prevalent without losing its light-heartedness. The tough Ichiko (whose real name, Ichigo, means strawberry in Japanese) is the emotional, vulnerable one in the relationship while the self absorbed Momoko exhibits a chilling lack of emotion and borderline viciousness. This serves as a prescient commentary on the problems of promoting stereotypes and how they are, more often than not, wrong. Furthermore, the climactic scene goes on to demonstrate how the selection of friends based on shallow, tribal allegiances is often misguided.

The leads have a lovely chemistry, allowing their characters’ respective personalities to blend well, while still appearing to clash. Indeed, it is amusing to note each girl’s mutual disdain towards the other’s fashion and pastimes, despite the fact both subcultures appear equally ridiculous to the inhabitants of the village. In her first feature film, Tsuchiya is a revelation playing the aggressive yet sensitive Ichiko and deserves the plaudits she has received for this role. That is not to downplay the excellence of her partner in crime, Fukada.

It should be pointed out that this movie is a comedy, and it is all the more impressive that these interesting aspects have been coaxed out – a testament to the skill of writer/director Tetsuya Nakashima (whose latest film, Confessions, was shortlisted for an Oscar nomination). Fans of anime and manga will appreciate the regular use of cartoonish additions to facial expression and slapstick humour and while the language is Japanese, the film’s excellent subtitles are more than enough to provide laughter. If there’s ever an obscure foreign film that will please both film connoisseurs and average movie-goers alike it is this.