Me wo tojite daite (1996)

User Rating:

5.9/10   

Director:

Itsumichi Isomura

Writers:

Yuka Honcho (screenplay)
Shungiku Uchida (story)

Release Date:

13 July 1996 (Japan)

Genre:

Drama | Romance

Plot:

Tenderly played Japanese love triangle between a man, his girlfriend and a transvestite hooker.

Cast

Kumiko Takeda	...	Hanabusa
Kazuya Takahashi	...	Amane
Natsue Yoshimura	...	Juri
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Kunihiko Ida	...	Takayanagi
Shinobu Satô	...	Nurse
Koji Sueyoshi	...	Nanaomi
Gen Yamakawa	...	Doctor

Also Known As:

Close Your Eyes and Hold Me (USA) (video catalogue title)

Runtime:

Japan:90 min

Country:

Japan

Language:

Japanese

Certification:

Japan:R | South Korea:18 (re-rating) (cut) | South Korea:Limited (original rating)

Company:

Altamira Pictures Inc.

Striking to look at

Many Japanese films make heavy use of expressionistic landscapes to externalize the inner worlds of characters and this one is a strong example. The main character (Amane) works in a corporate world shown as gray and filled with angular metal, functional and unencumbered by decoration, a soulless sterile void. A chance encounter with a suicidal woman (Hanabusa) leads him into her world, a silkily sumptuous, richly upholstered place photographed in lush red and yellow tones which promise sensuality and adventure. The story becomes complicated when Hanabusa turns out to be not actually female. Amane's girlfriend further complicates matters as she first confronts and then is seduced by Hanabusa. The film explores Japan's taboo gay subculture and the attitudes of its straight society, while playing out a sexy game of forbidden experimentation. Not for all tastes but worth a look.