Lunch Box

Great little film that I liked a lot. Leading lady is most appealing and even if mute seems to get as much sex as she can handle. Lots of sucking and f****ing and eating but thankfully not all at the same time. There is humour here and just to make things completely different, ten pin bowling. As with most 'pinks' I've encountered the running time is just over an hour but within that time there is plenty of action and plenty of opportunity to confuse the viewer here and there. I have scored this slightly less than I might have because I felt the last sex scene, although well done, was over long and for the scenes, mostly in the car, that were just too dark. Despite my reservations, though, still a decent quirky number well worth a watch.

Shinji Imaoka had made a great work on this movie! Besides the title of the "best director" at the "Pink Grand Prix 2004" ceremony, he could proud that his movie "Tamamono" (aka "Lunchbox") was chosen as "best pink film of the year". Also Yumika Hayashi was judged as "best actress", and Lemon Hanazawa as "best new actress" for their work in this film. So as you see, "Tamamono" had a great success.

Aiko (played by Yumika Hayashi - Japanese AV idol, others should know her from her role in the famous "Naked Blood") is a mute girl. One day, while sitting with her lunchbox, she saw how a bike of a man, who works as a postal carrier, fall down while he was delivering mail, so she decided to help and picked up scattered letters on the street, but that man saw her and wrongly accused her that she knocked over his bike on purpose. Being in a hurry, he leaves Aiko standing and holding picked up mail in her hands. Working in a bowling alley, Aiko frequently have sexual intercourse with her boss after the work, while he give her a ride home, but she is not happy about that at all (probably because she know that he's married and he won't leave his wife), so she decide to return the mail, that she picked up on the street, to postal office, just to meet the mailman, whom wrongly accused her for knocking his bike. That's how relationship between Aiko and a postal carrier Yoshio (played by Mutsuo Yoshioka) begins. But everything is not that simple - Yoshio doesn't seem to love Aiko at all and all he need from her is sex. Besides that, Yoshio's co-worker Ikumi (Lemon Hanazawa) also have an relationship with him and soon Yoshio tells Aiko, that he can't date her anymore, but Aiko finds it difficult to let him go.

There is a three main characters in this movie - Aiko, Yoshio and Ikumi and everyone of them have a quite different personality. Aiko is a kind and lovely person, and she is easy to manipulate, while Ikumi is totally different - she'll get what she wants at any cost, she is the person who manipulates others. But there is a small link between Aiko and Ikumi and it is shown every time when Aiko sees a head that tells her that she should "go for a strike", so she doesn't give up. And the end of the movie shows that link between these two characters. Yoshio's character is the most unlikable. There is no single part in this movie, where viewers could actually feel some kind of sympathy for him. Like Aiko, he also can be easily manipulated. As a man, he has no will at all. But unlike Aiko, Yoshio isn't a nice person. So how you see - Shinji Imaoka have created an interesting relation between characters based on psychological aspects.

In conclusion I would recommend this movie for everyone, not just a lovers of "pink films" genre. There is enough sex scenes during this film, as in the best traditions of "pinku" genre and the end of the movie is also awesome. Chosen as "best pink film of the year 2004", do I have to say more? I guess not! The only really sad thing, that it was one of the last Yumika Hayashi's movies... She died on June 28th, 2005 - the next day after celebrating her 35th birthday...