Rabu & poppu

First of all, let me just say that I am appalled by some of the reviews left here.

I can see why one would flinch at this movie ( I did too, a couple of times) and I think that's the reaction it wants.

"Great grief, great joy...I've known neither one."

This is one of those films that you need to watch very carefully. The surface is a very disturbing film, but deep enough, this film is a full essay on teenage prostitution in Japan... in the 90's. Now a reality around the globe. That makes this film twice disturbing...

The film is shot in a lot of unorthodox techniques that can be confusing for a western audience, but you need to remember Hideaki Anno is the creator of such mind-blowing works as Neon Genesis Evangelion, and in the same same vein, we can contemplate how deep can a teenager go in her despair to be something she is not supposed to be. Requiem for a Dream is the nearest thing you'll ever see to "Love & Pop".

Watch it. Just watch it.

Hiromi is your everyday Japanese schoolgirl nearing the end of her time in high school. Her three best friends all have a direction in their lives and know what they're going to do next. Hiromi isn't so sure. In fact, all she's sure of is that she wants a ring; an expensive, bejeweled one. Alongside her pals, she engages in enjo-kosai, or compensated dating, in order to pay for it. For a while, things go smoothly, and she begins gathering the required cash. However, as Hiromi starts going on dates alone, she is exposed to the seedier, more perverted reality of life; from which she may never be able to escape.

Based on Ryu Murakami's story 'Topaz,' Hideaki Anno's 'Love & Pop' is an interesting, affecting movie that shines a spotlight on an uncomfortable aspect of Japanese society: the predilection among many for underage girls. For whatever reason, the mini-skirted, pig-tailed schoolgirl is an immensely popular image in Japan, on grounds both innocent and sordid. Much like Masato Harada did with his 'Bounce Ko Gals' one year before, 'Love & Pop' offers a disquisition on those attracted to the underaged, as well as criticizing the system of enjo-kosai as a dangerous one indifferent to the wellbeing of the girls involved. Additionally, the film could be seen as a critique of the rise of consumerism in Japan, and how anything and everything- even schoolgirls- are products that can be bought for the right price.

Anno's tale- written with Akio Satsukawa- is also a character study about a young person unsure of their future, which many will surely identify with. Hiromi does not have a particularly caring family; they aren't overtly aggressive, merely indifferent. She has no one to get advice from, bar her three school chums, and no real adult influence. Her descent into the world of enjo-kosai is a distressing one, but one that seems realistic and inevitable after seeing the lack of guidance Hiromi has in her life.

'Love & Pop' is shot by Takahide Shibanushi, and his cinematography is striking and unorthodox. Using handheld cameras, fish-eye lenses and shifting aspect ratios, his work gives the film a strange, otherworldly feeling- almost like it's some kind of bizarre documentary, or a dream. It also effectively highlights the eerie, sinister nature of the world of the enjo-kosai, and how Hiromi doesn't belong there. The stylizations may be overblown and gimmicky on occasion- such as the repeated use of a toy train as a dolly- but mostly feels fresh, original and most fitting for the story.

The film also features a fine, emotive score from Shinkichi Mitsumune. A composer who deals primarily with animated features, Mitsumune's work for 'Love & Pop' is reserved and mournful, whilst also being pleasing to the ear. Less impressive is Hiroshi Okuda's editing, which feels rather lacking and slapdash. Though the film has a good, steady pace, some scenes go on just that little bit too long, becoming awkward and losing impact. The film's tone is also hard to pin down, as the proceedings sometimes feel farcical (particularly in the first half), sometimes dramatic and then downright frightening near the end. It's a difficult one to define, but not abhorrently so.

'Love & Pop' stars Asumi Miwa as Hiromi, who plays the part very capably. Introverted, naïve and slightly self-centered, she is a profoundly realistic cinematic creation. Miwa is not afraid to make her ever so slightly boring, which makes her all the more real; and her unaffected, naturalistic performance is impressive. Of the supporting cast, Toru Tezuka and the great Tadanobu Asano stand out most memorably. Tezuka plays Uehara, a seemingly harmless creep who takes Hiromi to a video store, and Asano plays the mysterious Captain E, an eccentric who may not be as benevolent as he initially appears. Both men give intense, unsettling performances that linger in the mind long after the credits have rolled.

Hideaki Anno's 'Love & Pop' is a strange, sad film about loneliness, perversion and a young girl in trouble. Featuring a fine screenplay from Anno and Akio Satsukawa, the film is as unpredictable as it is affecting (even though the editing could be tightened up a tad). With strong performances from the cast and stylish visuals from Takahide Shibanushi, 'Love & Pop' is an insightful trip to the outskirts of dignity that is unpretentious, unnerving and unforgettable.

The first thing you need to know before watching Hideaki Anno's "Love & Pop" is that it's made by Hideaki Anno. He's famous for twisting clichés and deliver heavy symbolism through visual mediums as broad as animation and on here he does it through live action filming. And wow does he succeed.

You won't see a better looking film than this, it's so gorgeously filmed with purposeful camera shots that actually bring something to the story, sometimes voyeuristic, sometimes ecstatic, sometimes POV, 100% of its time. It serves to show the busyness of every day life as seen through the lens of teen girls. It just oozes with style. Never seen a movie filmed like this with so many different perspectives!

In Love & Pop we follow Hiromi, a 16-year-old high school girl who seemingly has the perfect life. Loving parents, amazing friends, good economy, lives a safe life... despite all of this she feels an emptiness inside, a wish for a desire- something to carry her into the next era of her life, adulthood. To fill up the gaps of her own emptiness she does "subsidised-dating" a type of dating culture that has men paying girls to date them for a few minutes or hours, this is all done through the phone of her friend Nao.

She never does any dating alone (always with a friend) but when she finds out about a ring that she wants she decides to try and get the amount of money needed to buy this ring, Nao gives Hiromi her phone (which is not hers really but from a gay man). And thus we follow her walking around Shibuya, picking up calls from lonely strange men to earn that money for that ring.

The premise seems kind of strange, I'm not familiar with Japan's dating culture but have seen glimpses of it through films and animation. This movie decides to show everything about it, and it's not a very pretty picture- men who are very lonely and ill-fitted for society let out their strangest and weirdest desires sometimes by the most simplest and mundanest of stuff or sometimes by the most scary and depraved. Hideaki shows this but it never feels exploitative, it feels rather documentary in a way. A critique of the gross world of men, which somehow feels similar to his critique of "escapist otaku" culture through his anime Evangelion. Even though it's never "spoken about" it's a clear intention of the director, Hiromi is the one that experiences all of this just for the sake of having a Topaz ring- just to experience something special that her friends already have. This is another subject that the movie tackles, desire and leaving chapters of one's life behind- high school can seem so dramatic and pointless at the same time, friendships turn out to be fleeting and not as "forever" as one thinks them to be and everyone is already moving towards new horizons. This is something that pains Hiromi deeply and it's in here where we find the film's true and poetic heart. It's sad but also a very poignant way of looking at life, most high school films always see this as a happy time where you cement your bonds that last forever, but it's not like that. In fact you're at limbo, cherishing your friends and last years of innocence before you become an adult, and if you're not "moving" then you can be left behind which is a sad fact of life. Hiromi tries to find this desire, masked through the search for money to buy that coveted Topaz ring. Hiromi narrates the movie throughout, sometimes in a Socratic conversation with herself which is so interesting in how it's framed. Hideaki Anno never frames Hiromi with disdain, he does it very respectful and is very in-tune to how teenagers feel.

The soundtrack is phenomenal, charged with modern sounding pop music intertwined with classical and recognisable scores (just like Evangelion!). You can see that every aspect of the film was handled with care.

If there's anything that I would've wished the film would've done better is that some segments could've been shorter in the second half, the first half is very energetic but in the second half there's many uncomfortable and long scenes (although I understand why they're there for the plot). Also I wish there would've been more scenes with Hiromi's friends, the marketing of the movie makes it seem that the movie follows the four friends throughout the movie but truth is is that we stop seeing them after the first 40 mins or so. Once again, just a nitpick, I do understand that this is Hiromi's experience and I guess her friends being in the rest of the movie wouldn't have done the plot well.

This might be going into my all-time faves list, mainly because it made a mark on me- what an impactful movie, it certainly doesn't have what you'd call a happy ending but it's gonna leave you thinking about it. If you're searching for a happy high school flick then this one is not for you.

I have to give Anno a lot of props for making a movie about a topic so sensitive. Love & Pop is about a group of girls that are Juniors in high school (16 and 17 years old) who get hit on by older men and are offered money to be their "play dates" decide to essentially become call girls for lonely men to hang out with as they put up with their loneliness.

Without involving any sex at all, (thank the lord for that) Anno was able to portray these men as people that you can be both sympathetic towards but also creeped the hell out by. For instance, one of the guys has Turrets. But instead of having loud outbursts, he hss a large muscle spasm that makes it look and sound like he's spitting. He explains that this condition made him a social outcast and he has coworkers that look down on him when they think he isn't aware and it really makes me feel bad for him... until he takes one of the girls into a movie shop with him so that she can pretend to be his girlfriend. Then he made her lock her arm with his and purposefully drew attention to the two of them before proceeding to do something vile that I won't be typing here.

This is not a movie that I'd watch again, but it does showcase Anno's talents as a live-actiin director. Sadly my *cough cough* totally legal *cough cough* version of the film that I watched blurred a lot of the images and made it hard to see. But much like in Neon Genesis Evangelion, it's easy to appreciate how creative Anno can get when framing each shot. A lot of thought goes into it and it makes the film so interesting to watch. Plus, the jarring cuts in the film makes me think of the French New Wave which adds another cinematography que to keep my interest peaked. This was a fascinating film, and it makes me appreciate Anno even more than I already do.