Gekkô no sasayaki

Oh, I don't know. Even making allowances for differences across cultures and timeframes, it just seems to me that wherever a story of romance centers high school kids - crushes are one thing, romances are another - it immediately becomes less believable, and still less so the more that the characters are sexualized. The discussion of whether or not such stories are even appropriate is a matter for another day; the number of fellow students I ever knew in school who ever claimed to be more physical than "holding hands" or "kissing" was in the single digits, and most of them were definitely exaggerating. I'm not about to kink-shame Takuya or Satsuki provided everything is consensual, but 'Moonlight whispers' is asking a lot of us as viewers in trying to posit that these teenagers are so sexually inclined, let alone that they are aware of their own particular proclivities. Then there's the way that all this is presented, which in its own way raises questions about treatment of animals. Am I spending a lot of words questioning the behavior of fictional teenagers in a way that I wouldn't if these characters were adults? Yes. Yes I am.

And still, trying to set aside the fact that the movie is predicated on the behavior of these teen characters: beyond realism, there is the question of whether a narrative is written in a fashion that makes it convincing, and compelling. I think there are excellent ideas here, in the characterizations, in the dialogue, in the scene writing, and indeed in the plot at large. I'm not so sure that the specific form they are given by screenwriter Nishiyama Yoichi, or filmmaker Shiota Akihiko, holds any water. Or maybe the same subjective flaws can be traced to Kikuni Masahiko's manga; I don't know. I just know what somewhere between root conception, final formulation, and execution, the fundamental ideas on hand tend to go from "possibly interesting" to "um, what?" Only in sadly scattered bits and pieces does the picture hit on some little spark of brilliance, and I regret to inform that "sadly scattered bits and pieces" don't make for a satisfying viewing experience. Which then necessarily leads us back to observing that 'Moonlight whispers' is about high school students. There are fragments of lasting value here, but that's all.

Oh yes, the cast give admirable, expressive, committed performances. I can see why Tsugumi was lauded for her acting as Satsuki, for she shines more brightly than anything else in these one hundred minutes; Mizuhashi Kenji is swell, too. I appreciate the sparing touches of Honda Shinsuke's music as they lend flavor. Many shots are unexpectedly gorgeous, especially with various choices of lighting; director Shiota should be proud in that regard, and likewise cinematographer Komatsubara Shigeru. In fact, those operating behind the scenes, in general, turned in outstanding work. But that only gets us so far, doesn't it? The storytelling in the feature remains the problem; even as the whole slowly finds more of its legs (in the back end), the strength is highly variable. I can imagine an iteration of 'Moonlight whispers' that met its potential with all the same virtue of the best thoughts and contributions that went into it, yet as it exists this 1999 film isn't that. I suppose I'm glad for those who find this more rewarding than I do. I don't regret watching. I'm also unlikely to think on it ever again, and I'll never watch it again. C'est la vie. What's next?

this film left me reeling. A simple enough film, it draws the viewer deeper and deeper into a Japanese schoolboy's masochistic obssession and the slow steady conversion of a girl into the sadistic mistress that he needs.Yet the film is not about sex or lust. It is about a passion so deep that it defines one's being. The boy is blessed with that rare honesty - he will not deny himself his passion. He risks exposure, humiliation, hatred, and worst of all, the loss of the one he loves, just to live his way. It makes one feel inadequate when one considers how much we willingly censor our own desires and passions just to 'fit in'. There are moments of exquisite pain in this film, when you can hear hearts shattering, and from these come some of the film's most beautiful moments as well. His seemingly endless devotion to her, her traumatic attempt to rationalize his desire - these are extremes that perhaps each of us have tasted to a lesser degree at some point in our lives. Here, watch them played out to the maximum. If his love is to be called perverse, then let it be so, for maybe love is too great to be normal, to intense to be sane. Performances are riveting from the two leads. Sensitive, sharp and burning with unspoken emotion. The two are infinitely desirable because they are so passionate, so afire. Sensuality and sexuality are redefined, and if you are neither sadistic or masochistic at the start of the film, you will long to be one or the other, or maybe both, by the end.

In Moonlight Whispers, the first film by Akihiko Shiota (Don't Look Back, Harmful Insect), a young Japanese student Hidaka Takuya (Kenji Mizuhashi) will do anything to prove his love for Kendo partner Kitihara Satsuki (Tsugumi). This includes licking the sweat off of her feet, listening to her having sex with a friend, and even jumping over a waterfall. Based on a manga (Japanese comic book) by Masahiko Kikumi, the film is not about kinky sex but about adolescents involved in a love so deep it completely distorts their sense of perspective. Shiota's wry observational camera captures a marginal but valid aspect of the adolescent experience as profoundly as Van Sant's Elephant captured the high school milieu that led to guns and violence.

Takuya and Satsuki are shy students at the same high school and belong to the Kendo club (a sport involving two single combatants who wear padded gear, then try to beat each other with either end of a padded stick). Satsuki is a top player and a most sought-after companion. Backed by the soft guitar melodies of Shinsuke Honda, the two friends begin dating and everything seems normal until she discovers that he is more interested in sniffing her underwear, photographing articles of her clothing, and making audio tapes of her going to the bathroom than in having sex. When Takuya puts a twist on the meaning of "puppy love" and tells her he wants to be like her obedient dog, she calls him a pervert and begins spending more time with another classmate, Uematsu Tadashi (Kusano Kitahara).

With a fast turnaround that seems a bit out of character, Satsuki soon discovers that she finds pleasure in playing the dominating role and begins ordering the compliant Takuya around, asking him to do more and more outlandish things. The two feed off of each other, however, and continue a relationship of domination and submission with Takuya willing to go to degrading lengths to gain Satsuki's approval. In recent years, a number of theorists have suggested that sadomasochism can be a healthy form of sexual arousal among consenting individuals. While there may be a core of truth to this, this film is not a good example. There is a strong element of self-destruction and lack of self-respect in the behavior of the two lovers and Satsuki admits she has thought of suicide.

Although I'm not sure what the director had in mind in making this film, Moonlight Whispers touched me deeply and, even when I was repulsed by the behavior of the characters, I felt a deep compassion for their pain. There is no trace of exploitation in Shiota's film and, while mental health experts might frown, the relationship feels organic to the characters and not pathological. The director makes no judgments, showing only the lengths people with low self-esteem will go to feel wanted and needed. I was reminded of the words of author Georges Bernanos when he wrote, "How easy it is to hate oneself. True grace is to forget. Yet if pride could die in us, the supreme grace would be to love oneself in all simplicity". What this brilliant and disturbing film says to me more than anything else is that we cannot truly love another human being unless we learn to love ourselves.

Well, I just saw my first Japanese film [Sasayaki (2000) USA] that showed Japan just as I viewed it last year - the landscape, the city, country, rice patties, trains, canned soda dispeners and the natural hot spa. In essence, a motion visual that in one or more of the 1200 digital images that I captured, had an equivalent that my eye saw as meaningful to my CY2000 trip. I even went to a local high school and took pictures of a martial arts training of local youth in southern Japan.

The only thing missing from my trip was the basic content of this film - its story.

This is a coming of age story with a tinge of Japanese politeness and tradition in social introduction, just skewed by a few years in time backwards to the American experience - perhaps into the 60's when sex during high school was the daring thing to do and then talk or brag about.

As a coming of age story, the script and acting maintains a balance of innocence and exploration as the theme dances around sadomasochism in an increasing eddy that entraps the next experience.

The beauty of this film is its innocence and its honesty in portraying the boundaries of sexual experience and an obsession that can bind innocence into something more permanent outside of those first sexual experiences and beginnings.

It is not a fearful film to watch, but simply a difficult film to describe without creating fear in its next, potential viewer. As the film ends, there is still an essence of innocence and beauty and love between the boy and girl.

In it's simplest form this movie is about a boy and a girl who fall in love.

While that could make a good movie this one throws in a realistic problem. The boy gets off on masochism. While many viewers may find this scary it is a realistic and common fetish. I for one thinks it is quite exciting.

But as erotic as some people might find it that's not what the movie deals with. It deals with the psychological impact of that realization.

The girl does not know how to handle that aspect of the relationship and the boy finds himself 'desturbed and perverted' Problems arise and both try to come to terms with the situation in different ways.

Whitout going too much of the story away I want to make clear this is NOT a pornographic movie. It tries to address certain more exotic aspects of sexuality in a normal, non-judgmental way. It shows us what could happen in a relationship when one or both parties has a fetish. It also shows us that having a fetish does not mean that the love for one-another is different than any other relationship. Just the way someone expresses it or experiences it is different.

All in all a very honest and heartwarming movie.