Kakô no futari

Veteran screenwriter Haruhiko Arai has written for over 50 feature films in his prolific 50-year career, the earliest of which are pinku eiga directed by Koji Wakamatsu. 'Kakou no futari' is Arai's only third film where he also is the director. With this, Arai visits some of his roman porno roots. There is nothing really 'special' or innovative about the setting. Two 30-something erstwhile lovers catch up after years, on the eve of the woman's wedding, and give in to rekindle their passion. They eat, talk about philosophy, reminisce about their past, pychoanalyze themselves and have a lot of sex. The treatment is very understated, under-dramatized, minimal. Through the course of the film, the viewer is presented with a few key information about their past that may alter their judgement on the characters' actions. In films like this, the chemistry and performative quality of the actors turn out to be the most defining element. Both Kumi Takiuchi and Tasuku Emoto did decently, but the passion they spoke so much about in the lines never really translated to the actions. The story of the film is set as an emotional aftermath of the 2011 tsunami and nuclear plant disaster, and it attempts to posit all this against the backdrop of another imminent natural disaster, but it never really exploits the full potential of that backdrop. It remains as nothing more than a mention, making the film ultimately forgettable.