Tenshi no koi

Where should I begin?

Great story that entertains and engages you. Fun circumstances and a world of wonder that is so different from my day-to-day, but is real enough that allows me to dream and imagine myself in this situation.

The girls. The girls. Apparently in Japan it is not a crime to be pretty and sexy and dress well. I suppose they don't have obese women who will hate on them.

Hollywood, I hope this film does not become popular as a result of streaming websites. Then you will try to remake it with an agenda of ugliness, grossness and the women will be pathetically anti-beauty.

So this 17 year old literal prostitute (she "sells" herself out to an older rich guy for money and she does escort on top of it, she also bullies and manipulates other girls into joining her depraved path) falls in love with a handsome professor. She charms the poor guy into falling for her too, without telling him about her "past". What follows is a redemption story of her wanting to start anew, which just didn't work at all for me. There are reasons why she became so messed up, but some things you just can't come back from and being a prostitute is one of them. That's why I could not relate or sympathize at all with her and the ensuing romance didn't touch me at all. And let's be honest, for most other viewers it probably wouldn't work either if she wasn't pretty. To be fair, if it wasn't for that one thing, it would be a pretty nice movie.

Good story ruined by acting, direction, and painting a different canvas of prostitution. The story, dialogues and change of prospective are the only positives. The change in the life makes you happy. Teenage prostitution, friends, bullying, blackmail is all dealt in a vague way. Happy ending makes it too optimistic. Life is not always fair. Friends, forgiving and love is all we have in this life.

This is not one of the best Japanese films I have ever seen and the story is very flat but i managed to watch the film until the end. the story for me lacks depth and not because I follow it in the native Japanese language with English sub-titles. Viewed simplistically, it is an enjoyable teen drama about a young girl who seems to get bullied and then protected and then sucked it to behave like the other girls and the girls are trendy and have a seedy purpose in going with men (we presume) in order to get money but the film is no way seedy and there are no scenes of a sexual nature at all throughout the film. In that sense, the film is tastefully produced and compelled my viewing. It might have been perceived as a comedy but that failed my cultural understanding. I have scored the film lowly but if I were a teenager and female and Japanese, the film would surely have a lot of appeal.

Is it just me, or does this feel like a weird ripoff of La Belle Personne? A beautiful girl comes to a new school, but due to her tragic background fails to form meaningful relationships. The girl is cold and somewhat unpleasant to be around. Despite this frigid behavior, she becomes involved with at least one of the many boys who admire her, but she is unable to completely reciprocate the feelings. Then, a teacher comes along. For some reason, they can love and make a movie out of it, but they cannot stay together.

Fin.

(Rei and Junie even have the same haircut!)