Lost Girls and Love Hotels

Greetings again from the darkness. The temptation here is to compare director William Olsson's latest film to FIFTY SHADES OF GREY. While the two films do share the foundation of best-selling adult erotica novels, this film is darker and grittier, and doesn't treat the lead as a cartoon character. Catherine Hanrahan wrote both the novel and the screenplay, a likely contributing factor to the more grounded feel to the setting and characters.

Alexandra Daddario stars as Margaret, a young woman living on her own in Tokyo. She works days as an English "pronunciation" teacher at a Flight Attendant Academy. In the evening she imbibes at a local dive bar with other ex-pats (Carice van Houten, Andrew Rothney) before heading out under the neon lights in search of that night's partner at one of the "love hotels". Margaret is burning the candle at both ends to an extreme. Her alcohol intake would put most sailors to shame. Is Margaret looking for the meaning of life or just trying to forget? That's the question we spend most of the story trying to answer.

One day Margaret meets Kazu (played by Takehiro Hira), a dashing Yakuza (organized crime) member. She quickly falls under his spell, and the two have a lustful, fast-moving connection. Of course, traditions being what they are, the relationship can never be the same for Kazu as it is for Margaret. In other words, she finally found love, but with the wrong guy. Margaret as narrator offers up wisdom such as, "I tell myself there are no happy endings." "Things are ragged and messy." These sentiments perfectly describe her life.

Margaret is challenging to figure out. We feel her pain and confusion and desperation, though we never fully understand what's driving it. She's 'happy and sad', and more than just another pretty face. In fact, this dark world of loneliness and sex finds her starting in a bad place and then sinking lower. However, director Olsson and cinematographer Kenji Katori ensure the film is stylish and atmospheric, and no matter how ugly things get for Margaret, the film itself is quite something to look at.

This is a side of Tokyo we don't often see, and the love hotels are a sub-culture that set up perfectly for those who have lost hope or control of their life. The city seems to prey on some ... no matter how beautiful they are. Kudos to Alexander Daddario for taking on this role. She's been around for a while with memorable appearances in "True Detective" (Season One), SAN ANDREAS (2015), and BAYWATCH (2017). It's nice to see her go deeper and darker, and let's hope it opens up some new opportunities for her.

A bleak and rather depressing film for the majority of the screen time, but the movie suffers from the lack of substance and convenient encounters to drive the story forward.

The problem I have for these type of films is it often do succeed in showing how low the human condition can reach, but there's no major theme or message after the fact. We see a woman spiraling down mentally and physically but other than showing it, the movie never goes deeper.

I guess it's kind of a cautionary tale. It's letting you know the obvious: humans are driven by goals, meaning, and a sense of belonging. If you have none of those, you might find yourself in the protagonist's shoes; desperately trying to find a connection and meaning, but mixing with the wrong crowd and habits.

Unfortunately, the conclusion leaves a lot to be desired and the movie as a whole feels like a missed opportunity.

Thought for a while about this one, about how to review it I mean, and it all came down to, "yeah, but not quite......."

Setting is good, a good level of moody without being too dark. Daddario is very good but you don't get to fully understand her character.

If we could give half points would've gone 6.5, it's not a 7. Quite intriguing though.

This is a movie with oddly dark and difficult subject matter. It was very well acted and is certainly a quality work of writing, production and direction. This is not a happy movie but certainly worth a watch. I haven't experienced a emotional effect like this in a movie since "9 and a half weeks" with Basinger and O'Rourke and there are several parallels. Having said that, in many other ways they are certainly not the same. I would recommend a watch just because it is well done and unique. Heed the R rating!

"Lost Girls & Love Hotels" isn't as bad as its ratings suggest. I really liked the beginning-the cinematography, music, and atmospheric feel were captivating. There's an intriguing quality to the narrative that draws you in. However, as the story progresses, you start to wonder what you're actually watching. That's when I checked the ratings and read some reviews. I started to agree with some of the reviews on how depressing it was and all that. Since there were only 10-15 minutes of the movie left, I decided to finish it anyway. Surprisingly, the movie ended on a decent note. It's a different kind of film that may find its audience.