Seppun

A man kills a family of three without apparent reason. He arranges his own arrest which is broad casted live on nationwide television, since he himself informed the media. This is watched by a young woman whose life lacks anything that makes it worth living. She tries to make contact to the killer who hasn't spoken a word since his arrest. The two of meet inside the prison – and realize they're made for each other. Or are they not? In between them stand his lawyer who is torn between his fascination for the naive and yet immensely engaged girl on the one hand and his stranger-than-lifetime client on the other. And slowly the emotional bonds change... – "The Kiss", as the film is called internationally (it was screened under that title during the "Nippon Connection" Japanese Film Festival in Frankfurt, Germany, in the march of 2009), combines mystery, crime and a love story into one entertaining effort. Maybe the story is a bit predictable (compare the main figure to the protagonist of the Spanish film "Aro Tolbukhin" of 2002, for instance), and maybe it's all a bit too "artistic" (people don't behave that way); but it's enjoyable nonetheless. A plus goes to the development of the storyline which includes one or two unforeseeable twists, not least the punchline finale.

Although I have seen her play a similar psycho role in 2LDK, I've always thought of Koike Eiko as a gravure model with big boobs and a comedian-like existence in TV variety shows.

In this movie, however, she proved herself as a capable actress in a real feature film. She was able to perfectly portray a depressed anti-social woman in this movie, complete opposite of her cheerful personality on TV variety shows. She also had this glare that instilled fear into the audience. Yakusho Kouji's presence was extremely weak, partly due to the fact that his character had very few lines, but also because he had played many similar roles in his career, and this particular role didn't stand out against strong performance by Koike Eiko.

I found the story in this film was very interesting as it gave us an insight from the perspective of outsiders of the society. An excellent movie for me, recommended for open-minded viewers who can tolerate endings that makes you think.