Vaiburêta

The English title is "Vibrator" which is the vibration of the 4 ton truck most of this film takes place in. Get your head out of the gutter!

A 31 year old woman that is a bit lost in life meets a trucker she's attracted to while shopping at a konbini. She abandons her shopping and joins him on the road. Nearly all of the rest of the film takes place inside the truck.

A story that seemingly isn't enough to keep your interest for an hour and a half. Yet the acting from the two leads is excellent. Script is excellent. The direction is excellent. There were a few hard edits that might have been mistakes or intentional but a little disruptive. And except for a couple of slower scenes very engaging during the film's runtime.

We learn about the woman and the trucker along the way. What starts as mainly a sexual relationship develops into something more complicated along the way. There is some nudity and sex scenes but nothing overly explicit. The sex is definitely a part of both the story and telling us more about the characters. It is not really played out to be erotic I don't think.

Not perfect but I highly recommend this film. I'll definitely watch again some time down the road.

I can honestly say that the moment this movie began, I was drawn in by the coldness of Shinobu's voice... The entire message of the movie, in my opinion, is a beautiful one-- one of rebirth and renewal in one's life, and the decision to live for the better. True, the film contains long filler clips of scenery and music-- but that only gives the viewer time to take in what they've seen along the ride of VIBRATOR.

The previous reviewer of this movie states that it was absolutely horrible... But I find an artistic quality to it that touched me on a personal level. The film grasps concepts of the longing women have to fit in-- seeking out beauty by destroying ones' body, and so on. But throughout the movie a metamorphosis takes place, and Shinobu realizes that she is no longer alone and has something in her life that she should live for.

If you're into action flicks, or movies that are easy to comprehend, then I don't suggest VIBRATOR for you. However, if you've enjoyed films such as 'Last Life in the Universe' or perhaps, 'All About Lily Chou-Chou' in the past, then I would recommend this movie. There are a lot of deep messages hidden deep within the plot, and I had a fun time discovering them.

Rei is a freelance writer embattled by personal demons. We first meet her in a convenience store where she is buying too much alcohol and not enough food. At the magazine rack she pauses to contemplate the happiness of the glamour girls on the glossies for which she writes. Only later do we realize that this is self-reflection. A chance encounter with truck driving Takatoshi, leads to a two day romp of sex, friendship and introspection. It's unclear if what happens to her is the product of her writer self imagining it all as a magazine serial (hence the inter-titles and voice of the narrator).

The relationship has a certain healing sweetness that comes out in simple daily pleasures of Japanese life, like a bath or a bowl of hot soba on a cold winter's day. It's a little fluffy, but this seems to be an intentional point of the story: the musings of a glamour writer reaching out to the young readers who struggle in silence with the pain brought on by the ultra-thin, ultra-beautiful ideal put forward by the magazines for which she writes.

In the end, it's a road-buddy picture that gives Western viewers a taste of the complex Japanese landscape that is both brilliant in its natural beauty and frightening in its industrialization.

I recently saw this movie at the Barcelona Asian Film Festival 2004, I really was astonished. I think that it deals with the self confidence and the self opinion of people in a very delicate way. It also went deep inside myself. This surely is not universal but I highly recommend this movie. The person I was with didn't like it. I guess it's a question of identification. Either you get identified with the character or not. This is a radical (but delicate movie). Cannot think of a better way to deal with this themes Also a perfect example to learn how to shoot a digital low cost high quality movie.

Some would-be viewers will avoid "Vibrator" simply because of the title; others will view it for that very reason. Either way, that could be a mistake. Don't get me wrong: There's some sex and passion here, but VIBRATOR's definitely NOT a "nasty film" per se. It's more a dual character study of two very different people who meet by accident and what they gain by doing so. Shinobu Terashima convincingly plays Rei, an introverted, hard-drinking, and reclusive writer who meets Takatoshi, a free-spirited, hard-edged, yet compassionate truck driver equally well-played by Nao Omori, and on a whim decides to ride with him on his rounds across the main Japanese island of Honshu. It's a quiet, subdued movie, and its wintertime scenery is bleakly beautiful.

It's hard to review this film without making it sound dull and/or depressing, but I found it to be neither. Although it's funny in places, "Vibrator"'s overall mood is simultaneously sad and uplifting. People who want lots of tension and dramatic action may be disappointed here: There's no violence, surprising reversals, or any of that kind of stuff. "Vibrator" remains, however, one of the most convincing and gripping slice-of-life pieces I have ever seen. There is something very genuine about the way it shows Rei getting out of herself in a much-needed way for just a little while. I sincerely wish that there were more films like "Vibrator."