Me wo tojite daite

This is an award-winning B-film from Japan based on a manga of the same name.

The small cast of characters are well played, against stark, geometric backdrops in Tokyo. The only warm, organic shapes exist in the presence of Hanabusa, a directorial decision which makes the mood mesmerizingly abstract and stagey, setting the mood in each scene for the actors.

Each character's relationship with Hanabusa makes them realize that they need more than the ordinariness of their lives, but tragically, that they can't help the one that gave them their revelations.

The sex scenes are laughable, probably purposely so. Kumiko Takeda is a pleasure to the eye from any angle. The movie's facts about transexuals are more-or-less correct.

In the end, you've seen a romantic comedy with great cinematography.

Many Japanese films make heavy use of expressionistic landscapes to externalize the inner worlds of characters and this one is a strong example. The main character (Amane) works in a corporate world shown as gray and filled with angular metal, functional and unencumbered by decoration, a soulless sterile void. A chance encounter with a suicidal woman (Hanabusa) leads him into her world, a silkily sumptuous, richly upholstered place photographed in lush red and yellow tones which promise sensuality and adventure. The story becomes complicated when Hanabusa turns out to be not actually female. Amane's girlfriend further complicates matters as she first confronts and then is seduced by Hanabusa. The film explores Japan's taboo gay subculture and the attitudes of its straight society, while playing out a sexy game of forbidden experimentation. Not for all tastes but worth a look.