Lost Girls and Love Hotels

Watching this movie was a fairly weird experience. I recommend watching it for anyone who can stomach it. It has a 50% review rating on Rotten Tomatoes which... I think is the most interesting rating to have, don't you?

So bad news first: yeah, there's a lot of sex. More sex than I've seen in any movie I can recall. And the film portrays an *attitude* about sex that is hard to swallow (nymphomaniac addiction used to hurt yourself to pierce through the ennui of a directionless life.)  If you're not disturbed by the movie, you're probably viewing it with too much credulity. And we here at Prequels Redeemed heartily frown on the sort of "Law and Order: SVU" tactic of "show you violent sex and tell you it's morally bad and risky" so you can have your titillations and judgments in the same sitting.

But Oh My God, the cinematography. This unknown, straight-to-Prime-streaming, mid-low-budget novel adaptation has the most gorgeous, intentional cinematography and well thought out shot framing of any movie I have seen since "Long Day's Journey Into Night". Some of it is of the sex, yeah, and in particular the camera loves showing off the tattooed body of Takehiro Hira (the main character father of Giri/Haji.) But the same eye is applied to everything. There are so many shots within shots (through mirrors and hallways and windows) and perfectly symmetrical (or uncomfortably asymmetrical) shots. Every single time you look at the screen, you knew the director cared what exactly you were seeing, and was not just providing a platform for plot or characterization.

Like watch the trailer.

And you think "well this is very stylized trailer and the movie won't be like that" aka Bullshot, but no, the entire damn movie looks like this trailer. It's so great.

The movie is haunting. It's claustrophobic. It's muted. The actress looks bored and vapid because the main character is bored and vapid all the time, even when she's having bad idea sex. It contrasts with how attractive these people are and makes us feel dissonant. In a movie about intimacy, all of these elements heighten the narrative, such as it is.

You could say it fetishizes Japanese culture but it's not really about Japanese culture in any way (the Yakuza-ness of the sexy dude doesn't really go anywhere, like a bang bang shoot out ending - we only get one very brief glimpse of shibari.) It's about someone hoping to find themselves there in all the wrong ways, and decidedly not doing so, until they leave. But the plot isn't going to help you moralize very much (except against its obviously toxic elements), so most half of the reviews hate it.

RottenTomatoes: The website's critics consensus reads: "While it's a well-acted and occasionally involving mood piece, Lost Girls & Love Hotels often dampens its erotic elements with listless ennui."

Someone is missing how often a person's kink is listless ennui.