'Girls' bring chaotic fun
Joe Nguyen, staff writer
Nov. 18, 2005

Synopsis
Welcome to the weird and wonderful world of "Kamikaze Girls," where two girls from utterly different fashion universes – one a "Lolita," (Kyoko Fukada) the other a "Yankee" (Anna Tsuchiya) – cross paths and discover they have far more in common than at first sight.

Review
Tetsuya Nakashima brings a new definition to the term "odd couple" in "Kamikaze Girls." Based on Nobara Takemoto's comic "Shimotsuma Story," the film is about a friendship between Momoko (Fukada), a girl who is obsessed over the lifestyle of the 18th century, and Ichiko (Tsuchiya), a female biker-gang member. It's wildly chaotic, fun and always hilarious.

Anna Tsuchiya and Kyoko Fukada in "Kamikaze Girls"

The film opens with Momoko being hit by a car while on her scooter. Realizing that the audience doesn't know who she is, she goes back in time to give her life story. The subsequent sequences are frantically funny, from her mom cheating on her dad with the doctor who's delivering her baby, to the fake sad stories Momoko tells her dad in order to coerce him into giving her money for a dress.

Fukada does a marvelous job in carrying the film in the capacity of the narrator and the lead. Her impeccable comedic timing and performance garnered a Best Actress nomination in Japan's equivalent of the Academy Awards.

The plot of the movie is about getting to the point when the car hits Momoko. Woven inside this story are many smaller storylines that help keep the upbeat pace of the movie.

In the midst of all this chaos are animated shorts. Just like in "Kill Bill," the animation sequences fit in the overall scheme of the film. Unlike Tarantino's film, the transitions in "Kamikaze Girls" are far more obvious. At a restaurant, Ichiko tells Momoko stories of her past, but instead of "boring the viewer with the long story," as Momoko the narrator puts it, she goes into an animated summary of what Ichiko said.

The supporting characters are outlandish and outrageous. Where this may be a weakness in some movies, it's a strong point in this one. The collection of oddballs the girls meet are uproariously amusing. When Momoko is traveling to buy a new Victorian- style dress, she runs into a local fruit merchant. He asks her why she should travel far to buy her clothes when there's a Wal-Mart-type place in town. Hosts of people come out posing, and tell her the price they paid for their clothes-like a bad infomercial. The kicker is when they stay frozen in their exact poses as she walks away.

Funny and heartwarming, "Kamikaze Girls" is one of the best foreign movies to come out this year.

Joe gives "Kamikaze Girls":

Joe Nguyen is a staff writer for asiaXpress.com. You can reach Joe at joe@asiaxpress.com.

Back to The Reel World | Home