Kamikaze Girls [Blu-ray] [2005]

This charming, engaging and visually fantastic movie comes from the talented director of 'Memories of Matsuko' and the darkly amazing new movie 'Confessions' (Kokuhaku.)

Tremendous use of pop-video aesthetics, two very different main characters who become friends despite being absolute opposites - the outsider chick played by a feisty Anna Tsuchiya, and the heart-meltingly gorgeous Kyoko Fukada who is dreamy and gentle as well as being an absolute dreamboat.

This is a movie to watch when you want to feel your spirits raised and just revel in the appealing whimsy and innocent charm of candy-coloured Japanese youth culture. Highly recommended (and just lovely on blu-ray.)

A girl on a moped is hit by a car, as she flies up in the air the film tells us that this is too far on in the plot and 'rewinds' in order to tell of the events leading up to this moment.

Momoko explains directly to the audience that she wishes she had been born in the Rococo-era where society was flamboyant and ornate, where dresses were beautiful and people lived for pleasure. We quickly learn that she has little regard for people and is interesting solely in looking cute, to this end she buys 'Lolita' dresses and is something of an outcast at her college where she sits on her own.

We get a full biography detailing how she was conceived shortly after her parents met, and the following scenes showing her father as a maker and seller of fake branded clothes are genuinely funny. The mis-spelt brand names and his big idea of `double-branding' had me chuckling at the screen as his customers went mad for his rip-off Universal Studios-Versace (or in his case "Universal Stadium-Versach") clothing range.

Her background leads us to empathise with Momoko. It's clear to see how such a strange background and the distant relationship she had with her parents have led to such an introverted and socially awkward teenager. She seems interesting only in acquiring more frilly dresses and makes money by selling her fathers old stock. It's through this venture that she meets biker chick Ichigo.

The two girls are polar opposites with Ichigo's macho attitude and demeanour contrasting with Momoko's babyish style. Although the two clash, Ichigo finds Momoko's lack of fear intriguing and they manage to strike up a relationship which reluctantly blossoms into a friendship. The film focuses on how the two interact and it's apparent that although they sometimes resist it, they actually have more in common than they initially realised. The two enrich the life of the other and their friendship helps them to question their outlook on life and redefine how they view the world.

The film is a bit thin on plot, but the frenetic directing style keeps you watching. Bright imagery and on screen graphics capture the essence of Japanese pop-culture and ensures that Kamikaze Girls makes an impression. It's stylistically very unique and the look of the film makes it stand out. It's often over-acted but it's clearly done on purpose to accentuate the bold style - there's a published Manga series and it looks like the graphic novels have influenced the film and helped it to achieve that great look. The description on Amazon states that this is a certificate 18 film, I can confirm though that this is actually a 12 rated film and perfectly suited for teenage audiences.

In a nutshell: What could have been a pretty boring story about two girls from different backgrounds who find friendship is turned into a humourous and insightful film, the artistic directing style adds a good sense of fun.

My spouse rented this Blu-ray of Kamikaze Girls. I had no idea what to expect but was thoroughly entertained throughout! It's great fun. Unusual, innovative - overall quite different to other Japanese films I've seen recently and a real tangent from contemporary Western 'buddy' flicks or similar.

Meaning no disrespect, it's a kind of Japanese 'Amelie' - although it's got far more character and originality than Amelie of course (which is a film, I like too). But it's the same kind of view inside the mind of someone quirky, slightly off in their own ('magical') world, detached from the greyness and misery of modern life as it's seen in so many films these days.

The cinematography is great - combining vibrant colours, unusual shots, cartoons, special effects and so on. The setting and characters are all great too - with some really likeable people and memorable moments.

From what I could tell from the rental disc, there are practically no extras at all. There are some 'outtakes' of a sort over the closing credits, and that seems to be your lot. Maybe I missed something, but that was all I could see.

Overall, thoroughly recommended and well worth seeing in the Blu-ray version if you can (I'll be watching for price drops to buy this one at some stage). It's one of those films I'd recommend that you go into completely blind, knowing as little about it as possible. You'll be really impressed, I expect. A great transfer of a really great film!