Hi John
Though I like reading Goeff Andrew, I disagrre with him. For me this is the best Japanese film of the 90s I`ve seen so far, and an astonishing film by novelist Ryu Murakami. As far as I know, it`s based on a novel of his, and after reading his debut "Almost transparent blue" from the 70s just recently, I must read and see more from this man. The film is a case study of alienation and isolation in our postmodern era. A young girl in Tokyo that works as a prostitute and is still "in love" with her former boyfriend who left her. You mainly watch her wandering around, and doing her job, but it`s all in the atmosphere the glances, and the protagonists superb introverted performance. As in his book Murakami is a master in visual storytelling, giving life to almost every object, to me similar to the way Borowczyk worked.
Can`t write more now, but I only saw a butchered and dubbed 90min. copy, but the impact was still very heavy..
If I get to rewatch it I`ll write more.