Lost and out-of-control youth is not uncommon in Japanese cinema, with
the rigid formality of Japanese schools countered by the over-the-top rebellion
of kids who see no place for themselves within the education system. The second
collaboration between British-born, now Japanese-living Third Window Films and
director Eiji Uchida after "Lowlife Love", "Love and other
Cults" is a film that follows similar lines of others in terms of theme,
though the final destination isn't as per the usual.
Ai (Sairi Ito) is a girl who comes in many guises: the daughter of a
serial religious and cult follower, she finds little place for herself at home;
her mother often distracted by the new fad in her life. Eventually sent by her
mother to a cult commune under Mount Fuji at a tender age, she soon finds
happiness, before the cult's exposure and mass arrests leave her again without
a place to find herself. Growing out of hand, she dyes her hair and shacks up
with her boyfriend and his drug addict family of friends by her mid-teens.
Bumping into brief former classmate Ryota (Kenta Suga), she hangs out
with him and his gangster mates after being ditched by her boyfriend, but
lovingly welcomed by a class president Yuka's (Kana Matsumoto) family. Here,
she switches between domestic bliss with her adopted family and her double life
working in a hostess bar. Eventually found out, she moves back in with her
mother - her apathy no longer a cause for concern - and works as a call girl.
Meanwhile, Ryota, our narrator, holds a torch for Ai, even when they
drift apart at various moments. A bit-part player in Kenta (Antony) and Yuji's (Kaito
Yoshimura) gang, he quietly keeps his head down, trying to gather together
enough money to escape small town blues. Yuji himself has designs on becoming a
yakuza, while natural gang leader Kenta gradually begins to reject the life
upon meeting, Reika (Hanae Kan), an underwater photographer who shows an
interest in him.
What runs throughout the film is the sense that none of the characters
are happy. Whether a member of a religion, a cult, a gang, a school group, none
feel they have found the place that's right for them. In doing this, despite
the central focus on Ryota and Ai, Uchida switches the storyline to Kenta and
Yuji and how their lives play out, as all four look to make a life-changing
move to find their place, however unusual they may be.
Ryota and Kenta both reject the criminal life: Ryota going to university
in Tokyo; Kenta leading a quiet life with Reika, deep-water diving. Being that
this is partly based on the true story of a porn star whom Uchida noted for her
cult followings, Ai works with Lavi (Matthew Chozick), the former leader of the
cult where she was once happy, as a porn star, finding minor fame.
There are warnings that trying to escape a doomed fate are not always
easy: Reika abused for Kenta's decision to quit the gang; Ryota losing his
savings along the way. But, where other films about lost youth may build to
exaggerated and frantic endings, or leave things open without established
consequences, the characters of "Love and other Cults" are able to
find a place where they are comfortable. The one unable to find this peace,
Yuji, is left alone by his yakuza lifestyle. Wherever it may be, and with
whoever it is with, the closing theme is one of changing for the better.
Much like the characters' lives, "Love and other Cults" is
perhaps a little bumpy along the way. While probably a step-up in terms of
production quality from "Lowlife Love", it is not as well crafted and
witty. There are many twists of fate along the way that require leaps of faith
in the audience, leaving the story flow a little unnatural in parts.
But the sense of peace reached in the film's ending is refreshing from how films of this nature can pan-out. Where the likes of "The World ofKanako" can build into messy, over-zealous finales, the stepping-down a tone by the film's end is welcome, despite the rather choice appearance of a school girl panties porn film script. But then, there is love...and other cults (sic).
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