Director:
Stars:
A nurse, Ichiko (Mariko Tsutsui) goes to a hair salon and asks for a particular Kazumichi Yoneda (Sosuke Ikematsu) to cut her hair, while introducing herself using a different name. He asks her if it is her first time and she says that he had never cut her hair before.
The explanation she tells him later on in the film is ‘revenge’ an act thought out similar to Lina Wertmuller’s 1972 excellent satire THE SEDUCTION OF MIMI. But this film has none of the wit or bite of Wertmuller’s film.
Instead of being suspenseful and mysterious, Fukada only bores and confuses with its dual time-line story. It takes a while before the audience can figure out what is really going on. The story and message is how an incident in the past – a child kidnapping can affect ones future. But isn’t this not the case for most incidents?
Ichiko also has a romance and an engagement with a doctor but this is one relationship that is the most unaffectionate in any film I have seen this year. Apparently director Kukada has his heart missing in the making of this film.
Festival Reviews 