Kamikaze Girls
May 19th 2007 10:49
I just watched Kamikaze Girls ("Shimotsuma Monogatari") for the third time this week. There's a scene in the film where the main character, Momoko, discovers the fashion label Baby The Stars Shine Bright, and falls to the ground like she's been shot in the head. From that moment her life is changed. I had a similar reaction when I first watched this 10 days ago. Not quite, but maybe like I'd been slapped in the face. In a good way.
Director Tetsuya Nakashima creates a kooky fantasy world as colorful as Momoko’s heart-shaped lunchbox filled with bright sweets. The saturated pallet and hyper-stylisation is not unlike David LaChapelle's photography, and the surrealism is reminiscent of Jean-Pierre Jeunet’s Amélie. I don’t really know what the plot is but the imagery is so pretty and cute, and there’s a big fight scene which the main characters Momoko and Ichiko ride away from, splattered in blood, giggling. What's so good about plot?
Momoko (pop idol Kyoko Fukada) is a “Lolita” who lives in rural Shimotsuma and daydreams about Rococo France and the decedance of Versailles. To help fund her expensive habit of travelling to Tokyo to shop for Lolita clothes at Baby The Stars Shine Bright, she runs a classified ad to sell counterfeit Versace clothes. She meets a buyer named Ichiko (model and J-rock icon Anna Tsuchiya), a “Yanki” and a member of the Ponytails motorbike gang.
Lolita and Yanki styles both originated in Japan in the 1980’s. One deriving their aesthetic from Victorian dolls (with frills, lace, white fur, ribbons, petticoats, and large bows or bonnets on the head) and the other from earlier Japanese biker gang's (with shaved eyebrows and hairlines, black lipstick, perms and elaborately modified and accessorised motor-bikes), they are considered an unlikely match. But one thing the two subcultures, and these two girls, have in common is embroidery. The Yankis embroider their elaborate costumes with Chinese characters, and the Lolitas embroider their dresses and accessories with floral designs. So when Momoko does Ichiko’s needle work on her gang jacket, a bond is formed and they realise they are both outcasts with more in common than they thought.
The novel of the same name was written by Novala Takemoto, which also inspired a manga series before the film. Takemoto has a devoted following among young women, particularly those in the “Lolita” scene, and he designes for Baby The Stars Shine Bright. Isn't he handsome?
Quote:
"So what if I were deceitful?
My happiness was at stake.
It's not wrong to feel good.
That's what Rococo taught me.
But actually my soul is rotten"
"So what if I were deceitful?
My happiness was at stake.
It's not wrong to feel good.
That's what Rococo taught me.
But actually my soul is rotten"
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Comment by DuskDevi
Rugby World Cup 2007
Certainly looks intriguing.
...and yes, Takemoto san is a definite bishonen