Bad Poetry Tokyo (2018)

I'm truly at a loss as how to rate this movie. Is it a commentary on the price a young woman pays for coming from an abusive home, lacking the self-esteem and self-respect needed to make choices that are healthy for her? Or is it simply a movie that has found a narrative making it possible for the female lead's life to revolve around sex with men and the lead can often be shot naked or wandering around in her underwear?

Shuna Lijima plays Jun who wants to be an actress and is paying her bills by working as a "hostess" in a seedy bar where her boyfriend works. All she has worked for is destroyed in one night with his betrayal leading her to return to the home she hasn't seen in five years. Home is not a safe haven, but she's hoping to get a share of an inheritance to start a new life. She hooks up with an old childhood friend after she returns to the small town. This would seem to be a natural place to infuse some sort of healing instead the hits keep on coming and spiraling ever downward sometimes inexplicably.

Lijima is the highlight of this film as she gives a powerful performance throughout. The male actors are adequate but not much more.

The cinematography and score are excellent, the fault isn't with the technical movie making. There is no breathing room in this film, no moment of light in the dark and tormented places in this woman's life. None of the characters are particularly likeable, including Jun. Her childhood friend, Yuki, makes a bad decision that seems drastically out of character. There is an awful lot of bad behavior from every character in the movie which can make it difficult to watch. The problem I have is that the focus could be interpreted as being around Jun leads to bad things. I'm more inclined to believe that she finds herself drawn to bad people because of her childhood experiences. This doesn't mean she doesn't make some horrendously bad choices, because she does, without ever looking for an answer that wouldn't lead to disastrous consequences.

Bad Poetry Tokyo may not be a bad film but I didn't find it to be a particularly good one either.

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Dark characters, pretty powerful story

Very dark and sad story about the worst of circumstances that life can throw at someone. Pretty graphic scenes both sexual and violence, but most necessary in telling the story. FL is awesome- she would have made a great actress if the inevitable did not happen. She is on the edge of desperation, first in selling her whole self to any guy with a buck, to being with a boyfriend that she knows there is not a future with; and then the story pivots from this seedy side of Tokyo to the rural calm of the village. But the village does not bring any relief for her as the past does not go away and the reason she escaped is still there. She does find some comfort in her high school friend and she gets to experience some level of joy when they are together at the lake and the bbq, but her history is just too tragic and so much a part of her that she will never escape it. I thought maybe they would be together in the end, but she is just too far gone. I liked the ending- we can only imagine what is next for her- will she find peace- probably not, will she die- possibly, or anything else- it is up to the viewer to think about it. I like to see that kind of ending in these kind of movies.

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