9791Egon
London, England
The other reviews on here had me looking for an english subbed version of this film and in doing so, I found many other reviews extolling it's virtues. A movie critic was quoted as saying "One of those films that you have no idea how it got made, but are so glad it did." and I wholeheartedly agree.
The story is one of Ryo - a young, intelligent student who would rather work as a bartender than attend university. He's handsome so can easily attract female, sexual partners but he finds women boring and sex with them ritualistic. When his friend, who is an escort at a hosts bar introduces him to the female boss of a high-class host bar, she encourages him to profit from getting a deeper understanding of women and their desires. The exposure catapults Ryo to the top of the escort game and the story has a slightly episodic tone to it, with the various women he meets and ultimately has sex with each wanting or needing something slightly different from Ryo and as he learns to fulfil those needs, his earning potential as well as his own enjoyment in his new-found profession significantly increases.
This movie has multiple sex scenes that leave nothing to the imagination so take heed of the 18+ rating associated to it but they are all necessary to the story as what is really being demonstrated here is the deep-rooted psychological complexity of our leading man and how his clients, in their situations and with their individual needs change his thinking.
Which leads us nicely onto how well the various actors and actresses fared. Very well is the answer and although it's not a particularly difficult story to tell, there are at least 2 or 3 character studies within this movie that wouldn't be anywhere near as good without the actors doing their parts so well.
I probably would re-watch this because of the behaviourial, psychological aspects that whilst not easily missed, could potentially be mis-construed so watching it at least once more would help and given I watched a subbed version, I think some things can literally become lost in translation so I might try and watch another version to see if meaning or interpretation changes.
Whether it does or not, I cannot recommend this film highly enough.
The story is one of Ryo - a young, intelligent student who would rather work as a bartender than attend university. He's handsome so can easily attract female, sexual partners but he finds women boring and sex with them ritualistic. When his friend, who is an escort at a hosts bar introduces him to the female boss of a high-class host bar, she encourages him to profit from getting a deeper understanding of women and their desires. The exposure catapults Ryo to the top of the escort game and the story has a slightly episodic tone to it, with the various women he meets and ultimately has sex with each wanting or needing something slightly different from Ryo and as he learns to fulfil those needs, his earning potential as well as his own enjoyment in his new-found profession significantly increases.
This movie has multiple sex scenes that leave nothing to the imagination so take heed of the 18+ rating associated to it but they are all necessary to the story as what is really being demonstrated here is the deep-rooted psychological complexity of our leading man and how his clients, in their situations and with their individual needs change his thinking.
Which leads us nicely onto how well the various actors and actresses fared. Very well is the answer and although it's not a particularly difficult story to tell, there are at least 2 or 3 character studies within this movie that wouldn't be anywhere near as good without the actors doing their parts so well.
I probably would re-watch this because of the behaviourial, psychological aspects that whilst not easily missed, could potentially be mis-construed so watching it at least once more would help and given I watched a subbed version, I think some things can literally become lost in translation so I might try and watch another version to see if meaning or interpretation changes.
Whether it does or not, I cannot recommend this film highly enough.
Was this review helpful to you?
