Kamikaze Girls (2004) Shimotsuma Monogatari

Movie Rating NR Contains: Strong Language

Director: Tetsuya Nakashima Movie Genre: Comedy, Character Study Country: Japan Kamikaze Girls Score Card The following scores are based on a 0.0 to 10.0 rating scale Hover your mouse pointer over the name of each scoring category below for a description Direction: 6.0 Writing: 5.2 Acting: 5.6 Cinematography: 6.6 Sound and Score: 6.7 Functionality: 7.0 Presentation: 8.0 Genre Comparison: 8.0 General Comparison: 6.7 Overall: 6.6 Reviewed 2006-03-31 20:05:53

Kamikaze Girls, from director Tetsuya Nakashima, is a hyperactive, feel good, comedy that caters to the Japanese schoolgirl in all of us. The movie is about Momoko, a young girl who is obsessed with the Rococo period of 18th Century France, and her adventures with Ichigo, a rebellious biker girl who initially tries to purchase bootleg designer clothes from her. After a rough start, this unlikely pair becomes inseparable.

Nakashima did an excellent job of making the commonplace "buddy movie" stand out from the pack with his unconventional storytelling methods. The narrative is erratic, with lots of interruptions and intermissions. There are even intentional translation errors included to fuel the zaniness of the movie. The main characters are caricatures of reality. Momoko is constantly striving to be as dainty and ladylike as possible, while Ighigo does everything in her power to be the most rebellious, hardened girl ever. As the story progresses both Momoko and Ichigo learn a lot from each other and implement aspects of each others' personas.

The visual style of this movie also helps set it apart from other movies examining the same themes. This is one of the cutest movies ever made. There is a pink filter over the lens for the duration of the movie. There are also several animated sequences sporadically placed throughout the film, are used to tell an exceptionally unbelievable part of the story. The cinematography by Masakazu Ato makes this movie feel very much like a Saturday morning cartoon.

Kamikaze Girls is 102 minutes of pure, unadulterated fun. Although this movie has some flaws, the irresistible charm of the main characters and the sugary sweetness of the story and visuals make this a very hard movie to dislike.