Despite its glossy packaging, I find Kamikaze Girls to be surprisingly mainstream, neither very surreal nor very cult. Rather, there's plenty of "been there", "done that" feeling. That is not to say that this is not a good movie. Quite on the contrary, KG is tastefully enjoyable.
Strip away the slightly exaggerated camera work and montages here and there, KG is in its root a human story. In this particular movie, it's a story of bonding of friendship of two girls not unlike what we see in "Baunsu ko gaurusu" (Bounce ko gals) (1997) which however has three protagonists instead.
Quite special, but certainly not original, are the reversed roles of the two girls from their outward appearance. Momoko (Fukada Kyoko), timid and fragile on the surface, is the tough one who, after surviving a parental divorce at 6, has grown to be completely self-sufficient emotionally, needing and having no friends at all. Ichigo (Tsuchiya Anna), the wild and reckless biker, is in dire need of a true friend although she is a member of a girl motorcycle gang. The friendship that starts and grows between the two is mildly bumpy, and at times quite touching without contrivance.
Although the story telling is not entirely conventional, there is nothing absolutely outrageous. For example, Momoko's earlier "flying" scenes are later explained as her own imagination. The initial collision, followed by flashback narrations, plays a little trick on the audience (but not as big as the one in "The Upside of Anger"). The movie moves along without a lot of real "happenings" but plenty of amusing anecdotes. There is a very conventional climax and heroic rescue.
All told, there should be enough in this movie to give people a feeling of a little something different and have them leaving the theatre feeling relaxed and happy.
Strip away the slightly exaggerated camera work and montages here and there, KG is in its root a human story. In this particular movie, it's a story of bonding of friendship of two girls not unlike what we see in "Baunsu ko gaurusu" (Bounce ko gals) (1997) which however has three protagonists instead.
Quite special, but certainly not original, are the reversed roles of the two girls from their outward appearance. Momoko (Fukada Kyoko), timid and fragile on the surface, is the tough one who, after surviving a parental divorce at 6, has grown to be completely self-sufficient emotionally, needing and having no friends at all. Ichigo (Tsuchiya Anna), the wild and reckless biker, is in dire need of a true friend although she is a member of a girl motorcycle gang. The friendship that starts and grows between the two is mildly bumpy, and at times quite touching without contrivance.
Although the story telling is not entirely conventional, there is nothing absolutely outrageous. For example, Momoko's earlier "flying" scenes are later explained as her own imagination. The initial collision, followed by flashback narrations, plays a little trick on the audience (but not as big as the one in "The Upside of Anger"). The movie moves along without a lot of real "happenings" but plenty of amusing anecdotes. There is a very conventional climax and heroic rescue.
All told, there should be enough in this movie to give people a feeling of a little something different and have them leaving the theatre feeling relaxed and happy.