An Adolescent

Title: An Adolescent (Shoujyo - Original Title)
Rating: 4/5
Genre: Drama
Starring: Eiji Okuda, Mayu Ozawa
Director: Eiji Okuda
Language: Japanese

It would be easy to give away too much of the complex story but much of the enjoyment is the manner is steadily unfolds, many scenes capable of easily leading to a heavy going film but somehow it always retains a gentle meandering pace. Suffice to say I was fully expecting it to revolve around the problematic relationship between the lead protagonist Tomokawa – the experienced actor but first time director – and his genuine affection for the young Yoko, hoping for an insight into the rarely spoken about growing issues of the lolita culture in Japan (many teenagers prostituting themselves to significantly older men so as to pay their way during their school years), but this never feels like the focus, always gravitating around the unlikely couple but the difficult subject matter broached from an entirely different angle.

It is Yoko who first approaches the reformed Yakuza, now a police officer who spends much of his time running a minor scam, stealing dogs and then returning them so as to garner the affection of the lonely owners, often sleeping with them in a bid to comfort them both. Taking her up on her offer, he quickly becomes infatuated with her and becomes obsessed with tracking her down, only to find her on a chance meeting, being both the grand-daughter of the tattoo artist and close friend responsible for his poetic imagery covering his back, and the younger sister of the mildly mentally ill man he has long since befriended. As their secret is uncovered and her negligent parents come into the fold, things begin to crumble away as they all struggle to hold on to the relationships dear to them.

Much of the film didn't feel like it really had too much direction behind it, meandering in a manner so as to conduct a broad psychoanalysis of the characters; the opening throws us in the deep end and shows us our flawed lead character and each following scene serves as little more than a way to show them in a new light, gradually teaching us of their intertwined past and sordid stories, as well as how significantly their lives have improved simply by having each other be a part of it. At nearly two and a half hours its no short film but despite the slow pace, it never feels uninteresting, the characters simply given the time to develop into fully fledged characters, imperfections and all. In retrospect, the expected taboo between the middle aged man and his teenage love seemed to take something of a back seat – perhaps this is not as heavily frowned upon over there as I initially thought, though I'm not ready to leap quite that far yet – as the multiple plot lines intersect and interact, fusing with one another and creating the forward momentum of a story that always seems to gravitate around their unsavoury relationship.

This may be a love story at its heart but it feels nothing like the cliché romantic drama, the tension inducing unravelling of the plot and multi-dimensional characters slowly coming into the mix far outweighing the desire for romance. Their kinship, too, comes across far too natural for that; a definite commendation for the actors involved in creating this uncanny sense that the age is little more than an irrelevant social stigma to be used against them, and the joy in seeing what they are able to offer one another overpowering any sense of disgust at the broken taboo. Like Bertollucci's “The Dreamers,” there is no shying away from nudity and displays of her gentle skin, and naturally this will result in many incapable of looking past this to see its purpose in the story. Never is it used but for artistic intent; the grandfather gently stroking her back like any artist admiring their blank canvas, or the manner the two protagonists interact with each other naked no more differently than they would clothed, demonstrating a complete openness with one another despite knowing each other for only a short space of time and lending a sense of kindred spirits, a generation apart but somehow intended for one another and lending hope to a tale of despair. This could all have to easily become an exploitative film about the fantasies of a paedophilic middle aged man, but that's never the case. Instead it's moral seems clear: true love knows no bounds.