SEXUAL DRIVE MOVIE REVIEW
Movie Motion
Reviewed for Shockya.com & BigAppleReviews.web, linked from Rotten Tomatoes by Harvey Karten
Director: Kôta Yoshida
Screenwriter: Kôta Yoshida
Solid: Manami Hashimoto, Ryô Ikeda, Mukau Nakamura, Honami Satô, Tateto Serizawa, Shogen, Rina Takeda
Screened at: Critics’ hyperlink, NYC, 3/25/22
Opens: April 22, 2022
No movie will ever match the conflating of meals and intercourse in addition to does the 1963 film “Tom Jones, and absolutely “Sexual Drive,” which reveals not a single physique even half nude, isn’t any competitors. Tragedies are elevated, whereas comedies haven’t any drawback coping with the physique, particularly the mouth and the decrease areas. “Sexual Drive,” nonetheless, flirts with each the excessive and the low; metaphorically Kôta Yoshida, who wrote and directs the movie partly dedicated to the workings of the thoughts, notably to the narratives of a fellow within the third a part of this three-part sequence, however in each case drives dwelling the purpose that individuals in bespoke fits and trendy clothes are doing little greater than overlaying up their innermost needs for meals and intercourse.
Consider Odysseus who within the traditional fantasy addresses the king of the Phaecians after being shipwrecked on an island, asking for time to complete his dinner earlier than he tells his story: “Eat, drink!” It blots our all of the reminiscence of ache, commanding “Fill me up!”“Sexual Drive” offers with individuals in ache who lengthy to be stuffed up and whose anxieties revolve round their sexual longings which they attempt to fulfill with meals.
For instance, within the first episode referred to as Natto, Kiru (Tateto Serizawa), a shabbily dressed man, enters the house of a fellow whose spouse is a nurse, referred to as away on a Sunday for a hospital emergency. Kiru is everyman, confronting individuals with what’s missing of their lives. Within the case of Natto, the reluctant host permits Kiru to current him together with his principal concern, however he in some way can’t throw the person out. Kiru chats in regards to the affair he’s having with the person’s spouse, presenting some truths that any of us males who’ve had surgical procedure want to overlook—probably the most painful being the insertion of a catheter into the urethra to empty urine. Kiru calls himself a masochist. The ache turns him on. And in some way observing Kiru’s ache, the nurse is equally excited. By the point the nurse comes dwelling, ravenous, her husband has to observe her devouring a bowl of Natto with sexual pleasure, making the person all of the extra depressed together with his personal sexless life.
In Mapo Tofu, the second episode, Kiru seems once more, this time throwing himself towards a automobile and writhing in ache. The driving force, who has panic assaults, is delighted that he’s not going to sue her (does anybody sue anyone in Japan?) and offers him a trip to his dwelling. Throughout the trip she has the panic assaults to which she has change into accustomed, whereas her would-be therapist, Kiru, hints that sexual dissatisfaction is the reason for the shaking.
In a extra surreal vein, the third chapter, Ramen with Additional Backfat, a lady drinks alone in a bar, then proceeds to a kind of noodle store widespread with individuals who wish to lower your expenses and keep away from self-consciousness of consuming alone. A narrator speaks into the earpiece of a well-dressed man, most likely an government, directed towards Momoka who’s the one girl within the ramen store and who’s herself making an attempt to drown her lack of sexual satisfaction in foods and drinks.
This can be a area of interest film that would divide some of us who love indies and low-budget oddities. One group would possibly activate from the provocative nature of the film, since in any case it has originality, however others, like me, will likely be annoyed. Repeat that: annoyed. These of us in that latter class could wonder if getting laid earlier than they watch it would change their opinion to a extra constructive one.
In Japanese with English subtitles.
70 minutes. © 2022 by Harvey Karten, Member, New York Movie Critics On-line
Story – C+
Appearing – B
Technical – B+
Total – C+
