A Major Disappointment

Through painfully honest and emotional moments, the movie becomes irresistibly relatable

There's no way I can possibly love it entirely but I just think its ridiculously bad, but enjoyable at the same time.

By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.

"Ai" (Miho Nikaido) is a 22-year old is a 22-year old prostitute who makes a living in the S&M market in which anything goes. For example, in the first scene she is bound, gagged and blindfolded while her client injects a hallucinogenic drug of some sort into her bare leg. What happens next is somewhat unclear and like the rest of the film is left for the viewer to figure out. Other scenes involve similar kinds of deviant sexual practices in which she is sometimes the receiver of punishment and other times the giver--but in all cases it is quite apparent that she doesn't relish either role. As a matter of fact, she tells one of her clients named "Mr. Ishioka" (Tenmei Kano) that she doesn't believe she is good at anything. This lack of self-confidence permeates her persona and causes her to lead a life in which she is always a victim. At least, that is how it seemed to me. Likewise, I believe this film also suggests that a large proportion of the men in Japan feel similarly humiliated in the eyes of the rest of the world possibly due to their conduct during World War 2. Hence the reason that the characters act in such a manner. Now having said that I must admit that my interpretation of this film might be incorrect and others may have discovered a completely different meaning. Or perhaps the film consists of nothing more than one repulsive scene after another and has no real meaning at all. In any case, I felt that almost all of the scenes were unnecessarily vulgar and obscene and wonder if perhaps the director (Ryû Murakami) lacked the ability to present his underlying theme any other way. Regardless, I found the movie to be rather long and boring and I have rated it accordingly. Below average.

Murakakmi's Tokyo Decadence starts out powerfully with an unflinching look at the shifts put in as a 'Delivery Health' (as these women get called in 21s century Japan) by hooker-with-a-heart-of-gold, Miho Nikaido. The crisp colours, seductive light and slowly dollying camera give a high productive sheen to the mesmerising scenes of Nikaido being humiliated by a Yakuza couple, then assisting a dominatrix in the wished-for degradation of one of her regular johns.Murakami seems to be highlighting the amorality of Bubble-rich Japan, his characters speechifying against the 'real' whores in the corporate and government fields. The sexual and comedy elements are well-balanced, the highlight being the lost dildo in the toilet scene. Nikaido shows an impressive range, both vulnerable in and enraptured by her line of work. She also enlivens a long walk with a wild-eyed look she achieves in the film's final third.However, her performance cannot rescue the meandering, insipid final episode when Nikaido goes in search of her true love. The introduction of a 'courage' pill is a clumsy plot device. The final section lacks clarity, and even continuity seems to be a minor concern. It is as if Murakami, having established his world so finely in the first half, is now at a loss regarding what he wants to say about it. A series of episodic and uninspiring tableaux plays out, the slightly surreal elements being the only thing that stops it from descending into an old-fashioned morality tale.Tokyo Decadence is a film of two halves, with the director only trying in the first.

If you enjoy seeing BDSM films, this should be on your list of must-sees.The film deteriorates, however, and carries on aimlessly for some time before its ungraceful end. I rate it a 6: 9 for the S&M and a 3 for the rest.

A shimmering brightness infuses "Tokyo Decadence". The neon-blasted streets, the eerie, artificial glow of offices and hotel rooms, even the translucent glow of daylight insinuates under the skin of the film. The antiheroine of the film passes through a sexual Seven-Circles-of-Hell in Tokyo, used and battered by clients, gangsters and even friends who ply her with drugs and subversive sex. None of the sexuality is erotic, but it's also not presented as obscene or tragic. The spare, minimal approach to the dialogue heightens the tension and sense of dislocation. The film presents sex as a matter-of-fact commodity, flesh as spiritual bargaining tool in return for a temporary escape from alienation and fear. It's an intriguing film, difficult to watch but rich in visual beauty and its subtextual dimensions are quite rewarding. The film fetishizes everything to the point of abstraction. The city of Tokyo becomes a gleaming morass of lights, skyscrapers and soullessness. A brutal and delicate work of art.