• 窮鼠はチーズの夢を見る (A Cornered Rat Dreams of Cheese)

10/5/20 (Mon), Tokyo

Yukisada Isao’s adaptation of a best-selling BL (boy’s love) manga. For the uninitiated, BL are comic series written by women and for women focused on love affairs among males, not necessarily gay. The former sub-genre is now a genre of its own and a full-fledged phenomenon. The idealized portrait of men falling for each other allows the overwhelmingly female readership to fantasize about sex while remaining apart from it. It shares that quality in a way with the all-female Takarazuka and all-male Kabuki theaters, where the knowledge that all characters are being played by performers of the same gender (and the restrictions that places on intimate scenes) ensures that love affairs remain in the realm of fancy. (A recent NHK television series featured a fervent BL fan who becomes disgusted when she discovers that her supposed boyfriend is gay – she can accept male-on-male sex only on the page. She eventually sees the error of her ways, of course, and they live happily ever after as best friends.) I was dragged by a friend to the theater, where I was the only male in the house as well as the only non-Asian. I pulled my mask up tight.

Kyoichi, an attractive and married 35-year-old company worker, is discovered playing around after hours by a private detective agency hired by his wife. The spy turns out to be an old classmate, Wataru. Kyoichi begs his friend to keep quiet. Wataru agrees to ditch the evidence on one condition: that Kyoichi allow him one kiss. He confesses to the shocked Kyoichi that he has loved him since their school days and is unashamedly taking advantage of the opportunity. Kyoichi gives in – bad idea. That kiss (with Wataru trying desperately to stick his tongue in, all shown in glorious close-up) leads to oral fun, then to melodrama.

Kyoichi, a bit of a squish, is straight but floats with the breeze, allowing himself to be seduced by whoever he happens upon – and he has many takers – and then sucking up their love without offering anything back. His wife divorces him not because of his infidelity – which Wataru, as promised, never reveals – but because of his inability to feel. Thrown out of the house, he ends up living with Wataru. He rejects Wataru’s advances at first but is gradually overwhelmed by the latter’s unbridled passion and determination, something missing in his other relationships. His body craves women, but emotionally he comes to need Wataru, eventually giving in physically as well. Wataru’s obsession with Kyoichi ends up ruining the latter’s chance for happiness with several women, including his new fiancée. Several broken hearts later, Wataru finally realizes that Kyoichi is an empty vessel who can never love him the way he had hoped, and sadly agrees to break away.

The driven Wataru is a manipulative character who is willing to hurt women and Kyoichi himself to get his way. He jealously goes through the messages on Kyoichi’s cell phone (which is mysteriously unlocked) to spot for any dates, then shows up in order to ruin the occasion and claim him for himself. He leaves suspicious signs for the fiancée to raise her unease and get rid of her. Why he thinks he can transform Kyoichi into a genuine gay partner is something only a BL writer can answer. He basically makes use of his friend’s indecisiveness for his own selfish reasons. He cries in the end (during attempted sex with another guy) when he realizes the futility of it all, but what did he expect?

Kyoichi, meanwhile, is a wimp who unwittingly attracts the eye of numerous women through his looks and natural charm but is unable to do more than satisfy his own desires. He seems as incapable of love at the end as at the beginning; his character goes nowhere. I was surprised at first when he accepted the bottom role in anal sex for the eager Wataru, but it does make sense in a perverse way given that his entire character is passive (he does top Wataru later to even things out). He clearly has affection for Wataru at one point: we see him gently stroking Wataru’s hair as they watch TV, feeding him potato chips, engaging in some outdoor nipple play (spotted by a bewildered neighbor) and giving him gifts, and he’s certainly enthusiastic about the sex late in the film. He seems to be doing his best to pretend that this is a normal relationship. But biology and aspirations of normality unsurprisingly win in the end. He is shown left alone in his apartment in the final scene, but given the feelings of the women he has casually dumped, it’s impossible to sympathize with him.

Two unattractive characters in the lead are one too many, and Kyoichi’s embrace of the gay relationship, if only temporary, was not convincing even by the standards of BL. Would any straight guy really react this way? No one came out of this film feeling happier about themselves or changed in any way for the better. It doesn’t present a very positive picture of gay love, if we can call it that. It’s more a portrait of obsession.

On the positive side, the acting was of unexpectedly high quality. Former model Narita Ryo (成田凌) was particularly good as the wily Wataru. His eyes are expressive, and he wisely does not overplay his compulsive character, maintaining a cool approach that was highly effective. Subtle gestures like his handling of cigarettes added depth to his character. His consistent use of polite language to address his elder schoolmate even in their most intimate moments was also an interesting touch. He was the film’s single biggest asset.

Okura Tadayoshi (大倉忠義), a boy-band drummer from the squeaky-clean Johnny’s agency, gave a rather blank portrayal as the reserved Kyoichi, neither too hot nor too cold, but that felt oddly appropriate for this cryptic character. I didn’t quite see why women kept falling for him, but I suppose the strong silent type is always in fashion. I thought of Bobby in the musical Company, seeking the fruits of companionship without the obligations. He was quite good in the tender moments, briefly showing a longing that the character otherwise seemed afraid to release.

Both of the leads are to be commended for their total commitment in the eye-raising sex scenes. No artful angles or camerawork here (other than the avoidance of genitalia): plenty of Frenching, licking, grunting, bare butts and fiery anal sex, each of the actors going at it as to the manner born. I didn’t anticipate this level of overt lovemaking, taking it beyond what I imagined to be the limits of BL. I’m impressed that Johnny’s allowed one of its major stars to participate in this. A sign of the times?

Especially good among the women were Yoshida Shiori (吉田志織) in a heartbreaking performance as the spurned fiancée and Sato Honami (さとうほなみ) as the woman who squared off against Wataru, woman vs. man, for a shot at Kyoichi.

The film didn’t resort to the usual gay caricatures, even in the scene in a gay bar. The hit TV series Ossan’s Love had a similar setup in which a gay guy lured a clueless straight gay into a relationship, but it played that for laughs. Here it is deadly serious. Hard to imagine that any straight guy would put up with this for too long or that any gay guy would genuinely waste this much time on a hopeless relationship, at least as presented here, but I suppose it wasn’t intended to be authentic.

The dialogue was nicely spare, offering only as much information as needed, and the creators fortunately resisted introducing superfluous explanatory scenes from the past or such. The film did not feel long even at 140 minutes. While it is not uninteresting, it does require a tolerance for some pretty questionable assumptions. I think I’ve seen enough BL now.