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It is hard to determine, why the English distributors of ‘Shimotsuma Monogatari’ (‘Shimotsuma Story’ or ‘Story of Shimotsuma’) decided to name the film ‘Kamikaze Girls’ (2004). It suggests that this is a film about teenage suicide (perhaps adhering to Japanese stereotypes) about two girls ostracized by their peers who decide to end their lives together, in a similar vein to something like ‘Thelma and Louise’ (1991). Of course, it could be referring to the literal translation of ‘kamikaze’, ‘divine wind’, portraying the two girls as two unstoppable forces of nature.
Based on the celebrated light novel by Novala Takemoto, the story centres on the trials and tribulations of Momoko (Kyôko Fukada), a young high school student who dresses in a distinctive Japanese fashion style known as ‘Lolita’, an alternative, bohemian movement, based partly on the dresses of Victorian dolls, Alice in Wonderland, and the Rococo Era (and nothing to do with the novel ‘Lolita’). She becomes reborn with new resolve when she discovers Baby the Stars Shine Bright (Yoshinori Okada), killing her old self. Momoko immerses herself in a world of lace, sweet treats, and clothes, refusing to work or make friends. She scams money from her ‘Loser Dad’ (Hiroyuki Miyasako), a failed Yakuza who makes a handsome living selling counterfeit goods until they are forced to flee to Shimotsuma, a ‘hick’ town in the Ibaraki prefecture, where she decides to sell his remaining fake Versace and Universal Studios clothing to pay for expensive ‘ivory tower’ lifestyle. The sale attracts the attention of Ichigo “Ichigo” Shirayuri (Anna Tsuchiya), a local biker thug (or ‘Yanki’) and so begins a journey towards growing up, learning to be happy and teenage angst.
The first thing you notice about ‘Kamikaze Girls’ is that it is very visual and all about aesthetics and style. This film has been justifiably (and repeatedly) compared to ‘Kill Bill Vol.1’ (2003) and with good reason. There are plenty of Tarantino-style postmodern touches (main character narration, breaking the fourth wall, random animated sequences, cartoonish acting and random comedic violence). Every frame jumps from soft pastel (reflecting Momoko’s flowery presence) to simple, dull, blocky shades (when in the town or Shimotsuma station) to bright, garish colours of all shades (especially in the Pachinko parlour). The film begins at a scene near the end of the story, where Momoko crashes her scooter into a cabbage truck and goes flying, saying goodbye to her life as she sales back to earth. Suddenly she realises she is at the end of the story and rewinds all the way back to her beloved Rococo Era in France.
But it is not just the film’s cinematography; the plot itself revolves around the two conflicting aesthetic and personalities of Momoko and Ichigo. My feeling is that is about how young people define themselves by their clothes and create their own culture revolved around fashion. Momoko is so obsessed with ‘Lolita’ that she walks into an ivory tower and locks the door behind her. Claiming herself ‘independent’, but at the same time scamming (leeching) her Loser Dad (called ‘The Loser’ in the novel) for money to buy her precious Baby, the Stars Shine Bright brand clothing. This is hardly independent and, as Ichigo points out, she cannot possibly hope to remain this way forever, no matter how hard she wants to. The blind selfishness of Momoko is often hard to relate to, especially her fantasy of surrounding herself with luxury at the expense of others. Her philosophy is that since life is short, you might as well enjoy yourself and do not bother to interact with fellow human beings. Novala Takemoto, in his after word to the novel, says this lifestyle is pure ‘anarchy’ in that it is riding on luxury and aesthetic rather than anything substantial. In a sense he’s correct, but it does not make Momoko’s character any more likeable. An interesting incident, showing Ichigo’s depth and Momoko’s shallowness, is when she is seeking to get ‘Thank you Akimi’ embroidered onto her much loved kamikaze coat so she can show it to her at Akimi’s (Eiko Koike)‘graduation’ (retirement from the biker gang). Momoko tries to point out how ‘uncool’ this is on a biker coat, but because Akimi’s advice and friendship meant so much to Ichigo, she wants to say how she really feels. She seeks a legendary embroider named ‘Emma’ (sometimes translated as MR) only to find it was an urban legend and so leaves her ‘soul’ (her coat) in Momoko’s hands.
This is the beginning of Momoko’s gradual move away from her selfish life; she employs her embroidery skills and works on the coat for two days without sleep and rest, all to help out Ichigo, who is rapidly becoming her friend. Momoko then witnesses her fall in love with ‘Unicorn Ryuji’ (Sadao Abe) (so called because of his insanely cartoonist quiff), the respected ‘low level gangster’, only to find out he is already with Akimi and the two are having a baby. The most moving scene in the book is when she finally breaks down in front of Momoko. She tells Momoko she can’t cry in public and Momoko, in an uncharactristically kind way, turns away and says, ‘We’re out here alone’, allowing Ichigo to cry for her lost love. In the film’s conclusion, Ichigo’s loyalty to the small gang loyalty and to the small gang closeness, now disregarded by the new gang pecking order, puts her at the mercy of the violent gang. They decide to punish her rather than letting her leave. When Momoko hears of the gang’s impending wrath, she sacrifices her chance to work with ‘Baby’ as an embroiderer, to help her friend. Seeing her future mapped out in front of her, seeing it reflected in the lonely life of her idol, the head of Baby the Stars Shine Bright. In warning, he tells her to go to her friend.
Momoko takes off on her Grandmother’s scoter to the gang’s meeting place at the foot of a giant Buddha statue and its here she has the collision with the truck that was shown at the film’s beginning and the flashback ends. In a bizarre reflection sequence, she goes back to the point where she’s born. Her mother (Ryoko Shinohara) feels her kicking and groans ‘It really wants to live’, as Momoko realizes Ichigo is in trouble she screams at her mother to give birth. Bursting from her mother’s womb as she wakes up to find she is crashing back down to earth. This is a reaffirming sequence shows her new meaning in life, not just clothes, but her best friend and her mother’s reaffirmation and new life as a mother. It is a bizarre sequence (seeing yourself born as opposed to your whole life flashing before your eyes) but works and makes sense only within the context of the film itself!
Ichigo praises Momoko’s independent spirit and brings down the violent wrath of the whole gang on top of her and when Momoko is caught in the crossfire, her temper flares and she goes on a very un-lady-like rampage. At her confrontation with the gang, she stands up for Ichigo, proving herself to be far tougher than the gang and far more brash and ‘scary’ than Ichigo! Reunited, the pair disappears off into the sunset on Ichigo’s bike, clinging fiercely together, reaffirming their friendship, not with clothes or teenage culture, but through acts of kindness.
Ichigo is probably the most likeable character, even with her violent, angry temper and fondness to head butt anyone who disagrees with her. She herself is part of (a now fading) culture called ‘Yanki’ or ‘Lady’, a biker culture similar to that of the ‘Rockers’, ‘Punks’ or ‘Rude Boys’. The clothes are brash, tacky, and cheap, it’s the first thing Momoko notices about Ichigo and the first thing that brings them together. It is she who decides to be friends with Momoko, who protests and tries to brush her off. Ichigo is clearly as lonely as Momoko, but unlike Momoko, she does not revel in loneliness and wants to make a friend. She tells Momoko all about being bullied at school and, like Momoko, feeling reborn when she discovers ‘Yanki’ and joins the gang led by her saviour Akimi, who tells her that crying is a woman’s strength, but that she should do it when no one’s around so that you can then come back stronger. She has an outer, brash exterior, but she is clearly more well-rounded, kind, and warm than Momoko. Despite her pretty, sugary exterior, Momoko admits to being ‘indifferent’ and ‘rotten inside’. Momoko is full of contradiction, she claims she wants to be happy at all costs, but towards the film’s conclusion she is offered the chance to embroider for her beloved Baby the Stars Shine Bright, but she turns it down because it conflicts with her ‘Lolita’ or ‘Rococo’ philosophy. She is in turmoil, facing her young self who told her mother that ‘humans are cowards in the face of happiness’, but she still does not want to take up such a big opportunity. It is only in the film’s conclusion she takes Ichigo’s advice, winning a part time job with ‘Baby’ and they both become happy, leaving their child hoods behind, but at the same time holding onto them in their friendship.
Country: Japan
Budget:
Length: 102mins
Filmography:
'Thelma and Louise’, 1991, Ridley Scott, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM)
Pub/2008
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