Yes,
it is possible for cinema to be too “indie.” We don’t just mean mumblecore, but
that is a good example. To be fair, Tetsuo’s only completed ultra-indie film is
probably more watchable than that twee naval-gazing sub-genre, but the entitled
filmmaker’s exploitative behavior gives micro-budget a bad name. He is definitely
cruising for a karma bruising in Eiji Uchida’s Lowlife Love (trailer
here),
which screens during this year’s Japan Cuts: Festival of New Japanese Film in
New York.
Tetsuo
still lives at home, contributing nothing to his family household, but he
drives his mother crazy with all the would be actresses he drags home. Based on
his minor festival hit, Tetsuo charges exuberant fees for “acting lessons,”
promising to put his so-called “troupe members” in his next film. However, the
only thing he really shoots are amateur dirty movies that his loyal minion
Shinjo sells to the Yakuza. Much to his surprise, Tetsuo starts getting
ambitious again when Minami and Ken join the troupe. She is shy, but she can really
act, whereas he has written a screenplay so promising, even Tetsuo couldn’t
ruin it.
When
the sleazy wheeling and dealing producer Kida actually starts to line-up financing, Tetsuo starts to believe. However, many of the actresses that granted him
sexual favors now expect to be the lead, especially the brassy and brassed-off
Kyoko. Unfortunately, the dream starts to fade when sell-out director Kano aims
to steal his script and his leading lady.
You
will be hard-pressed to find a film with a more odious protag than Lowlife’s Tetsuo. Frankly, it is just
flat-out unpleasant to spend time with him during the first two acts. Yet, that
is also why it is pretty impressive when the film starts to come together and
pay-off down the stretch. Uchida will spare his Tarantino-esque man-child
little and never let him off the hook. Rather bizarrely, the Christian church
Tetsuo tries to scam might be the only institution to make it through Lowlife unscathed, but that’s cool. As
for the movie business, it is barely distinguishable from the Yakuza.
As
Tetsuo, Kiyohiko Shibukawa makes the audience absolutely hate him. You have to
respect his work when it inspires such a visceral gut response. Maya Okano is
disturbingly devastating as Minami, the innocent who sells her soul. The crafty
veteran Denden looks like he is having a blast playing Kida and it is even more
fun to watch him upstaging everyone. Chika Uchida’s Kyoko adds a further
espresso shot of attitude as Kyoko, but poor Shugo Oshinari and Kanji Tsuda can
hardly keep up as the relatively grounded Ken and Shinjo, respectively.
