The opening scene of the movie is set in a small Bar in Tokyo and the camera is fixed looking on the crowd whilst we hear a young woman out of sight arguing. We eventually see her and find that she is on the phone trying to persuade someone that she is somewhere else entirely. We gradually discover that Akiko is a Call Girl and the angry boyfriend that she is trying to placate has no idea of how she makes her living when she is not studying at College. When she eventually ends the call with him, her Pimp tells her that she has a client who lives on the outskirts of town and is waiting for her. She tries in vain to get out of going because her Grandmother has just arrived in the city just for one day to visit with her.
The Pimp prevails and an exhausted Akiko ends up at the home of a retired College Professor who is old enough to be her grandfather which he is mistaken for when the persistent boyfriend tracks Akiko down the next day. The kindly old Professor who soon takes on the role of her guardian angel, goes along with assumptions of the young man who starts to profess his love and asks for Akiko’s hand in marriage. He leaves the two young people alone to have lunch together to talk it over but then has to rush back to collect Akiko again when she phones up in tears after having been hit.
This is as much as there is of a plot in this mysterious and ethereal tale about one very confused young lady, a good-hearted well-meaning old man, and a young auto-mechanic with an uncontrollable temper. It’s much more about what’s not being said that’s the real interest here. All the strands of the story, like the endless voicemails from the distraught Grandmother who’s calls Akiko chooses to ignore, or the talkative nosey neighbor who lives next door to the Professor and passes summary judgements on the world from her tiny window, add to the conundrum. And whilst its clear what drives the two male protagonists, Akiko’s motives are much tougher to read.
★★★★★★★★
