FILM REVIEW | "Love & Pop" Lacks the Connection It Desperately Seeks
WARNING: While the following article is safe-for-work, the motion picture discussed is unsuitable for viewers under the age of 18.
Hideaki Anno is a visionary, whether it’s in the art of animation or live-action filmmaking. Whenever you watch something like Gunbuster or Shin Godzilla, you know right away that it’s been crafted by Anno. So it’s quite surprising that in between Neon Genesis Evangelion and his Cutie Honey adaptation, he took a spin into the world of coming-of-age arthouse films. His first, 1998’s Love & Pop, takes some unique visual liberties with how things are perceived by the audience. However, even with the cool style of filmmaking, it doesn’t necessarily make for a good film.
At first, Love & Pop starts off on an interesting note. The film’s main focus is Hiromi Yoshii (Asumi Miwa), a high schooler who seems to be falling behind her three other friends. Nao (Hirono Kudo) is deep into computers, Chisa (Kirari) already has a career as a dancer, and Chieko (Yukie Nakama) has already experienced things many girls her age haven’t. On their free time, the four friends take on the “job” of sugar dating, as they hang out with older men for money.
Watching as the four meet up with strange men no doubt will make any sane viewer tense up. Near the start of the film, the shot of a middle-aged man hounding one of the girls to hang out with him for money showcases the weird and dangerous place the world can be. As someone who often goes to Shibuya (and has been to many of the areas Love & Pop were shot at), it makes me now wonder how much these acts and sugar dating meetups are happening in front of my very eyes. Of course, with this being a film made over 25 years ago, maybe the times have changed, and hopefully for the better.
But I digress. While the four friends are shopping for beachwear, Hiromi eyes an expensive ring she wishes to own. This becomes the main focal point of the film, the wanting of something and the lengths one will go for it. At first, the girls do a sugar date with a man at a karaoke booth. Things seem okay until his strange request for them to chew on muscats and spit them into a vial shows the true, strange nature of the customer. When Hiromi goes on her own with the sugar dating, that’s when Love & Pop dives into very uncomfortable territory.
Her two sugar dates with Uehara (Tooru Tezuka) and Captain EO (Tadanobu Asano) both result in worst-case scenarios for Hiromi. And it’s during the first date where the grossest situation occurs. At first, Uehara seems to just be a nervous guy, even opening up about an illness he has to Hiromi, who takes the time to listen. However, when he forces Hiromi to do a truly disgusting act in a video store, not only is the presentation wickedly unsettling; it’s also goes on for far too long. Trust me when I say that this moment may have some moviegoers leaving the theater before the film’s conclusion.
As for Captain EO, his intentions first are really bad, and it looks close to becoming a rape scene. But then, it turns into a wake-up call for Hiromi. EO sees the truly kind girl that she is, and even goes so far as to tell her of what he was planning to do before he decided against it. How it still winds up being uncomfortable is in the way it is shot via Hiromi’s perspective, with EO in her face as she’s naked and afraid. I get that Anno is trying to make a philosophical point about Hiromi’s worth, but it’s lost in the way every moment of this scene is framed.
This leads me to Anno’s choice in filmmaking. Shot entirely on digital film, Love & Pop makes some odd choices with how things are framed. Sometimes the camera shows the audience scenes from the perspective of beer glasses and furniture, which is pretty cool from an artistic point of view. But when it comes to scenes from the viewpoint of a high schooler’s legs, breasts, and even nether regions, it instead feels like what many would describe as a barely disguised fetish in full view.
Love & Pop isn’t a terrible film, but it’s not a good one either. The performances from Asumi Miwa and Tadanobu Asano are both great, but it doesn’t take away from the more uncomfortable moments of Anno’s live-action film debut. It tries to tie in messages about loneliness and the need for connection, but it's all overshadowed by the film's odd nature. If there’s one thing I’ve learned from watching Love & Pop, it’s this: if at any time the question, “Should I be watching something like this?” pops up in your brain, the correct answer will more than likely be, “No.” In which case, maybe it’s best to pick another film from the rental place, that is if they still exist in your area.
FINAL GRADE:
Promotional consideration provided by Grace Liriano of GKIDS. In US theaters February 21st.
