Introduction

With so many Japanese feature-length movies coming out, one would easily forget there is a very active short-film circuit in Japan. Every year, the Japanese Film Festival in Hamburg grants audiences a taste of the creativity of these short-film directors. This time, we have the honour to introduce another work of Shingo Kanemoto. In the same year he delivered I’ve died a lot lately (2021), he also made Sad Girl.

Review

After once again suffering many rejections as a door-to-door salesman, Nobuo Aoki (Kunimi  Nobuhiko) decide to drink away his daily failures and his inability to overcome his timidness. Drunk, he demands that the waitress hits him.

On his way home, Aoki finds a women’s panties on the ground. He puts them on his head and,  before he fully realizes it, he is kicked by Sakura Miyamoto (Kokoro Nishimura), a foul-mouthed girl who is tracking down the underwear thief that plagues the area. Still confused by Sakura’s hit, he promptly asks her to date him. She agrees, but only if he helps her catch the thief.

Sad Girl is a light-hearted narrative that explores the importance of putting one’s subject in one’s acts and signifiers. To reach the Other as subject, mere empty signifiers are not enough. Only the subjective weight can penetrate the hardened defences of the other and reach the locked-up wishes and desires.

How can we understand Aoki’s demand to be hit by the cute waitress? While some spectator might think something erotic is in play, the true aim of his demand is to invite the other to do what he cannot: to punish himself for failing to attain the ideal image imposed on him by the corporate Other. It is, moreover, by being punished that Aoki can fleetingly cover up the fractures that mark his ego.

Yet, we need to underline that, despite this demand, it is not clear whether Aoki truly wants to try to attain such ideal. His decision to drink alcohol, however, proves that he, as subject, feels radically subjected to the irresolvable gap between his timid ego and the demanding Other and that he has no subjective answer, no desire, to resolve it (Narra-note 1). How can Aoki find the courage to pose a subjective act and sever the bond with the representative of this Other, his boss (…) (Narra-note 2, Narra-note 3)? And can he offer the other an act without relying on alcohol, an act that is merely driven by his subject?

What about Sakura, the girl Aoki encounters in the park? Why are her interaction with others fuelled with anger and violence? Why does she treat the Other as her enemy. Why does she keep others violently at a distance? To put the riddle of Sakura in different words; what injury is she protecting with her violent but defensive attitude? And does it have any connection with her resolve to catch the pervert roaming the streets?

Kanemoto’s composition provides a nice blend of static and dynamic shots. Yet, the most pleasant aspect of his well-balanced composition is that the visual rhythm is utilized by Kanemoto to support and strengthen the light-hearted moments within his narrative. Visual decorations, like slow-motion and fast-forward, are utilized in the visual fabric to further heighten the comical impact of certain situations.   

The low-budget nature of Kanemoto’s short is most evident in the sound-design – i.e. the way the voice-overs and some of the speech-acts sound. While some spectators will surely be bothered by this, the spatial echo that marks this voice can, in no way, complicate the pleasure of the spectator. On the other hand, Kanemoto does utilize certain non-diegetic sounds well to some dramatic flavour to his comical narrative.

Sad Girl is a pleasant comical romance narrative. While its low-budget nature is felt at all times, the cast gives the narrative a lot of heart and allows the finale to attain its heartwarming impact. Kanemoto shows promise as a director, so we cannot wait what kind of short he will create next.  

Notes

Narra-note 1: Aoki’s wish to resign from his position can be seen as an answer, but it is not fully fuelled by his own desire. His desire is not strong enough to overcome his anxiety and timidness and address a subjective speech-act to the corporate Other.

Narra-note 2: As the narrative underlines, a certain quantum of alcohol can help lower the inhibitions one is subjected to. Yet, such temporary sedation, which allows the subject to act, does little to resolve the conflict between subject and Other.  

Narra-note 3: Let our focus on alcohol not detract from the fact that Aoki, in his attempt to overcome this corporate Other, reveal that its representative is radically castrated.