billy_bang

This film is the director's first feature. Homosexuality has always existed of course in all societies, Japan not being an exception, but I have read that this was one of the first films to deal with it in a matter of fact way. Granted a main protagonist who is in college but works as a rent boy every night is not you typical coming of age gay story. Nor does Hashiguchi beat about the bush. The very first scene sees the boy Tatsuro in a hotel room with middle-aged trick. Not does the boy act contrite or feel ashamed. As he says in the film when asked, the work does not disgust him. The actor who plays him- Yoshihiko Hakamada- is tall, with a aloof, steely demeanour. As the interviews make clear, he was cast after a lengthy audition, and many had commented then that both him, and the director Hashiguchi (then a very youthful 31) looked like brothers. He is superb. The film also details his relationship with a female classmate and a younger hustler to whom he unwittingly becomes a protector. (Masashi Endo who plays the latter looks like a non-professional actor, and his scenes are a bit awkward). Although Hashiguchi has dealt with homosexuality as central themes in later films, the subject matter is not so upfront and explicit as here. (HUSH his breakout film, has only one brief cuddle between the gay couple in the entire film). I guess as the mainstream beckons and the budgets get bigger, your films have to appeal to a wider audience to make some return.. Hashiguchi to his credit has found a middle way in later films without being a wash out (think of the misfires and Hollywood projects of Gus Van Sant as compared to the poetry of his first film Mala Noche for an example). However on the DVD I have (released by Water Bearer films) there is an interview with Hashiguchi who in fact says that on it's release the film (English translation- SLIGHT FEVER IN A 20-YR. OLD) did pretty well in revenues in Japan, especially among the younger audiences.

This is Hashiguchi's 3rd feature. Gone are the rough edges of his first (SLIGHT FEVER IN 20-YR OLD), gone too the larger ensemble complexities of his second (LIKE GRAINS OF SAND). This, although featuring a slightly awkward introduction of the 3 protagonists at the start, is smoother and more commercial in feel. The sort of thing Hollywood would buy the rights to for a bland adaptation with major 'stars'. Not sure if Hashiguchi felt the need to broaden his appeal this time around. As other reviews have mentioned, it centres on a gay relationship between two men from their first meeting (they casually run into each other outside a gay pub) to starting to live together, when unexpectedly a lonely woman barges in with the startling proposition to one of the men (Katsuhiro) to father a child with her, because she likes him and thought he had a 'father's eyes'. Side strands of each of their familial relationships are woven in. The one involving the closeted gay character Katsushiro's visit to his family home to visit his brother is as masterful as anything by Ozu. There are a couple of melodramatic plots as well (one involving a female co-worker of Katsushiro's who develops a Fatal Attraction like infatuation with him). Katshushiro, played by Seiche Tanabe, is tall, handsome and has an inner quietude, and you can understand why all all these people want to throw themselves at him, including his lover Nagoya (played by Kazua Takahashi). Reiko Karaoke plays Asako the woman who wants a child. Her performance is the most compelling in a way- showing a complex, mixed up confused woman with a good heart behind her gruff exterior. The scenes of the three of them together (especially a montage in the latter half of the film) are marvellous! This film is 2 hours long but is filled with incidents made up of everyday life, it never drags. I have now watched it a couple of times, and can say it is a film I can easily revisit with pleasure!

As of now, 2016, no English subtitled DVD print of this film exists. It is Hashiguchi's second feature and has a bigger ensemble cast of young actors all expertly directed with utmost naturalism. It initially centres on Ito, a boy who has a crush of his best friend Yoshida, who himself although polite, is straight, and keen on a girl, Aihara, who in turn seems to detest him and fancies Ito instead!. The script veers from joy to the overwrought: one minute everything is simple, in the next suicidal despair! The film deserves to be a classic- not just pegged as a 'gay' coming of age film which is only one of the many strands in the film (high school coolness and popularity, bullying and jealousy are the others). Parents hardly feature at all. The specifics of family life (an important strand in Hashiguchi's next film HUSH) is completely left out. These are adolescents remember!- they exist everywhere in their own bubble. And unlike HUSH, parts of LIKE GRANIS OF SAND is not easy to watch. There's nothing 'feel good' in it. It is loaded with the pain and confusion of finding out whom you might be, and what choices you will have to make. Choices that in a way determine the rest of your life. Hashiguchi is a director who paces his films beautifully. The long takes never feel forced. It is scandalous no one has bothered to pick this up for distribution with English subtitles. There is a French release with French subtitles only.