Bounce koGals is a movie about Japanese high school prostitution. But that does not necessarily include sex for them. In fact the girls make more money on "dates" with elderly men, with whom they dine, sing karaoke and listen to. In return they are paid in money and designer clothes. This is the first movie I've seen about Japanese high school girls from their perspective.
The film starts with two storylines which meet in the middle: On the one hand our "typical" bunch of "high gals" and on the other our less typical lead ("Lisa") who's planning on going to New York the very next day (to study there). After Lisa's money gets stolen she turns to newly found friends who help her "earn" enough for her stay in the states, which is how she (and the viewer) get introduced to their way of making money.
The film reminded me a little of Larry Clark's "Kids" (what with all the crime and juvenile life from a different view), though "Kids" seemed to be a kiddy movie with children's problems, completely seperated from the grown up world. Whereas "Leaving" is a much more mature film, in which the "heroines" (there is actually nothing heroic about them, except of course for their true friendship) have to deal not only with themselves, but also with a number of yakuzas (Jap. mafia), old geezers and scavanging saleswomen.
What really struck me was the reality of the movie, in the language (I don't think the subtitles captured even a bit of the slang-jokes), in the superb acting, and in the story. There is no black-and-white-thinking. Bad guys turn out to be human and victims become aggressors. Nearly everybody is disgusted by what they're doing, like the shop owner who first makes our lead feel bad about selling her worn panties to lecherous men and then asks her if she'd be willing to sell her uniform as well.
The camera work was fantastic as well. There were quite a number of visual effects, but none of them overused, like in some movies, in which they become more of a running gag than an act of storytelling. For example the way shots of the past were flashed in (with slightly different coloration). That happened about once, and never again. The background music is used just as well.
The ending isn't too hard to predict but short, good, and very moving.
All in all this is one of the best 5 Japanese movies I have ever seen.
The film starts with two storylines which meet in the middle: On the one hand our "typical" bunch of "high gals" and on the other our less typical lead ("Lisa") who's planning on going to New York the very next day (to study there). After Lisa's money gets stolen she turns to newly found friends who help her "earn" enough for her stay in the states, which is how she (and the viewer) get introduced to their way of making money.
The film reminded me a little of Larry Clark's "Kids" (what with all the crime and juvenile life from a different view), though "Kids" seemed to be a kiddy movie with children's problems, completely seperated from the grown up world. Whereas "Leaving" is a much more mature film, in which the "heroines" (there is actually nothing heroic about them, except of course for their true friendship) have to deal not only with themselves, but also with a number of yakuzas (Jap. mafia), old geezers and scavanging saleswomen.
What really struck me was the reality of the movie, in the language (I don't think the subtitles captured even a bit of the slang-jokes), in the superb acting, and in the story. There is no black-and-white-thinking. Bad guys turn out to be human and victims become aggressors. Nearly everybody is disgusted by what they're doing, like the shop owner who first makes our lead feel bad about selling her worn panties to lecherous men and then asks her if she'd be willing to sell her uniform as well.
The camera work was fantastic as well. There were quite a number of visual effects, but none of them overused, like in some movies, in which they become more of a running gag than an act of storytelling. For example the way shots of the past were flashed in (with slightly different coloration). That happened about once, and never again. The background music is used just as well.
The ending isn't too hard to predict but short, good, and very moving.
All in all this is one of the best 5 Japanese movies I have ever seen.