No one will ever confuse this as being another "Lost in Translation" but I'm personally intrigued by just about any film that takes place in Japan and if you throw in a young actress that could stop traffic with her looks than it would be practically impossible for me not to give it a recommendation. Story is about an 18 year old Belgian beauty named Angela (Chloe Winkel) who's an aspiring artist and bored with her life until she meets and falls in love with a Japanese DJ named Yamamoto (Jon Yang) who tells her that he can get her a job in Tokyo working as a hostess in a bar. In no time Angela packs her bags and without telling her parents she jumps on an airplane and heads to Japan.
*****SPOILER ALERT***** Angela arrives in Tokyo and has a hard time convincing Papa-San (Bert Kwouk) to hire her but after a scuffle with another girl she gains the attention of the bar's clientèle. With her young looks she becomes the most popular hostess in the establishment but Angela also has a hard time with the other hostesses who think that she's taking away their tip money and they strike back by putting glue in her shampoo and broken glass in her soup. Angela also starts a mini investigation in the disappearance of a former hostess named Larissa (Peggy Jane De Schepper) who is presumed dead but when she starts to ask questions everyone keeps quiet and act as if they don't know anything.
This is the third film directed by Matthias X. Oberg and it's still hard to determine how talented a filmmaker he actually is although it's clear he's not what you would call a commercial director and he's shown a penchant to take on provocative stories. To Oberg's credit he gives his film a visual quality by having certain scenes shift from Angela's drawings to what's actually taking place and he also creates a sort of dreamlike mood that has a definite resonance especially with the quiet narration that is spoken. Okay, now that I've detailed the technical aspects that stand out in this film the real reason to watch this is to gawk at the screen debut of Chloe Winkel who possesses beauty that's just darn right rare! Winkel is a model who has taken acting classes and was spotted in a school play(!) when she was cast in this film and like Ewa Aulin from "Candy" she has the definitive nymphet quality that seemingly absorbs the screen she's inhabiting. This film has some sort of mystery in the story but as I continued to watch I kept thinking "who cares" because I just couldn't keep my eyes off of this beautiful creature and let's give Oberg credit again for casting this total unknown in the lead role. Nice job! I'm the first to admit that she really doesn't act here and I don't know if she can act at all but she definitely has a screen presence that can't be taught and I'll make it my mission in life to follow her career for as long as she continues to appear in films. This film is moderately interesting and maybe one day Oberg will become an important director but the real reason to view this film is because of the debut of the luscious Winkel.
*****SPOILER ALERT***** Angela arrives in Tokyo and has a hard time convincing Papa-San (Bert Kwouk) to hire her but after a scuffle with another girl she gains the attention of the bar's clientèle. With her young looks she becomes the most popular hostess in the establishment but Angela also has a hard time with the other hostesses who think that she's taking away their tip money and they strike back by putting glue in her shampoo and broken glass in her soup. Angela also starts a mini investigation in the disappearance of a former hostess named Larissa (Peggy Jane De Schepper) who is presumed dead but when she starts to ask questions everyone keeps quiet and act as if they don't know anything.
This is the third film directed by Matthias X. Oberg and it's still hard to determine how talented a filmmaker he actually is although it's clear he's not what you would call a commercial director and he's shown a penchant to take on provocative stories. To Oberg's credit he gives his film a visual quality by having certain scenes shift from Angela's drawings to what's actually taking place and he also creates a sort of dreamlike mood that has a definite resonance especially with the quiet narration that is spoken. Okay, now that I've detailed the technical aspects that stand out in this film the real reason to watch this is to gawk at the screen debut of Chloe Winkel who possesses beauty that's just darn right rare! Winkel is a model who has taken acting classes and was spotted in a school play(!) when she was cast in this film and like Ewa Aulin from "Candy" she has the definitive nymphet quality that seemingly absorbs the screen she's inhabiting. This film has some sort of mystery in the story but as I continued to watch I kept thinking "who cares" because I just couldn't keep my eyes off of this beautiful creature and let's give Oberg credit again for casting this total unknown in the lead role. Nice job! I'm the first to admit that she really doesn't act here and I don't know if she can act at all but she definitely has a screen presence that can't be taught and I'll make it my mission in life to follow her career for as long as she continues to appear in films. This film is moderately interesting and maybe one day Oberg will become an important director but the real reason to view this film is because of the debut of the luscious Winkel.