Hooptober XII
10/35

Shigeharu Aoyama wants to window shop for a new wife, forgoing the process of dating all together to instead go along with his friends’ scheme of a fraudulent film audition to find his ideal woman. Together they vet the women and during the audition process, Aoyama sits in still silence, like a predator lurking, waiting for his prey. Asami “wins” the part of his new partner and plays the submissive role expected of her—essentially a blank slate for Aoyama to project his desires and onto. So when the power dynamic flips halfway through the film, the audience is taken on a truly thrilling ride of female retribution.

Notes from my viewing:
-She’s just his type on paper lol iykyk
-OOOOH I ASSUMED WHAT WAS IN THE BAG BUT I DIDN’T THINK IT’D BE ALIVE
-That’s a great coat. I want her coat
-Gaslight gatekeep girlboss??
-We really could have just left the dog out of this
-Alternative title, The Bachelor: extreme acupuncture edition
- Asami using needles to penetrate Aoyama while straddling him visually and metaphorically reads as an inversion of her experience with sexual assault
-Metaphorical condemnation/destruction of the male gaze by putting needles in his eye sockets???
-“deeper deeper deeper” / “cut cut cut” / “tickle tickle tickle” (whatever translation is most correct) was some seriously unsettling stuff oof
-This kid asking his dad if he is okay when he is actively missing a foot and has needles protruding from his body. Brother, hello????? You’re not the one with needles in your eye sockets, can you not discern that he is, in fact, not doing too hot?

The tonal regulation of this film is phenomenal. The difference from the first act to the final act is an immense shift that was executed flawlessly. Admittedly most of the expert build up and audience manipulation of genre expectations that this film is known for was lost on me because I had a rough idea of where this film was headed due to someone partially ruining the twist for me a decade earlier. But even knowing where it was headed, I loved it. My only major gripe is the pet death. Those are never necessary in my opinion and it loses half a star for that. Otherwise, this does indeed slap