Quick Review #114: Shounen (movie)

Title: Shounen / 娼年

Rating: 1 / 10

Recommended for: 

Those who do not mind watching a porn flick disguised as a love story

* Disclaimer: I have not read the original novel.

Liked:

- Matsuzaka Toori and the actresses featured in this movie really gave their all so the single point I gave for this movie was solely for their efforts.

Disliked: 

- Do not be fooled by the positioning of this film as a love story. There was hardly anything related to love featured in the entire movie of where almost 90% of the intimate scenes were pretty much bare-all for the cast. I wondered if the original novel was written to be like this or it was the director and/or scriptwriter's intention to make the movie into such a sensationalised porn flick to attract eyeballs. If I knew what I was getting into, I probably wouldn't feel so angry about literally being taken for a ride. Even though I sped through the movie at 1.5X playback speed as soon as 15 minutes into the film, it was such a torture to sit through this where there was hardly any story to speak of.

- In relation to the above point, I couldn't help but wonder if there was a need to go to this extent for the sex scenes. While I understand that the story needed to show how the lead character evolved to develop new mindsets about sex and women and overcame his trauma as a kid after becoming a call boy and his encounters with various women with different sexual preferences, was there really a need to have such prolonged shots that lingered endlessly on the actresses' chests or subject them to acting out the whole "process" in such an extreme and explicit manner? If it had been that the movie was indeed a love story, where were the parts that should depict the emotions of these characters? As a viewer, I really didn't see why there was a need for so much nudity and explicitness and that many of these scenes were totally redundant.

- Much as I want to commend Matsuzaka and the actresses for their efforts, I also felt that this movie failed to show off their acting chops and other than "showcasing their abilities to act out these overly-explicit bed scenes". I truly wouldn't want to recommend fans of the cast to watch this because the movie just didn't do them justice and could seriously dent your impression or image of your favourites. However, if you are going to watch this with prior knowledge of how extreme it could get, perhaps this might be a bit more palatable and easier to digest.