Kamikaze Girls

7th Annual Japan Foundation Film Series: Young Starlets of Japanese Cinemas
Presented by the Center for Asian Pacific Studies, the Institute of Cinema and Culture, UI International Programs and the Japan Foundation

Momoko (pop idol Kyoko Fukada, pictured above) yearns to live in 18-century Versailles than in her back-country hometown of Shimotsuma, heartland of the yakuza. To escape, she loses herself in the dreamy, doll-like fashions of the “Lolita” scene. Her idol is Akinori Isobe, chief designer of Baby, the Stars Shine Bright—her favorite Lolita design hose. She travels all the way to Tokyo to shop at their store.

One languid summer, to help fund her expensive hobby, Momoko runs a classified ad of brand-name knock-off clothes (produced by her dad) for sale.She encounters a buyer named Ichiko (the real name is Ichigo), who happens to live in her neighborhood.

Super-rebel Ichiko (model and J-rock icon Anna Tsuchiya, pictured below), is a “Yankee”-style member of the Ponytails motorbike gang, one of Ibaraki’s “Wild speed tribes,” whose teeth-rattling customized bikes are decked out with fiberglass shields and bannered backrests.

Somewhat against Momoko’s will, she and Ichigo slowly develop a strong friendship as they share their feelings on the odd goings-ons around them.

Directed by Nakashima Tetsuya
Starring Kyôko Fukada, Anna Tsuchiya and Hiroyuki Miyasako
Japanese w/English subtitles
103 min, 35 mm

Trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cbFEPS8PPic&feature=related