Just got through watching the incredible j-movie Funuke Domo, Kanashiki No Ai wo Misero, i.e. “SHOW SOME LOVE, YOU LOSERS!” for the second, third, and now FOURTH time, and I just HAVE to say how much I just love, love , LOVE IT!! This movie is an EFFIN' MASTERPIECE!
I’d been interested in seeing this movie ever since fave reviewer Mark Schilling mentioned it in his write-up for 2007 film HITONO SEX WO WARAUNA. I’ve been a huge fan of Nagasaku Hiromi ever since her RIBBON days, and while praising her work in HITONO SEX, Schilling mentioned how she stole the show in her previous role in Funuke Domo. What WAS this movie? I had to see it!
Now, regular readers know of my infinite love of actress Eriko Sato whom I’ve loved ever since her mouth-watering portrayal of Go Nagai’s salacious super-heroine CUTIE HONEY, and since then, (as you all may have noticed) I’ve found myself relating her cherubic apple-cheeked features to various personalities, whether they be singers like Nana Tanimura or announcers like Yoshie Takeuchi!
After Cutie Honey I didn’t see a whole lot of her besides a great appearance in the Matsuoka Masahiro drama YASUKO TO KENJI (where she played the Martha-Stewart-ish perfect girlfriend Ai against the harried Ryoko Hirosue in a battle to win Kenji’s heart) but thanks to the internet, was able to occupy myself with the multitude of gorgeous shashinshuu and sexy gravure DVDS that were floating all around online in the meantime…
When I was finally able to acquire a copy of Funuke Domo, Kanashiki ai wo Misero I was PLEASANTLY surprised to not only see Hiromi Nagasaku in it- but ERIKO SATO as the HEADLINING actress as well!!!! Rounded out by actors Masatoshi Nagase and Aimi Satsukawa in an eclectic ensemble cast, I KNEW I was in for a GREAT SHOW!
A story concerning the death of an elderly couple which forces their bickering children back to living under the same roof again after years apart. The tale begins at the family wake, where the couple’s two daughters, Sumika and Kiyomi, and their eldest son Shinji and his wife Machiko (the Nagasaku role, and YES, brilliantly played!!!), have all reunited after being apart for four years. The only problem is that rather than a heartfelt family reunion, THIS family is dysfunctional as HELL and almost at once are at each other’s throats!
Eriko plays Sumika, a struggling actress who has only incidentally shown up at the parents’ funeral to show her respect, and has in fact come home mostly to ask for money! As the spoiled, mean-spirited and slightly clueless bombshell, she is LOUD, PUSHY and entirely CALCULATING, and I have to say, Eriko gives it her all here, making the Sumika character both loathsome and sympathetic at the same time! (Not to mention sexy to boot!)When Sumika arrives, she comes with her baggage in tow, and I mean that literally AND figuratively, as she’s brought her mounting money problems and Yakuza-type debt collectors trailing along after her, causing great stress for all involved.
Because of the recent passing of their parents, Shinji informs Sumika that he can’t support her any more and until he can come up with a way to send her a regular stipend, suggests she stay with them at the house for the time being.
Well, Sumika isn’t happy at ALL with this news, and this pressure combined with her struggling acting career is driving her mad. She wants to lash out, and Kiyomi is immediately the designated target for her wrath- indeed, from the moment the two have reunited it is obvious that there is something already going on between the two sisters: it is clear that the two have been enemies for quite some time now!
What is the cause of this sibling rivalry? Well, we find the answers soon enough in a series of staged flashbacks…
Sumika’s lifelong dream has always been to become an actress at all costs, whether it be by double-talking trickery, promiscuous deeds, or even bloody violence against her family, and by pouting, screaming and threatening her way through her adolescent life has slowly but surely managed rise out of their small hick town and into the Big City. But stardom isn’t as easy as she’d like, and between small roles and failed auditions, is getting deeper and deeper into debt.
Kiyomi on the other hand has no such ambitions. In an almost exact polar opposite of big sister Sumika, Kiyomi is introverted, shy, bookish and responsible. She is happy to go to school and get a respectable job in their town as well as help on the farm, but her one fault is that whenever she is confronted with something horrific in her life, she just HAS to get it down on paper, feverishly scribbling her problems into manga style drawings, and her number one obsession is none other than documenting the sordid details of her dominating big sister’s life!
One Day, Kiyomi sees that the Horror Manga she reads is running a contest for new talent, and in a moment of inspiration, digs up the masterpiece she’s written about Sumika’s evil tactics proclaiming, “I Will Do Whatever it Takes to Become an Actress!!” and sends it off for consideration! Unfortunately for all concerned, Kiyomi WINS the Best Newcomer Award, and suddenly her entire family is in shame as Sumika’s true sadistic nature is revealed! Though Kiyomi has since regretted it and has repeatedly begged for forgiveness, Sumika is NOT one to let bygones be bygones, and makes every effort to demonize her little sister, whom she blames for every bad thing that’s happened to her in the 4 years she’s been struggling in Tokyo! But little sister Kiyomi has grown up, too, and soon the movie takes a turn for the AWESOME as the house turns into an epic mental battleground between the sisters!!!
Think SEIGI NO MIKATA with a decidedly violent and sadistic slant with more sexual innuendoes and you’ve got FUNUKU DOMO- Along with Aimi Satsukawa, Eriko gives one of the most electrifying performances of her career, and by the film’s end I was just WALLOWING in satisfaction-This ROCKING movie is DARK, DARK comedy at its absolute crackling BEST!
