3
Mar/12

GLOBUS FILM SERIES — LOVE WILL TEAR US APART: VIBRATOR

3
Mar/12

Rei (Shinobu Terajima) is in desperate need of human connection in tender, moving VIBRATOR

VIBRATOR (Ryūichi Hiroki, 2003)
Japan Society
333 East 47th St. at First Ave.
Sunday, March 4, $12, 5:30
Series runs March 2-18
212-715-1258
www.japansociety.org

Japan Society’s examination of twisted sex, erotic obsession, and violence focuses on the treatment of those issues in Japanese and Korean cinema, which often have similar narrative structures. On March 4 at 5:30, they will present the unusual road movie Vibrator. Based on the novel by Mari Akasaka, Ryūichi Hiroki’s film is a poetic journey of one woman’s desperate need for connection. Shinobu Terajima (Caterpillar) gives a subtly riveting performance as Rei, a thirty-one-year-old lonely bulimic freelance journalist who hears voices in her head. Shopping in a convenience store for beer and wine, she gets the urge to have a sexual encounter with a stranger, and in walks Okabe (Nao Omori), a younger blond truck driver. After a beautifully shot scene of their love making, Rei asks if she can join him on his travels, and the two set off on a surprisingly tender adventure. Winner of Best Film, Best Director, Best Screenplay (Haruhiko Arai), Best Actress (Terajima), and Best Supporting Actor (Omori) at the twenty-fifth Yokohoma Film Festival, Vibrator is a compelling psychological tale of a complex, troubled soul seeking to be touched by another human being. Hiroki ( I Am an S&M Writer, Tokyo Trash Baby) imbues the film with a gentle thoughtfulness that prevents turning the protagonists into clichéd characters; Vibrator is not so much about sexuality or eroticism as it is about the pain and anguish of loneliness. Among the other films screening this weekend at Japan Society are Ryuichi’s M, Hirokazu Kore-eda’s Air Doll, Lee Yoon-ki’s My Dear Enemy, Shinya Tsukamoto’s A Snake of June, and Koji Wakamatsu’s Petrel Hotel Blue.