Ryoko!!

Ryoko!! is first and foremost a vehicle for Muroi Shigeru, who got her start acting in indie films (for Nagasaki Shunichi amongst others) and is now one of the most popular actresses on Japanese TV and a best-selling author on the side. Most of her movie roles have neglected her talent for comedy, but the Ryoko!! project - a TV cinema co-production - is designed to make amends.This is the first in a series of four films, each by a different director, all of them showcasing Muroi as the title character, a terminally untogether magician's assistant whose private life is full of complications. Riju's introductory film embroils her in a criminal conspiracy and saddles her with a pesky and apparently parentless boy. You could take it as a Japanese riff on Cassavetes' Gloria, except that Muroi's unique combination of scattiness, bossiness and fluttering charm lifts it out of the realm of genre and on to some higher plane where the actress and the film are one. Riju has no time or space to do the kind ofsubtle things he did in last year's Elephant Song, but he directs with real brio. Tony Rayns