Body Drop Asphalt

Wada Junko, who also made the short Athletics #3 (1996), is one of Japan’s leading avant-garde film-makers. This début feature was made under an Aichi Arts Centre scheme to support non-mainstream directors. Shot on digital video, it combines the playful erotics of her short films with a fresh and enjoyable spin on the nuts and bolts of storytelling and the implications of narrative.Manaka Eri (played by Oyamada Sayuri) lives alone in the big city. She writes a romantic novel on impulse and is startled when it gets rave reviews and makes her a literary celebrity. But doubts soon kick in and she begins work on an anti-romantic sequel, in which her heroine Rie goes through the torments of the damned. However, just when she is writing Rie’s suicide, her heroine rises up in protest…Far from the clichés of stories about writers haunted by their own work, Wada shoots this as a pop-art conundrum not unlike early Godard in tone, rhythm and primary-colour thrills. Add music, guest stars (including Suzuki Takuji of the One Piece! project) and the odd ritzy computer graphic and you have an entertainment that’s pure Wada. (Tony Rayns)