Bounce Ko Gals

Masato Harada's 1997 Japanese film takes place over one day and night in Shibuya. Jonko, who organises paid dating, Raku, a street dancer, and Togo, saving money to leave for New York, are drawn together over a single evening. The film neither excuses this arrangement, which spread in nineties Japan, nor treats it only as a crime. The girls' bargaining power, the demand of adult men and the adult world standing in between are shown at once; who is using whom keeps shifting. Because the narrative is compressed into one night the pace is high. Koji Yakusho appears in support, representing the adults' side. Harada does not criticise the consumer culture of the period directly; he shows it. Who it's for: those who like nineties Japanese cinema and city-centred social drama. Who it's not for: viewers troubled by the sexual exploitation of minors, which the subject requires; the film puts it at the centre.