by Teresa M

Created on: July 25, 2008   Last Updated: July 26, 2008

If you're looking for an average, feel-good chic flick, this film isn't for you. But if you want to see a bizarre, strained friendship evolve between a girl wearing 18th century Versailles dresses and bonnets, and an aggressive motorbike gangster, then you might want to give this film a try.

Kamikaze Girls is based on the novel "Shimotsuma Story" by Novala Takemoto. It centers around two characters that couldn't be father apart in modern Japanese teenage subculture and the fashions that define them. Director and screenplay writer Tetsuya Nakashima held nothing back with this film, literally. There are scenes of flying cabbages, anime fight scenes, and the garishly bright lights and noises of Pachinko parlors.

The main character and narrator, Momoko, is a slave to the Lolita fashion, which she actually believes taught her how to live. She concocts scheme after devious scheme to raise the cash she needs to shop at her favorite store "Baby, The Stars Shine Bright", buying ever more outlandish frilly dresses with pastel trimming, ribbons, and lace.

Ichigo, by contrast is a Yanki, a motorbike gang member inspired by 1950s-American icons such as James Dean and Marlon Brando. She wears the long, embroidered coat worn by all the members of her gang; the more embroidery you have, the higher up you are in the gang. Although these gangs, known as speed tribes or kamikaze bikers, have gone out of fashion recently, they still thrive in suburban areas of Japan.

When Momoko starts a business selling fake designer goods on the internet, Ichigo becomes her first customer. The first time Ichigo turns up at Momoko's house on her illegally and brightly customized scooter, both girls are less than impressed with each other. Their first few meetings end violently, usually with Momoko lying on the ground after a knock out by Ichigo.

Yet something keeps drawing Ichigo to Momoko's house. Ichigo can't understand the strange fascination with the Lolita style, and the dream-world isolation it causes for Momoko. And Momoko doesn't believe a young lady should be riding around in such an aggressive motorcycle gang, or why anyone really needs friends at all.

What could loosely be termed a friendship develops over a period of time. Wandering the streets of Tokyo and country roads of Shimotsuma, the two girls learn how the sub-cultures that once saved them have now enslaved them. Momoko is just as bound by her need to buy Lolita fashion as Ichigo is to her gang and the security they provide.

Of course all this has to come to a head, and it does so in dramatic fashion. Thankfully, the film doesn't descend into predictability at this point.

The climax and ending do not involve the girls leaving their former selves behind or merging their two styles together. That would be completely unbelievable and untrue to life. But there are some surprising revelations that will make you think you need to watch the film again. Of course, you'll probably think that anyway.

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