| Bounce koGals ( 1997) |
| Cast: Hitomi Sato ... Jonko Yasue Sato ... Rakuchan Yuko Okamoto ...Lisa Koji Yakusho ... Oshima Momoi Kaori ... Saki Micky Curtis |
| Runtime: 109 mints Release Date: October 25,1997 Directed by Masato Harada Writing credit: Masato Harada |
| If you see Masato Harada's "Bounce koGals" without any knowledge about the cast, I bet that you wouldn't identify him the man called Oshima as Koji. In this film Koji Yakusho appears with blue-tinted glasses wearing a smart suit. His appearance is very intellectual, but his profession is actually that of a yakuza (gangster), who owns various entertainment shops and bars, including the one called "CHE" in Shibuya, Tokyo; he was a politically left-wing university student in Tokyo and admired CHE Guevara in the early 1970s. Oshima is not a main figure in this film. The main characters are three high school girls, Jonko, Raku-chan and Lisa. Oshima intervenes Jonko and her company's activities, which do prostitution to get money to buy brand-goods, and the like. He laments in front of one of those high school girls who has followed him in a hotel room that those high school girls action has recently ruined his business. Oshima in his middle forties with a teenage daughter at home looks puzzled at their motives, too. Koji says that he agreed to join the cast of Masato Harada's new film, since he liked his films and worked with him in a 1995 film called "Kamikaze Taxi", where he played a role of a Japanese Peruvian taxi-driver working in Tokyo. One last thing to say: there is a scene in which Koji sings "The International" with Jonko in his bar using karaoke facilities. It's fun to hear his old girl friend's comment at a later scene that policemen used to nag student-demonstrators while they were singing "The International", saying that they were always out of tune at one part. |
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| Oshima (Yakusho) and Saki (Kaori Momoi) |
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| The New York Times: Official trailer |
| Beyond Hollywood com:Movie Review Nippon Cinema Review |
| IMDb: Bounce Ko Gals |
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