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4 people are living together in a small apartment, not because they
like each other terribly much but because of common sense, yet despite
thier differences, the arrangement works rather nicely. - There's
Ryosuke (Keisuke Koide), student and part-time waiter who's in love with
his best friend's girlfriend, and eventually he even shags her - though
that doesn't solve anything. - There's Koto (Shihori Kanjiya),
unemployed, who loves to pick her eyebrows. Mostly she just waits for her
boyfriend, a moviestar, to call and invite her to a hotel for some sex.
She also suspects the nighbour of running a brothel, but when she sends
Ryosuke over undercover, he has to find out the neighbour's just a cheesy
soothsayer (that's why all the red curtains and everything). - There's
the intellectual and artistic of the bunch, Mirai (Karina), who has an
alcohol problem and for some reason takes a fancy in an 18 year old male
prostitute, Satoru (Kento Hayashi), and invites him to live with them,
then she throws him out when he tapes over her rape porn tape. - And
then there's Naoki (Tatsuya Fujiwara), the level-headed guy of the bunch,
the one with a real, well-paying job who fixes problems for the others
like telling Koto's boyfriend that she got pregnant or trying to settle
things between Mirai and Satoru and so on. He's also a health nut, oh, and
he kills women in a nearby park ... until one day he's caught in the act
by Satoru. He breaks down in front of Satoru and urges him not to tell
anything - which Satoru has no interest in, claiming everybody (at least
everybody in the apartment) has known anyhow. Finally Naoki breaks down in
front of the others and wants to confess, but by then they have already
focussed their attention on a trip to the country and ask him to come as
if nothing has ever happened. This is a fun film, but not
without its flaws: It starts out pretty great, as some kind of slacker
comedy with Keisuke Koide and Shihori Kanjiya (the two highlights of the
film, acting-wise) playing a wonderful odd couple, who are not attached to
each other but can't let go of each other anyways. As the film goes on
though, it moves into more serious territory - and loses its edge.
Eventually, the irony is by and large replaced by empty clichées, and the
climax, that Naoki is the killer everyone is talking about (even if
half-heartedly) announces itself for way too long. Furthermore, the film
drags on a bit too long (almost two hours) to sustain the tension built up
early in the film and eventually seems to just fizzle out. Still, this
film is well worth a look, because at time it is funnier than most things
seen in recent cinema, one just wishes it could have remained as hilarious
throughout.
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find Parade at adultvideouniverse.com
