DVD Rabâzu: Oou onna

Sensationalist trailers excessively focus on latex garments occasionally noticed in this movie to mislead the public that this is an "adult movie" about mindless sex and without artistic merit. Instead, this is a deeply psychological and artistic film. The protagonist is a very shy young adult woman (played by Aino Kishi), a good hearted loner with a healthy work ethics, who has the misfortune of growing up with an obsessional attraction for rubber clothing, the attraction that usually could make her a target for social rejection, ridicule, and mistreatment. She carefully conceals from her co-workers in a food factory the fact she daily wears some of such undergarments. Her acting is above average, even if measured at high standards. An attractive male co-worker (played by Hiroshi Yamamoto) befriends her. He is a well-meaning and likable young male, conservatively dressed in a gray suit, white shirt, and a tie. He is soon enamored and while kissing her, he caresses her body when they are alone in her apartment. She panics, as his hand might sooner or later detect her rubber undergarments. Unfortunately, he indeed reacts to this discovery with a disappointed surprise and then with a rejection. However, when they again meet in the factory, they discuss her childhood fascination with an actor from action movies who also wore a cat-suit, probably also made from stretchy rubber. They resume dating and now strive to meet each other's need for intimate friendship. As in most such young relationships, they face various misunderstandings and frustrations on this pathway but they also develop a stronger affection for each other that eventually helps them to achieve more harmony. The director Takafumi Watanabe and the actor Aino Kishi skillfully created emotionally very moving scenes that are unusually close to reality, even when scrutinized by a clinical psychologist who occasionally consulted very distressed clients with similar obsessions for certain garments. The movie script, the excellent camera, and Kishi's acting are artistically far above average for Japanese, European, or American cinematography. Persons free of training in fine arts or also persons without a compassionate heart may misjudge or misunderstand this film.