Shôjo
2001 / 132m - Japan
Drama
3.5*/5.0*
An Adolescent poster

Watches

August 10, 2004

4.0*/5.0*

February 12, 2022

3.5*/5.0*

A rather peculiar drama. It's a film I discovered at the very start of my journey through Japanese cinema. Looking at it now the flaws are a tiny bit more obvious, but the core quality of An Adolescent is still there. A film about a forbidden love that isn't all that judgmental, nor even that focused on its taboo subject.

Yoko is a young girl who just moved to a small, rural town. She tries to seduce an older man, but when they go to a hotel room nothing really happens. The man is a cop, but he is so infatuated with Yoko that he starts looking for her around town. Fate brings them back together and they get involved.

It's interesting to see a film about this topic, with the primary focus on their love instead of the taboo elements of the relationship. The cinematography is solid, the soundtrack nice and the performances on point, but something is still missing to really elevate this film. I had a lot of fun revisiting this, but it's not quite a personal favorite anymore.