Sailor Suit and Machine Gun: Graduation (2016)

     This film is an adaptation of Yaguchi Shinobu's novel with the same title. Like a course cuisine, the film contains typical Japanese cultural elements such as life in high school and Yakuza. On top of that, it also touches upon contemporary Japan's problem of silver society.

     I assume the filmmaker attempted to describe mental development the youth by the combination of a high school girl and Yakuza. Though problematic, it is a fresh try. However, while I like the film's theme, it is hard to agree with the way how the filmmaker directed it.

     There is a clear discrepancy between the aud's expectation (or just mine?) and the film's mood. In such a film like this, one might expect fancy action scenes in which the cute Hashimoto Kanna wipes out the evil Yakuza. On the contrary, this film is never frivolous. This is neither an action film nor a Noir. That's not bad. If it was a frivolous idol action movie, it could have been even worse, due to the uncanny combination between a girl and violence.

     

     The problem is, the film's tempo is totally loose. I understand that the filmmaker deliberately used long-takes in order to convey simultaneity (spectating Kanna in a real time) and to prevent emotional fissures. I buy the filmmakers's effort to take such long and well-tailored shots, but pertaining to the entire picture, those shots were not good with the nihilistic plot. Though I did not read the original novel, I guess the director used long-takes in order to solely depend on his actors's performance because bitterness of loss is what the original book says.

     In fact, it is a probable artistic option. However, I assume the film's box office score manifests that such a direction was incompatible with the taste of the aud, especially fans of Kanna. She was and is truly kawaii, but the film caused a controversy on her action because of it excessive dependence on her. Does she really have a capacity to lead a two-hour film alone? I doubt it.