Film genres or themes that are largely specific to a single country are always interesting to me. <br><br>Lately, I've watched a lot of films, some that could be considered pink films, that involve two young people in their teens or early twenties living in the same building developing a relationship or at least an extreme infatuation with one another; movies like Ryoko Yoshida's <i>Love Twisted</i>, Hiroki's <i>Tokyo Trash Baby</i>, Sato Toshiki's suprisingly good pink film <i>Empty Room</i>. All of these involve a female infatuated with a male that lives down the hall or next door. There are other films I've watched that have this similar plot/theme, but their names escape me. <br>
<br>As for seishun eiga (youth films), filmmaker Hiroshi Ishikawa's two films fit in that genre, especially <i>Su-ki-da</i>. I think he's a great, and largely ignored filmmaker, perhaps because of his tv commerical background. <br>
<br>For more youth films, just run down Aoi Miyazaki's filmography. Even if the film itself doesn't fit the genre perfectly, it's likely her character does; films such as the dreadful<i> Loved Gun</i> that I turned off after about an hour last night. Even Aoi's puppy dog face couldn't save that one. <br>
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