Yokubo - A Review.

AKA: Desire.
Director: Tetsuo Shinohara.
Language: Japanese.
Rating: * * *

Desire is a tricky customer to handle. They can drive us to the zenith of an endevaour, or make us dig our own graves. They can enslave us, or set us free. Whatever may be the repercussions, desire is what ultimately makes us tick, and do the things that we do. And the most flammable, yet, the most pleasing of all desires is the desire for love, for intimacy.

Ruiko (Yuka Itaya), in her 30s, is on the lookout for something meaningful when it comes to relationship. But she settles for just steamy moments under the bed sheets every Saturday, with one of the teachers at the school where she works as a librarian. Ruiko doesn’t mind being used and using someone else to satisfy one’s carnal instincts. Apparently, she has given up on having something substantial with another man. Her weekend stint with her sleeping partner, who’s purportedly a family man, is what she always looks forward to, and that seems to be the only outlet for her physical needs and ultimately what keeps her satisfied for the moment. One day, Ruiko runs into Asao (Saki Takaoka), a good friend from junior high, and learns that she’s plucked an oldster for herself as a life partner. This wealthy psychiatrist seems to fulfill all of Asao’s materialistic needs, but abhors her sexual drive and her intimate demands. He dictates her everyday movements, and is hellbent on altering the way she goes about living her life. Even though she despises the totalitarian intents of this fellow, she’s willing to trade all her sensual cravings for a financial and social stability in her life. Then, there’s Masami (Yuka Itaya), a common friend to the two ladies from junior high, and who was once besotted by Asao. Masami’s feelings were returned by Asao during their heydays, but he was soon dumped right after meeting a life-altering accident. The accident led to the loss of circulation in Masami’s private parts, resulting in permanent erectile dysfunction. Since then, he’s been bottling his eros and putting it away.

Years later, these characters are reunited, and Masami admits to Ruiko of still having feelings for Asao. Ruiko has always been Masami’s confidante. Regardless of the nature of conversation, he always felt comfortable in opening up to Ruiko; even the fact that he’s incapacitated sexually. After a night out with Ruiko, Masami bursts out of his barriers, and confesses his love for her. Apparently, Ruiko was always the one for him, but Masami never had the galls to move in that direction because of his condition. However, his unfathomably suppressed feelings for Ruiko, finally gets the better of him and he breaks down before her. Another truth is that even Ruiko had gradually been getting mesmerized by this hapless soul. There were moments when she wished for his love, but the idea of not having the same physical pleasures as she does now, kind of made her hold back her feelings. But now, the opportunity for boundless love in the face of lack of physical intimacy impels Ruiko to reciprocate Masami’s feelings. She decides to hell with her occasional libido, and experience the one emotion she never thought she’d be the recipient of: love. She even comforts Masami by letting him know that she doesn’t care about his inability to please a woman in bed. All she wants from him is to love her. Asao, on the other hand, has her every need fulfilled besides the sexual ones. She’s overwrought because of this void, but continues to put up with being kept on a short leash, until one day, when she thinks she’s had enough. The finale is reached through, what may seem as a sacrifice to some, human stupidity. Well, human beings are fallible after all.

Desire and its diverse metamorphosis loomed large throughout the movie, and reared its gnawing head occasionally. However, the core was housed by the longing for another human being in its extreme, intimate form; notwithstanding the nature of the associated relationship. The movie tried to portray the sway that a person’s desire holds over him, and how we tend to contort ourselves so as to accommodate our, sometimes unrealistic, wants. Not everyone gets everything in life, and it’s flagrantly apparent in this movie; especially when it comes to having your feelings requited. The trinity of the movie shared physical attributes that would make anyone week in their knees. But appearances are not what desires fester on, and it’s not everyone’s cup of tea to deliver on its keeling, slippery and temperamental ground. . The heart wants what it wants, and there’s not much one can do about it, period.

The characters were very-well fleshed out, and the script, along with the unencumbered execution of the same, did ample of justice to the transformation that these people undergo over a period of time. All the actors pulled off their parts competently and effortlessly. Yuka as the tormented Masami, who gradually embraces his failings, shined in his part. Saki, as the part-gold-digger-part-servile Asako, balanced the tightrope of desire with aplomb, and her refined depiction of a petulant housewife, driven to the edge of paranoia and reclusion because of the lack of intimacy, was painful to say the least. However, it’s Yuka as the principal character of the movie, to whom the movie really belongs to. Incorporating all the traits that the other two characters possessed, and adding her own vulnerability and frailty into the mix, she was able to invoke empathy and care for her character. Despite having the looks and the radiating charm, she succumbed to the ultimate need of momentary companionship, smothering her innermost feelings to have another human being touch her for anything other than sex. And the moment she finally has her wish granted, the fortitude with which she expels the craving for heat between the two bodies, and venture into the uncharted territory of love, carries with it the strength and the intent one one’s part to move heaven and earth, just for some tender, true moments with your other half. A pool of emotions lay under that rugged, jaded, yet, charming exterior of Ruiko. And when she finally finds love, all that ailed her seemed to peel off, and her inner self started glowing. Yuka was brilliant in delivering on both counts, sketching both extreme aspects of the character meticulously.

The movie had a notch-above ordinary direction, with few scenes being the piece de resistance of the whole offering. There, the direction needed to be something on a sublime level, and it sure was. The scene in discussion is where Masami and Ruiko are sharing an intimate moment, and despite being well aware of Masami’s problem, she doesn’t hold herself back in living each and every part of that experience. Masami, on the other hand, tries and prays hard to give Ruiko what every female wants in bed: sexual ecstasy. But he never succeeds, and at one point of time, during the act, he even hits himself on his abdomen, hoping to miraculously jumpstart the circulation, so that he could please the love of his life. Masami breaks down in bed, being unable to perform, and apologises to Ruiko for being a failure. Ruiko bosoms Masami, with all her might, comforting him, and letting him know that all she desires now is for him to be by her side. Movie as a whole may not be brilliant, but it’s small moments like these and the emotionally stirring performances that makes this movie worth watching