Asian Film Review: A Nite in Nude (ヌードの夜　愛は惜しみなく奪う - 2010)

While I was at TIFF I actually only had time to see ONE movie...  between the festival events and all my Halloween related work I was too busy to see all the screenings I wanted to.

So you can guess that any movie I made time to see would have to be special!  I went to see a screening of "ヌードの夜　愛は惜しみなく奪う", aka "A Nite in Nude",  starring Takenaka Naoto (you may remember him as the police officer in 'Shinjuku Incident') and our very own Hiroko Sato and directed by Ishii Takashi this film is actually a remake/sequel to his 1993 film "Night in Nude", also starring Takenaka.

I don't quite know how to describe this movie... its partly crime drama, part psychological thriller mystery, part tragedy.  Tenaka plays a jack of all trades handyman,  getting hired for all manner of jobs, including a few 'no questions asked' type.  He eventually crosses paths with a beautiful woman who asks him to find her friend, a poor girl from an abusive family who has disappeared into Shinjuku's underground sex industry.

As you can imagine what he finds out is that Hiroko's character is not quite as innocent as she lead him to believe!  I don't want to give it away, but its definitely a bit dark and shocking!   

Note to self - stay away from girls who work at strip clubs no matter much they claim they are over their daddy issues!  :-P

The film is pretty well made for a low-budget Japanese film (in Japan lately even the big-budget films look like made-for-TV movies).  The camera work is pretty good and the performances are all very strong, especially from Takenaka and Sato.  I can see why from an actor's point of view they wanted to be part of this movie,  despite the subject matter they get the opportunity to show a great deal of emotional range, from anger, fear, horror to sympathy and affection.

FYI - the title is VERY apt... there is a LOT of nudity in this movie (mostly from Sato).  Personally I felt a bit uncomfortable watching because I have met Hiroko several times so its hard to watch her prancing around naked on screen! :-P