Japanese Grindhouse/Exploitation films hold a special place in my heart-- I think it's the combination of over-the-top blood spraying violence and out there Japanese bizarreness. Most never take themselves too seriously and are filled with wacky characters with cool wardrobes, unique weaponry, and crazy attitudes. With a title like Psycho Gothic Lolita (or by Japanese title Gothic and Lolita Psycho) you'd think it would live up too all those things and be as crazy violent as Tokyo Gore Police, or as over the top as The Machine Girl (both of which are on Netflix, so go watch'em if you haven't) but for some reason it just doesn't quite.
[caption id="attachment_693" align="aligncenter" width="614" caption="Yuki, our Hot Topic boots clad heroine."]
[/caption]Plot-wise this movie doesn't have a lot going for it, but it has enough to keep you watching. It's a typical (for this kind of movie) revenge story where our Gothic Lolita (Japan's name for frilly Victorian goth style) clad heroine must hunt down and kill the assassins who crippled her father and murdered her mother. There's a twist in there that I won't spoil, but it's mostly about the fights, which are lighting-quick, super cool, and blood sprayingly gory.
The problem, I think, is the characters. Our lead, played by Rina Akiyama (winner of the surely prestigious 2007 Best Butt in Japan Award) just isn't cool enough. She's just not selling "hardcore badass" to me enough. For a revenge movie to really work, you really have to get the audience behind the character seeking revenge, you have to make the audience want it as bad as the character. Think about Kill Bill for a minute, and how bad The Bride wanted to kill the titular Bill and how much you wanted her to do it. In this movie, the revenge is just a vehicle for the plot, not a drive for the character. This keeps the movie from achieving true coolness, when you can't rally behind the heroine. On top of that, they never really explain the whole goth thing...it's just a gimmick for the movie, which is lame. She does fight with an umbrella that is a combination spear/gun though, which is pretty darn cool and unique.
[caption id="attachment_713" align="aligncenter" width="555" caption="The most entertaining character in the film...and yes that is a cellphone/gun."]
[/caption]The handful of characters that Yuki must assassinate is mostly boring, aside from a couple standouts, the best being the obnoxiously cheery/hilarious schoolgirl named Lady Elle (perhaps a refrence to Kill Bill's Elle Driver? They both have one eye too!). Elle's also practically an even match for our gothy heroine, their fight probably being the best one in the movie. Watching the two of them clash is super awesome, especially with the fantastic fight choreography, which is honestly a step above most movies of this nature. Elle even answers a cell phone call on her combination pistol/cellphone while still managing to hold off Yuki! The whole fight is just a complete riot, and probably worth the price of admission.
[caption id="attachment_714" align="aligncenter" width="550" caption="Not pictured: Gerao's dumb mop"]
[/caption]The second interesting enemy would have to be the psychic school teacher, Gerao Yuri (a play on Yuri Geller). He literally flies around the gym cross-legged, fighting Yuki with only a mop. It's a pretty decent effect and looks absolutely ludicrous in motion. It's the kind of special effect so goofy it only really works in a movie like this. The other characters are either completely uninteresting or just utter letdowns after Gerao and Elle. Even the final guy, Masato, is sort of anti-climatic after the other fights-- and he even reveals the secret behind Yuki's mother's death!
Even with its shortcomings, though, Psycho Gothic Lolita is still a pretty entertaining movie. Sure there's other movies in this genre that are a lot better (the aforementioned Machine Girl and Tokyo Gore Police) but it's still worth a watch if you like gory Japanese revenge flicks. It's only $2.99 to rent it on YouTube (which is apparently something you can do), and it's definitely worth it at that price.
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