A Vivid Image of Surrealism: Nakashima's Kamikaze Girls (2004)

One of the most beloved Japanese directors of the 21st century, Tetsuya Nakashima’s first prominent film—though he had worked on other projects so far—Kamikaze Girls (2004) would hint at what else was to emerge. For those who have enjoyed the art style, narrative technique, and atmosphere of his later product Memories of Matsuko (2006) would be no strangers to Nakashima’s signature filmmaking techniques and camera angles which were established with Kamikaze Girls. The stories, however, are quite different.

Kamikaze Girls could be designated into many forms and branches of art depending on either (1) the individual or (2) the specific scene at hand. In general, though, it oscillates between surrealism, absurdism, or magical realism. The plot of the film is actually quite simple and cliché: Momoko’s meeting and befriending her exact opposite, mirror image if you will, peer Ichiko. After they make themselves acquainted with one another—although Momoko is hesitant to befriend her—the plot revolves around the theme of their friendship and relationship through different settings, interactions, and dialogues.

Momoko, the protagonist of the film, is a teenager who is smitten with the seventeenth-century Rococo period, with its extravagance, lavishness, ostentatiousness, and hedonistic worldview. All of the aforementioned words are also one of the hallmarks of the foundation and psychology regarding the existence of Momoko. Under the guise of her sweet, kawaii, and Lolita-like appearance, there lies someone who claims—and shows the signs of—to be bereft of a pure soul, a twisted and abhorrent person. The artistic trailblaze could have been only a simple disguise so as to not fully expose her true self to the rest of the world, though we are not quite knowledgeable pertaining to that topic.

Moreover, Momoko claims that with her discovery of the Rococo period in seventeenth-century Europe, at the age of sixteen, she buried her old self and filled the gap it left with her new area of interest. In order to sustain this mode of living, which required frilly dresses and ornate articles of clothing, she had to resort to an unending series of lies and deceptions so that she could obtain money from her father. The moral degeneracy, general desensitization, hedonistic proclivities, and amorality can be tracked to the presupposed elements of the Rococo period, whether she is extremely attentive to its details or Momoko is trying to justify her personality cannot be determined altogether.

The counterpart of Momoko, Ichiko is absolutely the complete opposite of her. Momoko’s dreamy sustenance, corrupt nature, and loneliness extraordinarily contrast with Ichiko’s down-to-earth, masculine, and practical nature. Although Ichiko looks much worse than Momoko in terms of outward appearance, her temperament and personality—such as the amount placed on subjects such as love and friendship—are wholly superior. Their upbringing and the represented outcome are also quite nonidentical: while Momoko grew up in a troubled household, she turned out to be a kawaii aficionado whereas Ichiko’s warm and whole household rendered her future self to indulge in rough biker gangs and disheveled impasse.

Kamikaze Girls (2004) is a film that captures your interest with its surrealist and magical realist atmosphere, taking your breath away with vivid and animated colors as if vicariously tasting the air and the grass on your screen. Nakashima’s film, all in all, is uniquely hospitable and comforting, whether it is through the characters, plot, or the setting up to the audience itself.