UK Premiere

Short Synopsis:

A sensitive, restrained portrait of a chef with Bulimia.

Review:

You may remember last year an impressive Japanese docu-drama that screened at Raindance. Entitled Now, I... it provided a raw and powerful depiction of the self destructive trajectory of a Hikikomori, a teenager afflicted by acute social withdrawal, a peculiarly Japanese condition. Lost Girl is a promising directorial debut and a similarly striking study of a mental illness and how it affects those around the sufferer.

Ryoko Tanabe was once a successful chef who ran a restaurant with her partner Daichi, but we first meet her in the film wrapped in blankets in her tiny bedroom, surrounded by junk food packets and vomiting into a bucket. She’s suffering from Bulimia. The film hints at various causes: perhaps it was triggered by the incident in which she accidentally poisons a customer, perhaps she’s motivated by a perverse sense of rebellion, or maybe it’s because she can’t have children? These things are never easily explained and the film is all the better for not trying to prescribe a solution or give a reason. For his part Daichi can’t accept the person she has become, and tries everything to get her back; begging her to eat, using psychological tactics and eventually brute force born out of desperation. The camera quietly observes the couple as the illness chips away at their relationship without judgement. It’s an acutely aware and sensitive portrayal of depression from first time director Daisuke Yamaoka, but the fantastically subtle performances from the two leads certainly helps.

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