Hatachi no binetsu (1993)

Director:

Ryosuke Hashiguchi

Writer:

Ryosuke Hashiguchi (writer)

Release Date:

4 September 1993 (Japan)

Genre:

Drama | Romance

Plot:

The story of two young hustlers, Tatsuro and Shin, and her two female friends. Everything seems to work, until the day Shin declares he's in love with Tatsuro. |

Plot Keywords:

Homosexual | Gay Interest | Teen | Male Prostitute | University Student

Awards:

1 win

Cast

  (Credited cast)

Yoshihiko Hakamada	...	Tatsuru Shimamori
Reiko Kataoka	...	Yoriko Suzuki
Masashi Endô	...	Shinichirô Miyajima
Sumiyo Yamada	...	Atsumi
Koji Sato	...	Master
Bunmei Harada	...	Kawakubo
Kouta Kusano	...	Takashi
Yôichi Kawaguchi	...	Ohta
Hiroshi Ôkôchi	...	Customer
Tarô Ishida	...	Yoriko's Father
Wakaba Irie	...	Yoriko's Mother

Also Known As:

A Touch of Fever (International: English title) (video title)
The Slight Fever of a 20-Year-Old

Runtime:

114 min

Country:

Japan

Language:

Japanese

Color:

Color

Certification:

France:U

Company:

Pia

Thin gruel

The word "Slight" in the title fits. Thin acting, an equally thin plot line, and a string of vacuously elongated scenes make up this film, which demonstrates what happens when a director in-over-his-head meets a half-finished script and no-experience talents.

"Fever" -- which is supposed to suggest "hot", not "tepid" -- wants to be a morality play about two young hustlers. Tatsaru is a college student working as a male prostitute. Shin works in the same establishment, a bar whose clients choose from a stable of boys.

Aimed at a teen audience, apparently one motive of this movie is to distinguish for the audience the difference between sex for money and love. The film vaguely manages to approximate this, its only clear, idea ... then gives us two or three empty minutes to contemplate it.

Both of the boys are sought after by girls their own age. The father of one girl is a client of Tatsaru in mid-film. When Tatsaru later goes to her parents' home for dinner, there is nothing but the embarrassed "tension" between the two men to keep us interested ... for at *least ten minutes.

Another of the film's apparent motives: to establish that gay men are lonely, and that love between two men is hopeless. This sentiment -- uncontradicted by any of what passes for action in the film -- is spelled out verbatim by an drunken adult client toward the film's end in another of the stretched-beyond belief scenes. Many art films stretch action to good effect, but this film is just filling time.

I hated "Twist" when I saw it, but it was at least competent as a film. "Sudden Fever" can't begin to aspire to that level.