The multiple character arc style has been used in all manner of films over the decades, be it the likes of Robert Altman in films like NASHVILLE and SHORT CUTS, AMORES PERROS and Quentin Tarantino’s PULP FICTION. The relativity of the stories embraced amidst a key theme or mantra often makes for a worthy experience for audiences.
Now there is SEXUAL DRIVE, writer/director Kôta Yoshida’s arty but very perverse mix of food and fornication that, in the space of seventy engaging and enlightening minutes, focuses on three people whose link is a rather devious but calculating man, Kurita, who has something to offer and deny them.
His first target is designer Enatsu who he confides in straight-talking terms that he is been having an affair. The second is a troubled woman, Akane who literally bumps into him when he is run over. The third involves an advertising agent, Ikeyama, whom he tracks to a silent restaurant (no talking, literally ‘just eat’ if you get the drift).
In each of the cases, Kurita taps into their respective personal issues with assured blackmail and reveals elements and growth indirectly and the sexual ante is upped to an ever greater extent without any real need for explicit nudity or pornography, which is what makes the film a striking example of human relationships and emotional compromise and detachment.
Refreshingly, the film is not dragged out like a lot of these multiple stranded offerings, with some directors determined to play out their official proper Director’s Cut – and works on simplicity and straightforward emotional staging, coupled with a cultural intensity that yields dividends at the highest level.
SEXUAL DRIVE arrives on Virtual Cinema, VOD and Digital on April 22nd, 2022
