jake s
Sort of a Japanese version of "Girls", only deadly serious.
Rated 3.5/5 Stars •
Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars
03/31/23
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Audience Member
With a saccharine sweet title and poster like that, you will be forgiven for dismissing Strawberry Shortcakes as just another frivolous chick flick. You'll be in for a surprise as it is a bleak and contemplative look at the solitary lives of four young females living menial lives in Tokyo, searching for love or getting over heart breaks in their own idiosyncratic and painful ways. Though the movie takes its time unravelling the characters, I was drawn into the unemcumbered approach to the story, i.e. no plot contrivances, and the strong and memorable performances of the leads who are so distinctively drawn, warts and all, you can't help but sympathise with them. No matter how dire their circumstances. It is sad to see that females are subjugated even in modern Japanese society.
Rated 4/5 Stars •
Rated 4 out of 5 stars
02/12/23
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Audience Member
The themes of unrequited love, loneliness, one-sided relationship, and wishing for love might have been done to death... but this movie somehow still manages to tug on the heart strings. There is just something so strangely familiar about the stories that many will relate to one way or another.
Rated 3.5/5 Stars •
Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars
01/30/23
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Audience Member
This depicts the depressing life of four women, it has a very realistic style from the point of view of the women and their fight for his lives and the searching of love. Slow peace but interesting tough.
Rated 3.5/5 Stars •
Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars
02/06/23
Full Review
Audience Member
4 single women in Tokyo and their endurance with loneliness . Different walks of life. Unique yet familiar.
Rated 4/5 Stars •
Rated 4 out of 5 stars
02/20/23
Full Review
Audience Member
Strawberry Shortcakes follows the lives of four women as they seek love and vaguely contemplate "God". Satoko is the childlike, purportedly ugly telephone operator of a prostitution service. Akiyo is one of the prostitutes in its employ, but what she really longs for is the love of her best friend, who has no clue about her work or her adoration for him. Chihiro is a pretty secretary who tries far too hard to please in her desperation to be loved and married, resulting in a tendency to have sex with men who care nothing for her. Chihiro's roommate Toko is a solitary artist who has been commissioned to draw her personal interpretation of God for a book cover.
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There's a vein of tragedy running through each of the women's lives. The film opens on an adolescent girl in her pajamas (a younger Satoko) being dragged down the street by an older guy decked out in casual punk style. She clings to his ankle, crying and begging for him to take her back. Eventually he pauses, sneers, "Shut up," and shakes her off like a dog. Satoko says that after that day she felt she could endure anything, and it might be so because she seems to be the happiest of the four for most of the rest of the film.
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Strawberry Shortcakes is delicate, and, at times, difficult to watch. However, what it has to say about life, love, personal growth, luck, and making one's own destiny should not be dismissed. The women seem real and even a little too human, with the pleasant and ugly sides of their lives equally on display. The film's ultimate lingering emotion, I think, is one of hope.</p>
Rated 4/5 Stars •
Rated 4 out of 5 stars
02/06/23
Full Review
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