Summary
Once you get past the slick veneer, there’s a disarmingly engaging romance lurking beneath this story of toxic relationships and revenge.
If you look through the posters for Hideo Jojo’s filmography, you’ll get a definite first impression of his body of work. In fact, the mixture of so-called pink films and blood splattered one-sheets might just keep you away from THORNS OF BEAUTY (恋のいばら), which would be a shame. It’s definitely not what one might expect.
Known variously as Thorns of Love (or even Thorns in Love depending on where you’re seeing this), Jojo and co-writer Kaori Sawai introduce us to photographer Kentaro (Keisuke Watanabe) and his girlfriend, the fashionable aspiring dancer Riko (Tina Tamashiro). The latter is approached by Momo (Honoka Matsumoto), a shy library worker who is worried about the explicit photos that Kentaro has of her.
What begins as a kind of mini-heist, with Riko and Momo conspiring to break into Kentaro’s computer and secure the photos, rapidly becomes something unexpected. On the one hand, the film is ostensibly about toxic relationships, secrets and lies, and more broadly the notion of trust. Yet it very smoothly becomes a story about a different kind of relationship, namely the (not wholly unexpected) one emerging between Riko and Momo.
Much of this works thanks to the earnest character interpretations of Tamashiro and Matsumoto. It builds subtly at first, with the pair sitting around telling stories of their exes. Later in the film, there is a scene where Riko and Momo have dinner with one of their family units, one that’s so natural that it stands out as a distinct turning point for their characters. By contrast, there’s an equally impactful scene where Momo must watch Riko and Kentaro being intimate while hidden in a closet.
Jojo’s film has a distinctive look and feel as well. The opening shot is of a feather gently floating down onto a sleeping face, a moment that comes full circle with the final shot. At other times, Jojo takes us inside the neon lighting of a strip club. There’s one scene in particular where Riko and Momo are bathed in green, as striking and obvious a visual metaphor as any you’ll find.
By the time we get to the final act, there’s a certain sense of inevitability to the film. The fragile relationship that Riko and Momo have built fundamentally comes from a place where trust has been eroded, so Jojo and Sawai have an in-built fatalism to their narrative. Yet the final kicker will hit home for many viewers, proving at least one of the women right from the very beginning.
2023 | Japan | DIRECTOR: Hideo Jojo | WRITERS: Hideo Jojo and Kaori Sawai | CAST: Tina Tamashiro, Honoka Matsumoto, Keisuke Watanabe | DISTRIBUTOR: Nippon Connection 2023 | RUNNING TIME: 98 minutes | RELEASE DATE: 6-11 June 2023 (Nippon Connection)
