Storyline
Adapted from a sex-stuffed cult novel, LALAPIPO (a play on the phrase “A Lot of People”) follows divergent seedy strands of sexual and narrative spaghetti through the sticky Tokyo night. There’s a chubby freelance writer who’s so obsessed with masturbating to the sound of his upstairs neighbors going at it that he forgets to deal with his own love life and when he finally does have sex he is immediately filled with self-loathing. The upstairs neighbor’s story then splits off like an amoeba: she’s an office lady seduced by a “talent scout” who is falling down the sex industry ladder, moving from hostess, to massage girl, to private karaoke attendant. The talent scout’s story then splits off and runs in its own direction, revealing the sorry state of this young pimp’s soul. From there, the movie takes more and more time to consider the lives of more and more characters until the entire Japanese sex industry is filled with the wailing of lost souls.
Cast & Crew
Yuri Nakamura
Tomoko
Lead
Hiroki Narimiya
Kenji Kurino
Saori Hara
Miku
Sayuki Matsumoto
Girlfirend
Tomoko Murakami
Sayuri
Sarutoki Minagawa
Hiroshi
Takashi Yoshimura
Koichi
Mari Hamada
Yoshie
What People Are Saying
3.0
“A staggering achievement of craft and ambition. Masayuki Miyano's vision lands with breathtaking precision.”
3.0
“Every frame feels alive. Lalapipo is the rare release that takes its audience seriously.”
