Bitter Sweet (2004 film)
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aka is a 2004
2004 in film
The year 2004 in film involved some significant events. Major releases of sequels took place. It included blockbuster films like Shrek 2, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, The Passion of the Christ, Meet the Fockers, Blade: Trinity, Spider-Man 2, Alien vs. Predator, Kill Bill Vol...

 Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...

ese pink film directed by Mitsuru Meike
Mitsuru Meike
is a Japanese film director, screenwriter, and actor. He is one of the group of prominent pink film directors known collectively as the .-Life and career:...

. It won the award for Tenth Best Film and actress Yumika Hayashi
Yumika Hayashi
was a Japanese AV idol and pink film actress. She earned the title of "Japan's Original Adult Video Queen" during a 16-year career in which she starred in nearly 200 AVs and appeared in over 180 films...

 was named Best Actress at the Pink Grand Prix
Pink Grand Prix
The or is an annual Japanese film award ceremony which recognizes excellence in the pink film. Known as the "Academy Awards of the Pink Film", the ceremony attracts a diverse audience of industry personnel, film scholars and the general public....

 ceremony. The film was also given a Pearl Prize at the first Kansai region Pinky Ribbon Awards
Pinky Ribbon Awards
The are a Japanese cinema awards ceremony which recognizes excellence in the pink film genre. The award is held by , a Kansai region paper covering the pink film industry. Readers of the paper elect the winners of the awards, which have been held annually since 2004. Honors go to the best three...

 where lead actress Konatsu
Konatsu (actress)
is a Japanese pink film actress. She has appeared in award-winning pink films, and was herself given a "Best Actress" award for her work in this genre in 2005.- Life and career :...

 was given a Best New Actress award.

Synopsis

Alone in a small apartment, smoking and drinking sake from pop-top bottles, Yoshida reminisces. Now a middle-aged man, he recalls a scene in his thirties. In the memory, Keiko tells him she is sorry. Yoshida then forces sex on her.

In another apartment, Shōko, a woman in her early twenties, lies in bed while Tamura prepares to leave on a business trip. Shōko asks Tamura to buy her lipstick, and Tamura warns Shōko to behave herself while he is gone, since their wedding day is approaching. At City Hall Shōko requests a marriage application. A middle-aged man then asks for a registration for divorce.

Meeting on the street, Mika apologizes to Shōko for her tardiness, then takes Shōko to a restaurant. The man who asked for divorce papers at City Hall is the owner of the restaurant. When Shōko indicates that she is having second thoughts about her wedding, Mika dismisses it as "Marriage blues."

At night, in bed in her apartment, Shōko slowly rips the marriage application in half. She rides her bicycle back to the restaurant, which is now closed. Kudō recognizes Shōko from City Hall. They talk about the meaning of marriage, and Shōko seduces Kudō in the kitchen.

At her apartment Shōko listens to Tamura's phone message. He is angry because Shōko is not there, and says he will not buy the lipstick. Shōko returns to the restaurant in the morning. Yoshida awakens from a drunken stupor in his apartment then bursts into the restaurant in a rage trying to fight Kudō. Riding Shōko home on her bike, Kudō explains that Keiko, his wife, was originally Yoshida's girlfriend and first true love.

At Keiko's home, Kudō criticizes her for buying Minoru, the eldest of their two sons, a bicycle before Kudō had given approval. Keiko says that because Kudō is only at home on weekends she has to make the decisions. Angry, Kudō leaves claiming he has work to do. Kudō calls Shōko, who is packing in her apartment. He insists that Shōko meet him at the restaurant. At first reluctant, when she returns from seeing Kudō, Shōko finds Tamura in her apartment. He angrily demands to know what she has been doing for the past few days. Shōko explains that she has decided not to go through with the marriage.

Walking on the street while drinking sake, Yoshida passes out from an attack of abdominal pain. In his hospital room, Yoshida tells Kudō that he has to remain in the hospital for another two or three days. As Kudō is leaving the hospital a doctor stops him to talk about Yoshida's condition. Kudō pays a surprise mid-week visit to Keiko. While cleaning up with tissues after a passionless bout of sex with her, Kudō tells Keiko that Yoshida is sick, and that she should visit him.

Tamura awakens with a hangover in bed with Mika. Because he doesn't remember the night before, Mika offers to have sex with him again. Tamura is confused and reluctant, but Mika persists. Meanwhile at the restaurant, Shōko tells Kudō she isn't sure she loves him. While performing fellatio on him she comments that men taste bitter, but sweet.

In the hospital, Yoshida is surprised by Keiko's visit. Yoshida advises Keiko not to go through with the divorce because he is alone in the world after his own divorce. He then has another attack. In the waiting room Kudō tells Keiko that Yoshida actually has cancer, but that he has not been told. Back in the hospital room, Keiko tells Yoshida that he is not alone in the world. Kudō overhears as Keiko explains that Minoru, her oldest boy, is actually Yoshida's son.

Sitting in the park, Keiko tells Kudō that Yoshida was not bitter or angry after she left him for Kudō. Handing Kudō an application for divorce, she asks if he can still love Minoru. Later on a train with her two boys Keiko tells Minoru that they're going to meet someone who wants to see him. Minoru asks, "Who? Daddy?" She answers, "Well, yes."

Cast

  • Konatsu
    Konatsu (actress)
    is a Japanese pink film actress. She has appeared in award-winning pink films, and was herself given a "Best Actress" award for her work in this genre in 2005.- Life and career :...

     as Shōko
  • Yumika Hayashi
    Yumika Hayashi
    was a Japanese AV idol and pink film actress. She earned the title of "Japan's Original Adult Video Queen" during a 16-year career in which she starred in nearly 200 AVs and appeared in over 180 films...

     as Keiko Kudō
  • Kin Ishikawa as Kudō
  • Kazuhiro Sano
    Kazuhiro Sano
    is a Japanese film director, screenwriter and actor best known for his pink films of the 1990s. Along with fellow directors, Takahisa Zeze, Toshiki Satō and Hisayasu Sato, he is known as one of the...

     as Yoshida
  • Takuya Fukushima as Tamura
  • Minami Aoyama
    Minami Aoyama
    is a Japanese AV idol and pink film actress. She has appeared in award-winning pink films, and was herself given a Best Actress award for her work in this genre in 2006.-Life and career:...

     as Mika
  • Hiroki Matsumoto as Minori

Availability

Mitsuru Meike
Mitsuru Meike
is a Japanese film director, screenwriter, and actor. He is one of the group of prominent pink film directors known collectively as the .-Life and career:...

 filmed Bitter Sweet for Kokuei and it was released theatrically in Japan under its Pink film title, Concentrated Adultery: Taken Woman, by Shintōhō on October 28, 2004. Due to the film's mature quality, it was re-released on December 10, 2005 to general theaters under the title Bitter Sweet. Under this title it was released on DVD in Japan on May 26, 2006. In Autumn 2006 it was shown at the fourteenth annual Raindance Film Festival
Raindance Film Festival
Raindance is an independent film festival and film school that operates from various cities including: London, New York, Vancouver, Toronto, Montreal, Budapest, Berlin and Brussels...

. Redemption Films
Salvation Group
Salvation Group is a UK based media company, specialising in exploitation film and alternative music. The company's original name and current trading name is Redemption Films.-History:...

released Bitter Sweet to English audiences on 16 July 2007 on Region 0 DVD.

External links

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