Popular actress Horikita Maki (
Always - Sunset on Third Street) takes on her most challenging role yet as a troubled girl with a split personality in
Tokyo Boy. Horikita's latest role in some ways recalls her gender-bending character in
Hanazakari no Kimitachi e and withdrawn, insecure schoolgirl in
Nobuta wo Produce, but she has clearly grown as an actress in comparison to her television performances, convincingly embodying two very different characters who are in fact one. Compelling as a psychological and human drama,
Tokyo Boy treads into the dark and the affirming corners of the mind and heart to tell a story that is both unsettling and affecting. Though Horikita Maki's layered performance is no doubt the major attraction of the film,
Tokyo Boy also gets extra leverage from rising actor Ishida Takuya (
Night Time Picnic) and television director Hirano Shunichi (
Summer Snow, Kurosagi), here making his feature film debut.
Raised by her senile grandmother (Kusamura Reiko), troubled young woman Minato (Horikita Maki) lives a dark and lonely life. Her only friend and consolation is pen pal Night to whom she confides her thoughts and experiences in long, detailed letters. A glimmer of light enters Minato's life when she meets the nerdy, but earnest Sho (Ishida Takuya), a frequent customer of the convenience store she works at. The two begin a sweet and happy relationship that sours unexpectedly when Sho suddenly starts acting cold and distant. Minato begins to suspect that Night is threatening Sho out of jealousy and tries to find Night, not realizing that the person she needs to confront is herself.
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