RSSHitomi Kitamura – Sweetie
09 Aug 2007 2 Comments
in Reviews
Hitomi Kitamura – Sweetie
For-Side/Cutie Series
The Skinny: One of my favorite J-Idols seems to be picking up in popularity as she is hiring out for Bikini/Gravure DVDs work far more frequently than before. After her initial DVD, Yurero Omoi which was released in October 2005, she did 4 DVDs in all of 2006, and has already released 4 titles so far in 2007. And that’s very good news for her fans. Sorry, but this DVD is not part of the good news. Let’s just say this DVD is sweet and sour.
In a most unusual opening chapter- Hitomi arrives at her apartment dressed in a business suit with a white shirt, pumps, and eyes glasses. She’s so exhausted she mutters abstractedly as she tries to kick off her shoes, and then she collapses on the floor just inside the door, immediately falling asleep.
When the next scene opens, (a possible dream sequence) Hitomi is in a room color coordinated to match her bikini – a white affair trimmed in red and blue, with a blue strap for the bikini top. The white painted room has a white shag throw covering the couch, a red shag rug, and the door is painted blue to match her bikini strap. There’s also a blue plastic baseball bat.
Hitomi mostly acts out her aggression – she wiggles this way and that, swings the baseball bat menacingly, and all the while acts in a flirtatious manner. Beyond that I can’t tell you anymore about what they were going for because I’ve no idea.
Next thing you know, Hitomi is in another bikini, again indoors in a bright room. The bikini is colorful. Hitomi uses her props well – a surf board, , a bubble maker, a kid’s plastic swimming pool. Her bust gets plenty of screen time, and the upbeat reggae music makes the scene exciting.
When the ‘dream’ ends, Hitomi is back on the apartment floor, ostensibly asleep but going through some swimming motions. Again I can’t explain. She picks up and goes into the living room where we discover that the air-conditioner isn’t working. She’s going to fall asleep again as the apartment is sweltering.
What’s next? An all white room filled with lots and lots of pink and white feathers is the background for Hitomi who wears a yellow bikini, and wraps herself in a pink gauzy something. The feathers fly, the music throbs, and again, I’ve no idea about the purpose or intent of the scene.
A rather artless scene follows. A pink sofa, a glass table, and Hitomi slithers around. There’s a series of excellent views of Hitomi’s bosom which I liked, and you will like, but the scene seems to lack cohesion. It seemed as if the director made it up as he went along.
The next scene is a complete waste unless you can understand spoken Japanese as well as read Japanese. It begins with Hitomi prepping for an interview (?). This is the black suit we saw as the DVD began. Questions are posed on the screen in writing then answered verbally by Hitomi. They do get to a point where she is talking about her measurements. Then Hitomi does some ‘acting’. As the scene closes, Hitomi is wiping the floor. If you can figure it out, let me know.
Next Hitomi is in a black bikini posing in a class room, and from behind some venetian blinds. She looks good and the bikini is revealing.
Meanwhile back at the apartment, Hitomi awakens from a nap where she fell asleep with her head on her arms leaning into the opened refrigerator…the oppressive heat I guess. She’s wearing the same black bikini we just saw in the class room scene. She finds a letter, the results of the interview? This sets her off and we can see she is upset.
However, after all the ranting, all she does is to put her head on her arms again leaning into the refrigerator. And it is nap-time again. When she becomes awake this time, she’s in a different bikini. And there on the floor of her kitchen we see 4 watermelons.
After opening one by bashing it with a stick from under her sink, and eating it, our girl climbs into the refrigerator. Fade out.
A white wrap style bathing suit follows, and it is kind of revealing. But this scene is poorly directed as well as badly edited. And that’s it – just 51 minutes. There’s about 11 minutes of behind the scenes that follow. Nothing special visually – but you may take away some value if you speak Japanese.
Summary – this DVD is a real puzzle for me. Oh sure they don’t stint on showing off Hitomi’s figure, but they’ve wrapped her up in a story/plot line which is going to be lost on all of us who don’t speak Japanese.
They open with Hitomi collapsing just inside the door of her apartment. No doubt she’s worn out and frustrated by the events of the day. But then everything that follows is either a dream or a flashback. Seems like the opening collapse might have been the final shot not the opening.
Trust me, you, as the viewer, will also be frustrated as there’s really too much of the sour and not enough of the sweet. Save your money. Three point zero…and recommended only to die-hard Hitomi fans.
http://www.play-asia.com/paOS-13-71-ag-49-en-70-22q5.html
This is a Region 2 Disc. You will need a Region 2 or an All-Regions Player to view this DVD on your television.
Aug 11, 2007 @ 18:34:18
As soon as I watched this, I knew you wouldn’t like it.
Definately much better than her previous release, Tsubara Na Hitomi, this one seemed to solve a lot of the problems of the former, most prominently the annoying tendency for the camera to go in for those long, disorienting closeups. The close up fetish shots are fine if done in moderation, but when they’re done to death you lose site of the model in a random montage of body parts.
I think you’re putting too much into ‘storyline’ aspect of the DVD – it’s there as a flimsy excuse to tie the scenes together. The alternative would be the far too often overplayed interview segments (another issue with Tsubara) wherein the same questions get asked over and over again and the idol puts on the same, somewhat generic cute persona. Remember Marshmellow? Even if you can’t speak Japanese, just watching the visual cues from the idol’s expression and body language are generally so similar from interview to interview that they become interchangable.
It wasn’t clear from the review – did you consider the length a drawback or a positive? I quite honestly think they nailed the timing dead on… roughly an hour. Any longer and things tend to drag unless you’ve got a good crew behind the scenes. As much as I love Rio, Yoko and the gang, I found there were a lot of editorial cuts which could have been made in their recent releases to provide a better viewing experience.
Aug 11, 2007 @ 19:32:14
I guess I didn’t think much of it – I did say “save your money” and “recommended only to die-hard Hitomi fans”. However I didn’t bash it – a 3.0 point rating is middling.
Maybe it wasn’t the story line per se that I found annoying – instead I think I didn’t care for whining and cranky attitude Hitomi displayed in the story. Yes, it was a scripted role, and probably she played it as well as could be. It just bugged me.
I realize that office ladies, as well as shop girls, and working people living in any country on the planet face disappointments and stress on daily basis. That’s why I like gravure idol DVDs – for the sheer escapism from real life that they offer.
When I am hiking on the Cedar Highway outside of Hakone, Japan, or body surfing in Kata Noi Beach in Phuket, or sailing off Lemboggan Island in Indonesia, I’m not thinking of coming home from the office so tired that I collapse right inside of my apartment door. When I push the PLAY button to watch a Hitomi Kitamura DVD – I don’t expect to be reminded of or even watch another individual have that experience.
I mentioned the 51 minutes of the main chapters and 10 minutes of the behind the scenes in neither a positive or negative mode. I guess that is a plus because I didn’t feel any of the scenes were too long or too short.
Z – As always, I respect your opinions, and enjoy having opposing perspectives on display on this site. I am sure we’ll go down this road again, as I know you will have the new Yoko and the new Nonami Takizawa DVDs the second your favorite dealer opens the box. If they are officially released on a Friday in Japan, I’ll have them on Monday in New York.
JMM