If you’re keen on the summer film festivals and love to spice things up, Japan Cuts is certainly offering up its own fair share of titles that promise a variety of drama, comedy and action. That said, In The Hero helmer Take Masaharu‘s late 2014 boxing dramedy, 100 Yen Love, has a little bit of everything to offer with an artful performance led by actress Ando Sakura making her way to the ring, gloves and all.
Play video games with your nephew when he gets home from school, pick up junk food at the local ¥100 convenience store, and pass out reading manga. Such is the life of Ichiko Saito (played by the luminous Sakura Ando), a 32 year old living at home with her parents and recently divorced sister. When their working class home gets too small for both sisters, her mother pushes Ichiko into the world and she gets a job at the nearby konbini. She befriends a gruff amateur boxer (Hirofumi Arai), but cruel reality soon pushes her to don the gloves herself. As Derek Elley of Film Business Asia writes, “Ando triumphs in [this] quirky tale of a social misfit’s transformation,” exceeding all expectations in a physical performance of absurd comedy and deep pathos.
