When Margaret (Alexandra Daddario), a self-destructive white English teacher in Tokyo, starts a kinky affair with Kazu (Takehiro Hira), a Japanese gangster, the last thing she ever expects to find is love — and the experience might just push her to the brink.
Adapted from the novel of the same name by Catherine Hanrahan, “Lost Girls & Love Hotels” offers a seedier take on expat life through the troubled lens of Margaret, who spends her days barely hanging on to her position and her nights boozing and partying with friends, and stumbling through pay-by-hour love hotels with the Japanese men she picks up, in pursuit of unconventional sexual pleasures. But Kazu becomes more than just a one-night fling — and will falling for one of the yakuza put Margaret in even more danger?
Though “Lost Girls & Love Hotels” has drawn mixed reviews, earning less than 50 percent on Rotten Tomatoes, Daddario and Hira have good onscreen chemistry and make for a captivating couple. If you’re the kind of person who might enjoy a moodier film that drifts through the dark side of expat life in Tokyo, with a little unusual cross-cultural /interracial romance and S&M thrown in, give “Lost Girls and Love Hotels” a watch.
See the trailer on Youtube or, if you’re in China, on Acfun.cn.
P.S.: Looking for more films to watch? Take a look at my list of critically acclaimed AMWF movies.
Huh? The preview of Lost Girls & Love Hotels took me by surprise. I was expecting a romantic comedy. I’ll still watch it, though.
There aren’t a lot of amwf movies to chose from but Mao’s Last Dancer is my favorite. Not only was it a good movie but it was also based on real life.
Thanks for the comment! No, this is not a romantic comedy — it’s dark, moody and psychological. But it’s still worth watching, as long as you don’t mind seeing that kind of movie.
I do love “Mao’s Last Dancer” as well — and it is amazing it’s a real-life story.
I loved this movie! Everything from the realism of bar talk or sitting around doing nothing to relationships! My friends said that they broke up at the end because the theme is “nothing lasts”, but I think they will get back together once the main character gets resettled in america.
Glad you enjoyed it, Peter — but don’t post too many spoilers! 😉 Yes it is absolutely a film about impermanence.