Bounce Ko Gals review

The idea of high school girls prostituting themselves to buy designer clothes could, at first blush, seem like pretty disturbing or even exploitative territory to wander when making a movie. Thankfully Masato Harada is one of the more thoughtful directors in the Japanese movie industry and maneuvers his way around the topic in such a way that he’s actually able to humanize the girls instead of portraying them as shallow, promiscuous bimbos. Although their situations are depressing and they’re obviously misguided for the most part, they end up showing that they actually care about each other more than anyone cares about any of them. This fact becomes a central theme in the movie and gives each of the main characters an endearing quality and a strength one wouldn’t really expect. It also precludes the viewer from being dismissive or judgmental of their lifestyle—because regardless of how self-destructive or short-sighted their lifestyle may be, it’s ultimately the only one they know.

Bounce Ko Gals is filmed in somewhat of a documentary style and mainly follows three girls, Raku (Yasue Sato), Jonko (Hitomi Sato), and Lisa (Yukiko Okamoto) over the span of one day and night in the ultra trendy Shibuya district of Tokyo. After stopping by the clinic for a quickie abortion Maru (Shin Yazawa) goes to a department store to meet up with her next John, a well-dressed man by the name of Oshima (Koji Yakusho). Unfortunately, he’s a yakuza who runs the local date clubs and he’s intent on stopping the Ko Gals from horning in on his sex racket. He tries to recruit her as one of his girls but eventually decides to let her off the hook if she pays him 100,000 yen for his troubles. She doesn’t have the full amount so she goes to her friend Jonko, a hardened ko gal with such disgust for perverted old men she would just as soon rob her clients as let them lay a hand on her. Jonko agrees to speak to this yakuza herself in place of Maru. Oshima is more than willing to talk to Jonko because as much as he wants to stop them from stealing his business, as a business man he also wants to know how ko gals are able to make so much money so quickly. She explains to him that there is no big secret involved. Men start offering girls money from elementary school on and since they’re so desperate they’re willing to pay exorbitant amounts of money for a date to a karaoke bar, a kiss, or any number of other things that don’t involve sex—so instead of fighting it the children turn the tables and start taking advantage of the adults. She tries to convince him that because no sex is involved the ko gals are no threat to the yakuza’s date clubs, but he doesn’t buy it. After it’s made abundantly clear that the alternative is a few bullets in the head, she eventually agrees to work for him to pay off the rest of the debt.

Meanwhile, a girl from the northern town of Sendai, Lisa, stopped in Shibuya to sell her panties for some quick cash. She had already saved up 300,000 yen over the past year so that she could finally leave her family and move to New York. After a half-hearted lecture in morality from the shop keeper, Saki (Kaori Momoi), she agrees to do a fetish video while she’s in town for even more money. Unfortunately some local yakuza crash the video shoot and steal Lisa’s money. One of the other girls who was there for the shoot, Raku, decides to help Lisa out and puts her in contact with the street-smart Jonko, thinking that Jonko will know a way to get a quick 300,000 yen in a single night. Lisa’s plane leaves the next day, and she’s so desperate to make that flight to New York she’s willing to go along with anything. Jonko quickly plans out a whirlwind tour of work for Lisa, some involving them robbing Johns who expect sex, and some involving more innocuous activities like being paid to sit there and listen to some old guy tell stories of all his past war crimes. With only one night to earn Lisa’s money they’re forced to put themselves in some really dangerous situations and hope the yakuza don’t catch them after Oshima’s earlier warning.

Ultimately, “Bounce Ko Gals” is an occasionally funny, occasionally sad, and somewhat charming drama with a few ideas about Japanese culture and the media thrown in for you to think about along the way. I don’t think it’s meant to be a shockingly realistic exposé on teenage hookers turning tricks for Versace. The fact that the three main characters never actually have sex for money is the biggest evidence of that. It’s more a coming of age film than anything, and in that capacity it really shines.

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Availability: US distributor Tokyo Shock released "Bounce Ko Gals" on region 1, NTSC DVD with English subtitles on October 28, 2003. Check here for full specs.

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