Review of Manji (1964) by Diane H — 16 Sep 2008

This 1964 Japanese film is about an obsessive lesbian relationship that develops between two art students. The initial love between the women is beautiful, as are the women themselves, and the addition of a lover and a husband makes for some intriguing twists that kept me wanting to see what would happen next.

However, much of what does happen next makes very little sense, and it made me realize how underdeveloped and illogical most of the characters actually are. This movie is still interesting from a cultural or historical viewpoint, since it's one of the earliest Asian films to deal with homosexuality in such a straightforward manner, but beyond that I can't strongly recommend it.