Review of The Great Happiness Space: Tale of an Osaka Love Thief (2006) by Carolyn P — 17 Jan 2009

I was totally fascinated by this documentary which, incidentally, is available for instant viewing on Netflix via Xbox Live in case you're looking for something to watch RIGHT NOW.

While I knew that hostess clubs existed in Japan, I was not really aware of the existence of host clubs. Rather than being about the history or phenomenon of host clubs in general, however, The Great Happiness Space is a compelling, intimate look at the hosts and customers of one particular host club in Osaka.

While there is, of course, something uniquely Japanese about the club's very existence and its whole sense of style (wait til you see the hair on some of these guys), what the remarkably candid interviews reveal are the sad but universal issues of loneliness and longing that the hosts capitalize on in their clients to make stupendous amounts of money. And to the director's credit, the film largely just presents and observes, without any clear agenda or sense of judgment.