A young woman is happy with her boyfriend, but one day he suddenly disappears after she farted in his face, and he’s nowhere to be found. Then, one day, she meets a man who looks exactly like her former boyfriend—but it’s not him. Still, because of the resemblance, she starts a new relationship with him, and everything seems fine until one day…
Asako 1 & II is directed by Ryûsuke Hamaguchi. With this movie, he has crafted a somewhat conventional romantic drama that follows a protagonist who is both strange and pretty empty. You can sense something is wrong with her because, in her eyes, she seems to lack a soul and comes across as very selfish. And oh boy, she will show you just how selfish she is.
She can’t get over her ex-boyfriend’s sudden departure, and because of that, you get the impression that she’s not the brightest. Honestly, she feels like a woman who should just move back in with her parents and never be allowed to leave the house again. The protagonist is incredibly easy to hate—there’s nothing redeeming about her that I could see. And why she fell for a guy who did something borderline illegal at the beginning of the movie is beyond me. After that ridiculous kissing scene, they become a couple, and he’s just as unlikeable as she is.
There’s nothing particularly special about Asako 1 & II for the first 80 minutes, but then something happens that’s so crazy. It felt like a fever dream. I’ve watched a lot of dumb romantic dramas in my life, but this scene left me in disbelief—it’s so bizarre that it doesn’t seem possible in real life. From that point on, I couldn’t take my eyes off the screen because I was in complete shock. As I mentioned, I thought it was a dream sequence at first. It’s kind of fascinating because you don’t see something this wild every day, but it’s also clear that the protagonist has serious mental issues. There’s something seriously off about her.
This is a movie that will likely disappoint a lot of viewers because it feels so conventional for the first 80 minutes before the insanity starts. I enjoyed the movie, but it’s far from perfect. The protagonist feels so empty and seems mentally unstable, which made it an interesting journey for me. I felt bad for her new boyfriend, thinking about what she might do to him and how she might emotionally scar him for the rest of his life.