Film Comment:
Shinjuku Boys
The Marilyn Club in Tokyo is the center of the universe that Kim Longinotto investigates in this documentary. Women come to this club to meet other women. But, where are all the lesbians? The hosts (hostesses?) who offer their (lovemaking) services at the Marilyn Club don't really consider themselves to be women. They feel like men, dress like men, and call themselves 'Onnabes'. Their clients are mostly heterosexual women who are disappointed with married life and their husbands. SHINJUKU BOYS presents this fascinating and enigmatic underground or parallel world in which the need for intimacy is satisfied by a type of role play that is otherwise almost unknown. SHINJUKU BOYS examines the lives of three Onnabes and does so without exploiting or defaming them. They never come across as social oddities. Longinotte visits the Onnabe at home and at the club, meets their customers and talks to their girlfriends. They talk about their relationships and their special kind of sexuality and we listen to their stories in the same way that we would listen to a friend. With SHINJUKU BOYS, another stone in the complex mosaic of female sexuality has been laid.
Credits
Original Title: Shinjuku Boys
Language:
English
Country of Origin: Great Britain
Year : 1995
Duration: 53 Min.
color
Director: Kim Longinotto, Jano Williams
Script: Kim Longinotto, Jano Williams
Camera: Kim Longinotto
Editing: John Mister
Music: Nigel Hawks
Starring/Featuring: Gaish, Tatsu, Kazuki, Abe, Kumi
Production: 20th Century Vixen Kim Longinotto, Alan Bookbinder
Festivals: London Film Festival (UK), NY Lesbian and Gay Film Festival (USA), Honolulu Lesbian and Gay Film Festival, One Gallery (CA)
Awards: Silver Hugo Prize, Chicago Film Festival; Gold Prize, Houston Film Festival; Outstanding Documentary, SF Lesbian and Gay Film Festival
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Film Dialogue
The couple Tatsu and Tomoe
Tatsu: The first time my period came all my friends were getting theirs (earlier). I thought I wouldn't get it and I was so relieved. When it came, I realized I really was a woman and it was horrible. Now I'm having hormone injections... I've almost forgotten the word period.
Tomoe: My parents of course want grandchildren. They want to know what I'm going to do about marriage. I said we couldn't get married. “What about children then?” They asked me what I'll do if I come to my senses at 40 or 50... I said, “I'll face that when I come to it.” It's Tatsu that I love, not the fact that he's an Onnabe.
Three Onnabes
The couple Kazuki and Kumi (transvestite)
It's strange, but if I am going out with a woman... I'm expected to be masculine. There's a pressure not to show any weakness. I first realized this when I started going out with Kumi. With Kumi I can be dependent sometimes... I can cry... In that sense you could say that Kumi is more masculine... but sometimes she cries unexpectedly and I suddenly see that she's really a woman.
Kumi: He's a woman who likes women. I'm a man who likes men. So we understand each other. On top of that, we're equals. That's why our relationship works.
Gaish monologue:
When lesbians have sex...I've never seen it so I don't know … but I've heard that both women take their clothes off. With us, we are the man...I don't know if there are Onnabe who take off their clothes... but I never do. My body is not a man's so I don't want her to see it... I don't want to be touched and I don't want to be seen. ...
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