Margaret (Alexandra Daddario) is a young English teacher lost in a haze of alcohol and one-night stands. Having relocated to Japan to be alone, she is adrift until a chance encounter with an older man – Yakuza member, Kazu (Takehiro Hira). The pair begin an illicit fling, frequenting the local Love Hotels, but the romance isn’t built to last and Margaret finds herself cast aside. Will she ever find her way back to the home she left behind?
Based on the novel by Catherine Hanrahan, Lost Girls and Love Hotels seems to be an attempt at a mix between Lost in Translation meets Fifty Shades of Grey. It’s an odd pairing of films to emulate and blend together, and one that fails to work on even the most fundamental level. It mistakes the slow-burn melancholy drama of Lost in Translation for an excuse to not stand up anything substantial in the way of a story. With no solid narrative structure in place, Lost Girls and Love Hotels is just a sequence of random and repetitive scenes run one after another. With little happening, there’s a distinct lack of dramatic tension, meaning that when the film does attempt to insert some action, the viewer is left cold and confused.
From Fifty Shade of Grey, it borrows a story thread that involves Maragret being a keenly submissive partner. As with everything else, her desires don’t drive the narrative forward. This might have made sense back in 2017 when the film was initially shot, but four years on, it feels tragically dated.
Rumours of a longer cut of the film existing may explain away some of the glaring plot holes. Outside of Margaret there’s little interaction with any of the supporting characters, and yet, several moments in the film drop bombshells about them as if we’re meant to care. One example would be the deportation of one of Margaret’s drinking buddies; up until this point we’ve seen them in only a couple of scenes and they haven’t been made to appear important to the plot. This revelation’s apparent importance therefore makes no sense. Similarly, an encounter between Maragret and one of the girls that she taught plays out on screen with such forced emotion that it points to a long-standing relationship between the pair. We barely see the women interact, and most certainly not enough to necessitate this exaggerated saccharine tone poured on the moment.
On the technical front, the film features some effective cinematography from Kenji Katori who captures Toyoko cityscapes beautifully. This, coupled with the inclusion of Alexandra Daddario, are the only saving graces. Daddario is good in every project she takes on, but here her talents are wasted; there is little here to stretch her. After so many years in distribution limbo, it’s a real shame that Lost Girls and Love Hotels doesn’t have anything of any real value to offer.
Dazzler Media presents Lost Girls and Love Hotels on DVD & Digital Download from 8th February.
Lost Girls and Love Hotels
Summary
Even Alexandra Daddario’s presence can’t save Lost Girls and Love Hotels from being a dull and uninspired mess.
