Filmed somewhat in documentary style, it follows three girls over the span of one day and night in the Shibuya district of Tokyo. Jonko runs a group of high school girls involved in paid dating, Raku is a street dancer, and Togo was brought up in the US and back in Japan for one year wants to escape to New York. Their contact with the world of talent scouts and yakuza places them in danger.
Manages the difficult feat of being simultaneously sordid and tedious at the same time.
– Frank Scheck,
Hollywood Reporter,
23 Oct 2003
rotten:
Bounce Ko Gals feels fabricated, studio-bound and claustrophobic, which doesn't add to the ripped-from-the-headlines authenticity this genre has always depended on.
– Dave Kehr,
New York Times,
2 Oct 2003
fresh:
The movie frames a critique of socially permissible pedophilia as indelible as Harada's eavesdropping mise-en-scene.