The short film entitled Mister Rococo, which features a lolita main character, was released two years ago in Japan. A few months ago it became available with English subtitles for purchase on iTunes, but for those of us who don't own an Apple product this was not very helpful. I recently found the full movie on YouTube and was finally able to watch it, overall I liked it and wanted to share my thoughts with you.
The short film is about a lolita named Yuri who has always been fascinated by cute and delicate things. She finds love with a comedian but their relationship crumbles when he confesses that he is attracted to muscular, wrestler girls, and not to cute lolita's at all! Determined to get revenge, Yuri dedicates herself to becoming a wrestler who is both tough and cute.
I recommend that you watch the 15 minute movie before continuing to read this article because it will contain spoilers from this point on. You have been warned.
Mister Rococo has received mixed reviews at best from the lolita community as it has been harshly compared to
Kamikaze Girls and has been branded "not as good". I think it is impossible to truly compare a short film with a feature length movie as the latter has much more time to develop plot, dynamics and characters. I will go as far to say that in the short amount of time it has Mister Rococo actually exceeds Kamikaze girls in character growth alone.
The main character, Yuri, goes through a gigantic spectrum of changes throughout the story. At the beginning of the film she is pure and content with living in her own cute world, but once her boyfriend breaks up with her she becomes something else entirely: an anger consumed girl hell bent on vengeance. At the end of the movie as she fights in the ring she picks up her ex and is about to throw him into his new girlfriend, something that could injure him critically, but at the last moment she realizes that revenge is not the answer and puts him down. This kind of change in a character is very extreme for a movie so short but is handled beautifully by Mister Rococo. With it's quick pacing and chapter format the audience is not only able to keep up with Yuri's change of heart but is still able to find her an endearing character.
A not so endearing character is that of Neko Hiroshi, Yuri's comedian boyfriend. After doing some light research I discovered that Hiroshi is actually a comedian in real life and was simply playing himself in the film. I'm not sure if he altered his character for Mister Rococo but I found him extremely irritating, not funny or cute at all. Perhaps this was the intent of his character, maybe he was supposed to be unlikable since he does cause Yuri so much pain.
Actress Aimi Satsukawa's gives an emotion driven performance
I will admit that when I initially saw Yuri in her transformed, wrestler state I was aghast at what she had done to her body. I had to scold myself because though it may not be how I would like to look, to Yuri she had achieved perfection and had become her ideal self. I love that even though she altered her physical appearance she stayed true to her personality, she still dressed in frills and carried her French doll into the ring. Her rabbit eared wrestling mask was simply hysterical, it's exactly what a sweet lolita would wear if she were a wrestler!
When I finished watching Mister Rococo for the first time I was left feeling rather puzzled. What was the message I was supposed to take away from this film? Was it that you have to change yourself to get a man to like you? That seemed all wrong. After watching the movie a few more times it seemed to me that Yuri was not changing her appearance so that her boyfriend would fall back in love with her but to prove to him not to judge a book by it's cover. What is on the outside doesn't necessarily reflect what is on the inside. She wanted to show both him and herself that she could be anything she wanted to be, a lolita and a wrestler, both tough and cute. This is exemplified in her line "I might have been delicate but I have never been a wimp".
There are still some things I don't understand about this film. There is a scene where a former wrestler, Mariko Akagi, makes an appearance and notes that Yuri has potential as a fighter. I thought that perhaps this was going somewhere, that maybe Akagi would become Yuri's trainer or mentor, but the character never appears in the film again. Why was she introduced to begin with? Yuri's wrestler name, Mister Rococo, is a little strange too. I see why she chose to include the word "rococo" in her name but why did she pick a male title? Was this just a translation error?
Also during the last few seconds of the film when Yuri gently puts her ex boyfriend down instead of slamming him painfully onto his girlfriend he recognizes who she is. He asks "Yuri? Is that you?" and she nods and opens her arms to him. In her mind she says "I am strong now". He walks into her arms and she picks him up, but then he makes a strange face and screams. What on Earth is that about? I just don't understand the last few moments of the movie at all. Is he scared of her? Is she merely just hugging him too tightly because she is strong now? It's left very open ended.
Despite it's few inexplicable moments Mister Rococo is a pretty cute movie. It features strong acting, solid editing and sends the message that you can be anything you want to be. And let's face it, we're all here for the clothing so I would be doing you a disservice if I didn't mention that it also features beautiful clothing and a nice scene inside a small Baby, the Stars Shine Bright store. If you watch this film with an open mind and a positive attitude then you might just find that it's a gem.
So what do you think of Mister Rococo? Leave a comment and let me know!
