Movies

Imagine that, 50 years ago, it was Lolita who grabbed Humbert Humbert by the britches and lassoed him into the sack. Then imagine Mrs. Haze handcuffing H.H. to a chair and raping him as payback for choosing Lo over her. Welcome to Shoujyo: An Adolescent, in which 15-year-old nymphet Yoko (Mayu Ozawa) seduces middle-aged bike cop Tomokawa (Eiji Okuda) and their tender love affair nearly destroys her family. To sum up: Mildly retarded bro, Sukemasa, goes crazy after seeing sis and cop having sex ("like dogs!") and tries to kill self. Lush mom goes crazy and drinks more. Gramps keels over. Although the movie drags, Okuda (who also directed) makes for a gloriously bad lieutenant, while Ozawa is enjoyably discomfiting in her unblushing carnality. And despite the initial rejection that greets their coupling, Okuda ultimately takes a much more optimistic view of pedophilic relationships than did Nabokov: At movie's end Yoko and Tomokawa are united in a happy, Woody Allen—esque family with Sukemasa after Tomokawa (reluctantly) promises not to fuck his sister in front of him.