MOVIE REVIEW : Stunt Work Hides Many Complex Emotions in ‘The Story of Love’

“The Story of Love” ( Little Tokyo Cinema) is too sweeping and vague a title for any film--especially a fast-moving, engaging little action drama centering on a group of Japanese movie stunt men. Yet the title is not entirely misleading, for in between displays of daredevilry rivaling Hollywood’s best efforts, director Toshio Masuda and writer Kohei Tsuka invest their people with considerably more emotional complexity than is usual for hearty, salt-of-the-earth male-bonding sagas.

Indeed, the film’s hero, Tachibana (Masatoshi Nakamura), remains essentially sexually ambiguous from start to finish. What are we to make of a man so close to his buddies that his unstable actress wife admits jealousy and commits suicide after giving birth to a daughter whose father is her husband’s best pal? A man who assumes responsibility for the child as swiftly as he seemingly forgives his friend for cuckolding him? Who 10 years later, having never had a successful relationship with a woman after his wife’s death, welcomes back that friend with literally open arms? Who seems relieved when a tomboy type his pals have lined up for him falls in love with another? He’s explained away as such a good-hearted guy that he lets everybody take advantage of him, but there’s no evidence at all that he’s actually attracted to women in the first place.

As far as can be ascertained via English subtitles, this curious subtext remains unexamined. On the surface “The Story of Love” is simply a lively, decently crafted entertainment designed mainly to show off lots of spectacular stunts involving mainly cars and motorcycles. The absence of sultry man-woman repartee aside, there’s something of Howard Hawks in the film’s depiction of male camaraderie and testing of one’s manhood in dangerous situations. Intentionally or otherwise, “The Story of Love” (Times-rated Mature) is one of Shochiku’s more intriguing programmers.

‘THE STORY OF LOVE’

(‘KONO AI NO MONOGATARI’)

A Shochiku release of a co-production of Shochiku-Fuji, Ltd., and Nippon Television Network Corporation. Executive producer Kazuyoshi Okuyama. Producers Hisao Nabeshima, Yoshito Nakajima. Director Toshio Masuda. Screenplay and story Kohei Tsuka. Camera Seizo Sengen. Music Jo Hisaishi. With Masatoshi Nakamura, Miwako Fujitani, Masahiko Kondo, Jinpachi Nezu, Yuko Kazu, Yoshio Harada, Yoko Minamida, Shuji Otaki. In Japanese, with English subtitles.

Running time: 1 hour, 53 minutes.

Times-rated: Mature.