‘Kamikaze’ pilots into teen emotions

Tetsuya Nakashima’s “Kamikaze Girls” opens with a shojo animated sequence of a girl on a motorcycle, then shifts to live action moments before the “Gothic Lolita” in a frilly white dress is hit by a cabbage truck and sent flying into the air. As Momoko (pop star Kyoko Fukada) tumbles across the sky, cabbages orbiting her like satellites, silver Pachinko balls falling from her pockets like stardust, she says goodbye to her “useless father,” her grandmother, her only friend and her dream of having been born during the Rococo era.

As exciting for its beautifully specific and honest portrayal of teenage girls and their friendships as it is for its dazzling visual and narrative style, “Kamikaze Girls” is a glorious blend of kitsch, grit, humor and uplift that borrows freely from various Japanese subcultures and films such as “The Outsiders” and “Kill Bill” to tell the picaresque story of an emotionally repressed teenager with an active fantasy life who learns to open herself up to friendship.

The story rewinds from the point of the accident, beyond Momoko’s birth to 18th century France (where Momoko wishes she had lived instead of 21st century Shimotsuma, Japan, where the locals are content to shop for clothes at a local discount superstore).

“The people here are completely twisted,” Momoko says, as the cabbage vendor and local shoppers proudly show off their bargains -- low, low prices popping up on the screen.

Momoko is the daughter of a failed Yakuza who trafficked in illegal merchandise -- fake “Versach” T-shirts, mostly, which he had the brilliant idea of combining with fake Universal Studios logos. Run out of town when the studio threatens to sue, Momoko’s father takes her to live in the country with her senile grandmother, where she dedicates herself completely to needlepoint and amassing little-girl dresses. Momoko needs money to support her shopping habit (she’s one of the best customers of “Baby, the Stars Shine Bright,” a Tokyo store catering to Gothic Lolitas), so she decides to advertise her father’s old merchandise in a biker magazine. Soon, she is paid a visit by Ichigo (pop star Anna Tsuchiya), a tough biker girl who expresses herself mostly via grunts and head-butts. Momoko is horrified by Ichigo, a “Yanki” biker on a tricked-out scooter who dresses like a cross between Pat Benatar and David Bowie circa 1984. But Ichigo is oddly attracted to Momoko, and obstinately pursues her friendship. Despite Momoko’s fondness for parasols and strolls in the country, she is by far the tougher of the two. Ichigo, meanwhile, likes nothing better than motorcycles and fighting, but it’s she who idolizes her friends and whose heart is broken by her first crush.

Gorgeously visual and energetic, “Kamikaze Girls” captures the appeal of the fashion subcultures of aesthetes and misfits, re-creating a rarefied atmosphere in which identity creation is a thoughtful, idealistic art. “Fashion became my teacher,” Momoko says. “It taught me how to live. When I see clothes, they speak to me. They make me want to be worthy of them.” In the end, friendship does the same for her, freeing her from her own rules just enough to connect with others. As swoon-inducing as the Rococo-era styles it celebrates, “Kamikaze Girls” is a testament to the emotional power of clothes, as well as a reminder that sometimes the swooning is a sign that your corset is bound too tight.

*

‘Kamikaze Girls’

MPAA rating: Unrated.

Times guidelines: Some mild cartoonish violence and even milder sexual themes.

A VIZ Media & Landmark Theatres presentation. Director Tetsuya Nakashima. Screenplay by Tetsuya Nakashima. Based on the original novel by Novala Takemoto. Producers Yuuji Ishida, Takashi Hirano, Satoru Ogura. Director of photography Shoichi Atou. Editor Chiaki Toyama. Production designer Towako Kuwashima. Running time: 1 hour, 43 minutes. In Japanese with English subtitles.