Weatherwoman, A

Only the Japanese could produce such a naffly strange piece of nonsense as this softcore sex comedy that became a surprise cult hit its day. Although its mix of salacious voyeurism, super-hero martial arts stunts, pop cultural satire, occult metaphysics and song and dance kitsch may sound tantalizing, coming to this without knowledge of (and an appetite for) the underground 'manga' comic on which it is based and the cultural context underpinning it will leave most non-Japanese viewers bewildered. In itself it offers few satisfactions and its kitsch eclectism is probably less thrilling now than in its day.

Kei Mizutani stars as Keiko, a stand-in TV weather girl who achieves overnight stardom by flashing her knickers at the end of her meteorological report. She's encouraged to further such pranks by the aged, ratings-hungry network chairman but his haughty daughter returns from Paris and sets about restoring rectitude. That's the bare bones of the narrative but along the way thrown into the mix are such things as a segment from a show called Hello, Mr Pervert that culminates in the interviewee explosively defecating on the interviewer, an omnipresent French bread stick and lots of jellied noodles.

Yes it's unremittingly farcical but comes across as an agglomeration of outrageous moments rather than a coherent whole and only Mizutani's sex scenes stand up (so to speak) to scrutiny. It was inevitably followed by a sequel, A Weatherwoman Returns (1996) although Mizutani had had enough and her role was taken by Misa Aika in what was an undisguised attempt to squeeze some more yen out of the original fish-in-a-barrel audience.

 

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