Despite the fact that this year we have seen several openly LGBTQ+ films made in Japan, the issue is still taboo in the country. “Athlete” by Takamasa Oe is now available for streaming, by Echelon Studios. Let's have a closer look.
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The story is quite simple. One day, former competitive swimmer, nowadays children trainer of swimming Kohei (Joe Nakamura) comes home. As a welcome, his wife tells him she wants a divorce. Even their daughter seems to see the sense in this decision. Thus, Kohei does what every sensible man would do. Gets drunk and ends in an LGBTQ+ bar run by transwoman Priscilla. He wakes up in an apartment that belongs to Yuki (Yoshiaki Umegaki), gay, polyamorous, making his living as a chat boy while aspiring to become an animator.
Despite the immediate moment of distrust when Kohei checks for traces of rape, the two men stay living together. Coming out to himself makes Kohei feel more alive. Nevertheless, the ideal living together doesn't last long, and jealousy sets a wedge between the lovers.
“Athlete” puts several themes into the game. We have a closeted gay man living a “normal” family life. Only, the marriage turns not functional. We have a representative community of LGBTQ+ people meeting at Priscilla's bar. Moreover, Kohei trains children (in swimwear), and one of the kids is facing bullying for perhaps being queer. Besides the more or less established LGBTQ+ gender and sexual orientation fluidities, “Athlete” coquettes with Yuki being polyamorous.
Yes, that is a lot. And yes, that is where the key problem of “Athlete” lies. The film tries to scoop too many topics but fails to get a proper grip on them. Quite some lines are suggested but left undeveloped, unfinished. It is a pity because while the relationship issues tend to slide into clichés, the questions of a parent coming out, of a gay man working with children, or of bullying of “different” kids, point to a very sensitive and gutsy filmmaker. Even following Kohei coping with his situation would fill one film.
Consequently, while you can enjoy a movie that opens many colours of the rainbow and waves more than one flag, your enthusiasm might hit several walls. One of the most obvious is the metaphor using the betta fishes. You know, those pretty guys that show their full colours when you put them next to other of the kind or place a mirror next to the aquarium. You also know, that in captivity, it is safer not to put two of them into one aquarium but to keep them separated. Otherwise, one might end up dead. Unfortunately, the relationship and its hardships are the least interesting line in the narrative.
“Athlete” is a perplexing film. On one hand, it opens more themes than the majority of LGBTQ+ films you saw this year. On the other, with a lot of them, it limits itself to mentioning or suggesting them without any further development. As one of the results, it loses the drive and gets lost in emptied cliché arthouse film images of solitude and emotional turmoil. More than a solo film, it feels like a pilot to a TV drama, where all the lines could get better treatment. Also, considering the cinematography and editing, a TV format seems more befitting.
