Films about the pandemic shot during the pandemic, films about the pandemic shot between the lockdowns, horror viruses inspired by Covid-19, vacuous films shot on the empty streets of European metropoles, and such that pretend everything was as ever; we had a good share of them this year. What we didn't see that much was something honestly unpretentious, inspired by real people's experiences and brave enough to address the unpleasant.
Almost two full years after its global outbreak, Covid-19 is in total control over our lives. There are but few who were not harmed economically by it, and it's not even about those who could continue working from their homes and being paid as before. We saw the gap between wealthy and poor deepening, the middle class vanishing and some individuals getting insanely rich.
Few minutes into the film, we got to hear the radio moderator informing listeners about the governmental website that has been set up for the businesses who have sustained losses of more than half their profits. Those people can apply for financial support up to two million yen, he goes, and that's probably excellent news for someone who had a concrete business in form of a small eatery or shop. The young man listening to the radio program behind the wheel of his car doesn't qualify for this option. He is, like many other young students in Tokyo, a ‘host' out of work due to the pandemic, and someone who unfortunately had a not so easy compromise to make.
Life behind a mask opens new oportunities of the kind that one wouldn't lightly seize under normal circumstances, and the protagonists of Kudo's “Unprecedented” challenge their own limitations by swapping their previous host/ hostesses jobs for sleeping with people for money, or shooting amateur porno videos for the popular online site that pays well. They build up a small network of customers under new, awkward conditions that actually put things into perspective: paid sex is after all, just rubbing of genitals without actual closeness and the mask becomes a welcome addition that prevents from unwanted kisses. The audience gets to witness a couple of sex scenes that show how bizarre this kind of practice can be in the time of Covid-19: while hands get disinfected, and masks are being kept on, there is another unhindered exchange of body fluids going on.
In his challenging drama, Kudo turns his gaze towards students from lower class families who have to think of new ways to finance their studies and how to pay all other bills. His portrayal of three young people is uncompromising and raw, and almost documentaristic in its approach to individuals and situations. It is clear that the film was shot with almost no budget, and this isn't of any disadvantage. Contrary, there is a sense of closeness established between the viewer and the protagonists. The camera is always at a respectable distance, very rarely breaking the wall of cautious curiosity, but when it comes close it focuses, rather on the profiles of the youth, on the customers, who are shown head-on.
“Unprecedented” is inspired by true stories of young people in their twenties in Tokyo, harmed by financial insecurity during the pandemic. Kudo has penned an impressive script that could only come from someone who has the understanding for real life stories without wanting to embellish them for the purpose of a stronger effect. There is a subtle development of characters, from the silent acceptance of reality to the emotional meltdown in one case (Manabu, played by the excellent Manabu Kurita), or from reluctance to calculated sacrifice in the other (Sakura, played by Ayano Ogura).
AMP was at the world premiere of the film at PÖFF, where it screened in the most interesting programme section of the festival: Rebels with a Cause. “Unprecedented” is a triumph of directing and storytelling, a terrific and terrifying urban tale of the fragile pandemic-marked time.
