An acrylic painting on wood panel, titled '100 Yen Love', showing two versions of a young woman. At the top of the painting she is waering boxing gloves confidently holding roman candles firing off, and the bottom she is hunched over on a bicycle without pants looking towards the viewer.

100 Yen Love

(2014, Masaharu Take)

After watching The Shoplifters I became curious about Sakura Ando’s other movies and soon found 100 Yen Love staring me in the face at the rental store. The story itself is not grand but it builds up to a powerful boxing finale. Similar to The Shoplifters, Ando plays an atypical Japanese woman that breaks a lot of stereotypes. Here she’s a lazy, complacent, hygiene-lacking, low self-worth, irritable, barely functional discount convenience store worker that transforms into a punching maniac. Definitely, the final act will get to you, that’s all I can say.


A close-up screenshot of Ichiko (played by Sakura Ando) apathetically looking at the camera in the film '100 Yen Love'. An animated gif of a scene from the film '100 Yen Love' of Ichiko in boxing gloves walking towards the camera punching her fists together. A screenshot from the movie '100 Yen Love' of Ichiko timidly mimicking the boxing stance of her trainer.

© 2014 - Spotted Productions