The Volatile Woman

Japanese filmmakers have a unique talent in telling a perverse story normally and a normal story perverse. A good example is Kumakiri Kazuyoshi’s 熊切和嘉 “The Volatile Woman 揮発性の女.” The relationship between the gas station owner and the robber is full of perverted violence—he started by trying to rape her and later she sabotaged his moped and stabbed him to keep him around. Through a sympathetic yet calm camera, Kumakiri made the whole story look normal and even warm. We are able to see the sadness, the loneliness and the isolation of the gas station owner through our eyes and not ears. She desperately needed someone with her and we understand and sympathize with her. Even the robber, we saw his weakness and his sympathy and then care for the older gas station ower. A relationship that is usually considered wrong in every level became more like a heart warming romantic tale. We want them together; we even approve the perverted relationship. It is no small feat that Kumakiri quietly make us understand and accept something we usually think wrong just by observation, no melodrama, no lecture, just compassion. He made us human again.