CUTIE HONEY

San Francisco Premiere

Japan 2004 | 93mins | 35mm Color | Japanese w/E.S.

Go Nagaiâs popular Î70âs comic-turned-TV-anime-series gets its first live-action treatment in this giddy extravaganza thatâll tickle you pink÷as in the hot-pink vinyl uniform hugging the curvaceous contours of its sexy superheroine. Somehow marketed for youths, the exploitative original featured a crime-fighting schoolgirl android whose magic words ãHoney Flash!ä sent her clothes exploding and transformed her into a titillatingly costumed ãWarrior of Loveä ready to take on the cackling villains who had killed her father. Successfully translating classic animeâs retro delirium into live action, this latest manifestation remains largely faithful to Nagaiâs basic plotline and gratuitous spirit (sans the infamous full-frontal display). But director Hideaki Anno (NEON GENESIS EVANGELION; LOVE & POP) also taps into the psyche of contemporary Japanese youth÷as heâs done in his sensational anime and live action works÷by turning the dress-up doll heroine into an exaggerated vision of todayâs Tokyo girl. Irresistibly embodied by idol Eriko Sato, this modern office-worker Honey is na•ve and vocationally dysfunctional, doing her best to change the world with a disarming innocence and infectious energy. Backing Honeyâs modern-day happy-go-lucky vigor with a kaleidoscope of go-go fashions, bubble-gum palette and groovy musical interludes, Anno turns this giggle-out-loud action comedy into an ecstatic tribute to the vitality of the sixties and seventies.

—Taro Goto

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