Athlete

I want to live my life being me.

Drama Romance
88 min     6     2019     Japan

Overview

Kōhei is a former competitive swimmer who lives an ordinary life with his wife and high school daughter. One day, his wife suddenly asks him for a divorce. He then has a fateful encounter in Tokyo’s gay district, Shinjuku Ni-chōme, with a beautiful boy named Yūtaka. Yūtaka dreams of becoming an animator while working as an online chat boy. At the same time, he is struggling to tell his father that he is gay. They are both confused but eventually become attracted to each other. Then, they have sex. One day they make love, and the next day they hurt each other. Through these emotional ups and downs, their relationship grows deeper and deeper.

Reviews

CinemaSerf wrote:
A stylishly filmed story about a thirty-something swimming teacher who, having been divorced by his wife, encounters a young man and together they embark on a journey of self-discovery. It's all pretty predictable stuff: inner demons are faced and it has it's fair share of love, lust, jealousy - and, of course, external family problems that all weigh heavily on the younger man as he struggles to find and accept love and on the older as he deals with his teenage daughter. The ending, though really quite unfulfilling, is actually appropriate and honest. Two decent performances from Joe Nakamura and Yohdi Kondo keep this interesting, if not exactly thought-provoking.

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