The Gigolo (Dochinpira)

Jen is taking time out from University to earn some easy cash. Well, that was what he thought when he decided that prostitution was the way to go. However the ability to hop on the good foot and do the bad thing is merely one part of what seems to be an increasingly difficult job to get along with. First there is the problem of the mobs wanting their "share" of the takings, then there is the problem of some of the oddities of the job, from fantasy to dominatrices! Painful! It all goes totally screwy however the day that he was counting icebergs on the job (just a delaying tactic!) when all is interrupted by gunshots from the next room. Jen then meets Ai, and the promise of a Cobra (the car, not the snake!) for a successful porking leads to a tragic conclusion.

The Gigolo(Dochinpira)/Rei Rei DVD (UK)

Kiseki Films PAR 61030 (Cert: both)

The two titles appear on the single DVD as they appeared originally on VHS. The Gigolo is dubbed into English, which Rei Rei is subtitled Japanese. The subtitles are on the video stream and must have been taken from the master used originally to create the VHS release, and the cuts are identical to the VHS versions.

Although the pairing of these titles seems only natural, the difference in years between the releases by Kiseki is considerable, and the titles are not without their drawbacks. Indeed The Gigolo is not a particularly brilliant work, with some questionable art, a storyline that lurches on occasion and some truly awful lines that would probably not look out of place on a Johnny Bravo short. Rei Rei suffers at the hands of an ancient subtitle machine that last saw action in the 70's at the BBC doing French movies, some heavy handed chopping courtesy of the BBFC and a story that goes nowhere, but is a little more enjoyable to watch than it's partner on this disk. The DVD itself has obviously been done on the cheap, the titles and the navigation as basic as you can go without discarding the index altogether, though the picture quality is reasonable.

[2 stars]

Review by Chika, 01-Apr-2000

Site written and maintained by Chika.

Back to index