Weather Woman (1996)

Truly Dreadful Film

A terrific literary drama and character piece that shows how the process of creating art can be seen differently by those doing it and those looking at it from the outside.

I didn’t really have many expectations going into the movie (good or bad), but I actually really enjoyed it. I really liked the characters and the banter between them.

There are moments in this movie where the great movie it could've been peek out... They're fleeting, here, but they're worth savoring, and they happen often enough to make it worth your while.

This is a very Japanese movie, and as such, much of the satirical humor was lost on me. Still you can tell that it is a very wry and clever movie that doesn't insult its audience by assuming that they will watch anything as long as there are enough naked women it--something very unusual for a sexploitation film from ANY country. The movie concerns a Keiko, substitute weather girl, high-wire karate expert, and chronic masturbator who manages to take the regular weather girls place by flashing her panties on the air. This somehow leads her to the top of the struggling network. The unfortunate former weather girl has to become her personal (topless)maid whose job includes licking the soap bubbles off her body after she takes a bath in her private suite. There's also some weird dominatrix scene involving a male ad. exec. who tries unsuccessfully to get Keiko fired, and, of course, a musical number or two.So far, so sexploitative, but then the plot kicks in when the Paris-educated daughter of the elderly station owner shows up and gets the weather girl fired via a sex scandal (apparently flashing your panties--or lack thereof--on live TV is not considered scandalous in Japan). The movie then quickly descends into bizarro/manga territory as Keiko teams up with a male admirer (who, outside of Japan,would be called a stalker) to take supernatural revenge by "harnessing the power of the weather" in an elaborate ritual involving a thunderstorm, a lightning rod, self-flagellation, and of course much more female masturbation and gratuitous nudity. Still it is a pretty enjoyable film and, if nothing else, you're pretty unlikely to see anything like it again (at least outside of Japan).

The Weatherwoman is a strange Japanese cult film that will definitely not be to all tastes, as it comprises a blend of gross-out humour, surrealism, soft porn and wild kung fu-style mysticism.Not everything is pulled off as well as it could be, but nonetheless this has enough crazy gags thrown at the wall with enough velocity and rapidity that the movie comes off entertainingly. My favourite gag was the way the chairman's daughter at all times had someone carrying at stick of French Bread for her, to signify her Parisian education.

One is tempted to suspect the feminist credentials of any male director, especially in a film boasting graphic female onanism, and a not-exactly-hostile-to-adolescent-male-fantasy bath scene featuring naked women, licking, foam and cute maid's outfits. Nevertheless, one must applaud Hosoyama's intentions - he far outstrips the similarly themed and styled 'To Die For' in terms of both visual imagination and ideological sympathy. What begins as a media satire turns into a gleefully bizarre S&M martial arts fantasy. The terms of the conflict are gendered - the sterile post-modern male world of the media and virtual reality; and the older female world of magic and nature. This tends to reinforce stereotypes, especially when the villainess is punished for wanting to be man, but who cares when you're having this much fun?

This is a great little film with lots of interesting (and hilarious and erotic) twists and turns. I'm always a little put off when I hear "satire", but this is satire that never descends into cynicism. The film makers obviously enjoyed making this. I also highly recommend the sequel, "Weather Woman Returns", which is just as good.