The Cornered Mouse Dreams of Cheese
窮鼠はチーズの夢を見る
Storyline
The whole story, ending included.
A married man who cannot refuse anyone is loved, relentlessly, by a younger man he knew at university.
Kyoichi Otomo is a married office worker who has never refused anyone who wanted him, and so he keeps having affairs. One day Wataru Imagase, his junior from university, whom he has not seen in seven years, turns up with photographs. Wataru is a private investigator, hired by Kyoichi's wife Chikako to find out whether he is cheating, and he has loved Kyoichi since their student days. His price for silence is a kiss, and soon more than that. Then Chikako confesses that she has a lover of her own and wanted evidence for a better settlement, and asks for a divorce. Kyoichi moves out, and Wataru moves into his new flat and his life.
Kyoichi insists they are not a couple and lies about an evening with a woman he once had an affair with; when Wataru walks out, Kyoichi rings him to come back. When Natsuki, his girlfriend from university, reappears, Wataru gatecrashes their dinner with his own former boyfriend, and Kyoichi tells him he belongs with his own kind. Natsuki makes Kyoichi choose between them in front of Wataru. He tells Wataru that an ordinary man cannot choose him and goes to a hotel with Natsuki, but cannot sleep with her. He goes home and, for the first time, kisses Wataru himself.
Happiness frightens them both. When Kyoichi's subordinate Tamaki Okamura, the daughter of one of his bosses, begins to confide in him, Wataru's jealousy breaks open: Kyoichi is wrong for him, he cries, and he is wrong for Kyoichi. They drive to the sea at dawn and part. Kyoichi becomes engaged to Tamaki but keeps the ashtray Wataru left behind. Then he notices Wataru's car tailing him. Wataru begs to be allowed near him once a month, nothing more. They sleep together, and Kyoichi asks him to live with him. In the morning Wataru has gone, and the ashtray is in the bin. Kyoichi ends the engagement, though Tamaki, who imagines a woman who smokes, offers to wait until "she" comes back. Wataru, in another man's bed, weeps. Kyoichi takes the ashtray out of the bin, washes it and puts it back, then sits in Wataru's favourite chair and smiles, ready to wait for someone who may not return.
Starring
Tadayoshi Okuraas Kyoichi Otomo
A married office worker who has never refused anyone who wanted him, and who finds himself, against every idea he had of himself, in love with a man.
Kyoichi Otomo’s story
Kyoichi drifts through affairs because he has never refused anyone. When Wataru turns up with the photographs, he refuses the kiss that is the price of silence, then gives in. His wife leaves him and Wataru moves in; Kyoichi insists they are not a couple, yet rings him back as soon as he walks out. Made to choose by Natsuki, he tells Wataru an ordinary man cannot choose him, but cannot sleep with her, and goes home to kiss Wataru himself. When Tamaki begins to confide in him and Wataru breaks down, they part at the sea. He gets engaged to Tamaki but keeps Wataru's ashtray. He asks Wataru to live with him, wakes to find him gone, and ends the engagement. He washes the ashtray, sits in Wataru's chair and smiles, ready to wait.
Ryo Naritaas Wataru Imagase
Kyoichi's junior from university, a private investigator who has loved him for years and uses a case to reach him.
Wataru Imagase’s story
Wataru has loved Kyoichi since university, and turns up after seven years as the investigator hired to catch him. His price for silence is a kiss, then more. Once Kyoichi is divorced he moves in, cleans in his clothes and curls up in his favourite chair to wait for him. Hurt by Kyoichi's lie, he leaves, and comes back the moment Kyoichi calls. He gatecrashes Kyoichi's dinner with Natsuki; told that an ordinary man cannot choose him, he answers yes. That night Kyoichi kisses him for the first time. Jealous of Tamaki, he breaks down, and they part at the sea. Later he is tailing Kyoichi again, begging to be let near him once a month, nothing more. Asked to live with him, he is gone by morning, and is last seen weeping in another man's bed.
Shiori Yoshidaas Tamaki Okamura
Kyoichi's subordinate and the daughter of one of his bosses, who loves him patiently while sensing someone else in his heart.
Honami Satoas Natsuki
Kyoichi's girlfriend from university, who reappears and makes him choose, in front of Wataru, between the two of them.
Miyu Sakihias Chikako Otomo
Kyoichi's wife, who hires an investigator not out of jealousy but to strengthen her hand in a divorce.
Why it matters
The Cornered Mouse Dreams of Cheese is a love story between two men that begins in blackmail, and it never quite lets that go. Its subject is a man who has drifted through every relationship by not refusing, and who must decide, for once, what he wants, when the answer is a man and every habit he has tells him to stay 'ordinary'. The issues are how a person names his own desire, bisexuality, intimacy bargained for under pressure, and the women around him used as proof. The Japan Times called it a notable addition to Japan's still-small canon of mainstream gay romance, and remarked on an actor from Johnny & Associates, an agency it called notoriously prudish, playing love scenes with both women and men. The film ends on an empty chair: a man choosing to wait, with no promise that choosing will bring the other one home.