Dawn of the Felines
牝猫たち
Storyline
The whole story, ending included.
Three delivery-health workers in Ikebukuro, filmed with unusual respect for what the work costs.
In Ikebukuro, a delivery-health agency called Gokuraku Wakaokusama sends women out to the men who phone in. Three of them are friends. Masako has no home and sleeps in internet cafés. Her regular, Takada, owns a building but has not left his room in ten years, and spends his days on online message boards. Yui, a single mother, abuses her small son and leaves him with Mikami, a young odd-job man who realises the boy is being hurt, confronts her and grows fond of him; she falls for a client, Taniguchi, a struggling comedian who treats her badly. Rie, who is married and cannot have children, has a gentle regular, Kaneda, a recently widowed old man who pays for her time and never touches her. Meanwhile Horikiri, a young driver, secretly films the women and posts the videos online, and the manager, Nonaka, beats him for it.
Takada lets Masako stay at his place. She falls for him and wants him, but he insists on booking her through the agency; they quarrel, and in the end they sleep together. Kaneda offers Rie extra money to see her on ordinary days, falls in love with her and follows her home, where he sees her walking happily with her husband. Then he tries to kill her. She survives, and he begs her to kill him instead. She does as he asks, and the police arrest her. The agency, found to be allowing full sex, is raided and closed. Yui collects her son from Mikami and moves in with Taniguchi, who seems, for now, to get on with the boy. Late one night Masako turns up at the empty office, tells Nonaka for the first time why she went into the work, and he pays for her. Some time later she runs into Horikiri, the driver who was shamed online. He is starting a business of his own, and she gets into his car to go back to work. Life, he says, has to go on, and the film ends there.
Starring
Juri Ihataas Masako
A young woman with no home who sleeps in internet cafés and is drawn to a client who never leaves his room.
Masako’s story
Masako, a university graduate who could not find a decent job, has no home and sleeps in internet cafés between bookings. Her regular, Takada, has not left his building in ten years, and an awkward romance grows between them; on a rooftop she tells him what she feels. When Horikiri, the driver, posts a secret recording of her swearing about clients, Takada sets the internet on him, and bookings for her flood in. As the agency is closing, she comes to the empty office late at night, tells Nonaka for the first time why she went into the work, and he pays for her. Some time later she runs into Horikiri, who is starting a business of his own, and gets into his car. Life, he says, has to go on.
Satsuki Maueas Yui
A single mother who abuses her small son, leaves him with a sitter while she works, and falls for a callous client.
Yui’s story
Yui, a single mother, hits her small son, Kenta, and leaves him with Mikami, a paid sitter, while she works; Mikami sees that the boy is being abused. Short of regulars, she complains to Nonaka and is told that men want to feel she has fallen for them. She falls for a client, a comedian who treats her badly, and after a night with him she finds that Mikami has bought Kenta toys, and scolds him for it. On the day the agency is raided she has not collected Kenta, and the raid brings her back to him while Mikami looks on. She takes the boy home.
Michieas Rie
A married woman who cannot have children and works in secret, whose gentle elderly regular falls dangerously in love with her.
Rie’s story
Rie is married, cannot have children, and has a husband with a young lover; she works at the agency without telling anyone. Kaneda, a recently widowed old man, books her again and again and asks nothing of her body, only her company. One day he shows her a large sum of money and begs to see her outside the agency. Since she has been paid, she says, she wants to give him something for it, and she takes the lead; he tells her he is simply lonely and wants to be with her. His attachment deepens, and in the end Rie kills him.
Tomohiro Kakuas Takada
A building owner who has not left his room in ten years, who lets Masako stay and begins to think about love.
Ken Yoshizawaas Kaneda
A recently widowed old man who books Rie and never touches her, until his loneliness turns into obsession.
Takuma Otoas Nonaka
The manager of the Ikebukuro agency, who keeps the women working and deals roughly with the staff.
Why it matters
Dawn of the Felines was Kazuya Shiraishi's film for Nikkatsu's Roman Porno reboot, an homage to Noboru Tanaka's Night of the Felines, moved from the Turkish baths of old Shinjuku to the delivery-health trade of present-day Ikebukuro. It follows three women who sell sex because other doors have closed, through homelessness, single motherhood and a childless marriage, and it treats their work as work, with its rules, small kindnesses and dangers, rather than as a lesson. The issues are poverty among young women, the loneliness of the men who pay, child abuse, and secret filming that turns women into content. The film was invited to Rotterdam, and Kazuko Shirakawa, star of the very first Roman Porno film, makes a cameo. It offers neither rescue nor ruin, only the next booking, and asks whether that is survival or simply endurance.