If you want to read my review of Ride or Die, read this post. In 彼女, Rei Nagasawa is a lesbian and in love with her former classmate, Nanae Shinoda. She discovers that Nanae is frequently beaten by her husband, Kotaro Shinoda. They decide to kill him and live on the run, finally together.
Nanae Shinoda (Honami Sato), before getting married, was frequently beaten by her father. Mistakenly, she thought that marrying Kotaro Shinoda (Shinya Niiro) would end her suffering.
“Either my husband dies or I die.”
Rei Nagasawa (Kiko Mizuhara) has a homosexual relationship with Mika Oe (Yoko Maki), she is a doctor and works with aesthetic procedures. On Mika’s 34th birthday, she received a call from Nanae asking for help after being beaten up by her husband.
“Of course he should die rather than you.”
Desperate to put Nanae out of her misery, Rei went to a bar and pretended not to know Kotaro. She took him home and cut his throat while they had sex. Now, Rei needs to run away from the police because the crime scene is full of evidence of who the killer is and Nanae won’t let her go alone.
Reviewing Ride or Die: do you still love me?
They had not seen each other for 10 years. Back then, Rei helped Nanae any way she could. Even so, Nanae turned her back on Rei and married Kotaro, a rich guy, because it seemed like the best and quickest escape route from a father who had been beating her since her mother left.
“We will never see each other again.”
After so many years, Rei found herself at Nanae’s house, on her girlfriend’s birthday night and all she could feel was horror, when Nanae took off her clothes.
“Did your husband do this?”
Nanae had been beaten up by Kotaro the night before. Kotaro did not allow her to have any kind of social life. She was destroyed physically and mentally and, unfortunately, there is nothing fictional about this condition in a marriage to a violent man.
“I couldn’t take it anymore.”
In an act of desperation, Nanae asked Rei if she could kill Kotaro. In a very passionate way, Rei took it seriously and fulfilled the promise made the last time they were together. If anything happened to Nanae, all she had to do was go to Rei.
“The police will know who killed him. So, they won’t continue investigating. They will not know of your involvement.”
Nanae did not abandon Rei. And so, the two leave by car across Japan, fleeing the police and having a second chance to live all the love they felt for each other, in the fullness of passion.
“No one else will kick you or hit you!”
The problem is that, with so much evidence of who the murderer was, everyone connected to Rei and Nanae will be affected, they turn against each other and the police get closer and closer. Forcing them, especially Rei, to do all sorts of things so they could be together.
Reviewing Ride or Die: domestic violence
Before marrying Kotaro, Nanae was beaten by her alcoholic father just for existing. She never had a home. She was always a war prison where physical and psychological torture was not a crime against her humanity.
It seems to me that this past with her father made her not have the necessary dissent to not marry Kotaro. Anyone who grows up in a violent environment thinks violence is normal.
Another extreme and tragic thing is what passionality is capable of doing. Rei, until then, had never had sex with men. She lost her virginity at age 29 to her archenemy. Just to end Nanae’s suffering, her boundless love.
Why you should watch Ride or Die
As they flee across Japan, the landscapes are beautiful, both in the metropolitan region and in the rural region. Furthermore, the songs that pack the scenes are also wonderful. Mostly, CHERRY by YUI, my favorite Japanese singer.
This Japanese film also made me think about the extreme actions people take in moments of deep despair. Either out of love or out of hopelessness. Generally, things get worse.
Ride or Die trailer
I really feel that you will like this one. So I decided to do this Kanojo review. Go ahead, immerse yourself in the story, the environment and the soundtrack.
And come back later to tell me what you think in the comments. This was one of the best Japanese movies about crimes of passion that I’ve seen.
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