Road movies featuring female protagonists are common enough, but Tanada Yuki’s One Million Yen Girl takes an unusual tack. Instead of going on a journey of self-discovery and self-liberation - as women have been doing on screen since the Women’s Lib era of Thelma and Louise, Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore and beyond, Suzuko (Aoi Yu) takes to the road essentially because she is fed up with the human race, including her family and friends.
Tanada, who also wrote the script, tells Suzuko’s story with an undercurrent of wry humor. but also with acute insights into the difficulties - and dangers - of connecting with other human beings. She gives us a heroine who is neither bitterly wised-up nor naively self-deluded, but instead refreshingly self-reliant and aware, even as she keeps stumbling into comically odd and embarrassing situations.
Her journey begins with the bad choice of a roommate that leads to an absurd court case - and a totally unfair criminal record. Getting no support from her stupendously callous family - including her insufferably self-righteous little brother, she decides to leave home for parts unknown as soon as she saves one million yen (7,787 euros).
Why that amount? It is just enough, Suzuko figures, for her to rent an apartment and live independently - not a cheap proposition in Japan, where renters must often pay high security deposits before moving in.
After saving the million and hitting the road, she ends up at a beach resort, where she gets a job at a “sea house” (umi no ie or temporary seaside rest-house for the summer crowd) and immediately starts building her bank account again. Her next stop is in the mountains, where she finds work picking peaches, while rooming with her employers. Finally, she lands at a provincial city, where she gets hired at a big home supply store.
All along the way, she finds people who try to use her, much like the dubious roommate. She also sends letters to her brother, with whom she feels a bond, despite his obnoxiousness. Ironically, she misunderstands him just as others misunderstand her, though her intentions are anything but bad. Finally she meets a guy (Moriyama Mirai) who seems to understand and like her for what she is, criminal record and all. Is this the end of the road?
Yu Aoi, best known internationally for her starring role in Hula Girls (2006), looks as though a brisk wind could blow her away, but there is also steel in that thin frame. Aoi balances Suzuko’s plucky and quirky sides to good comic effect, while keeping something in reserve. We don’t know how she will fare in her last, most important test - but her choice, when it suddenly comes, feels absolutely right. Aoi makes One Million Yen Girl well worth the trip.
Mark Schilling