An Adolescent

Tomokawa works as a policeman in a small town. During the hot summer he lazily strolls the streets, passing the time setting up petty deals and seducing married women. Then suddenly the young and beautiful Yoko steps into his life with an offer no man can refuse. The fiery affair which ensues radically changes both their lives. The girl falls passionately in love with the policeman and he, unable to conquer his feelings, loses his carefully cultivated mask of sophisticated cynicism. Moreover, they have much more in common than was at first apparent. Yoko’s mother is Tomokawa’s ex-girlfriend and her father, Yoko’s grandfather, designed the wonderful tattoo of a single-winged phoenix on the policeman’s back. And it is the old man who becomes enraged when he finds out about his granddaughter’s relationship with Tomokawa. The lovers are unprepared for its surprising outcome. Eiji Okuda on his film: “In developing the story for An Adolescent, I focused on the “pure love” between a middle-aged man and a young girl. What I wanted to do was depict the union of two pure souls, where this union is never just sex and will never be fulfilled. I will be very happy if I can get across an important message: be yourself, regardless of the absurdity of the world”.