『A Destructive Love Psych Thriller Blooming Amid Extreme Choices』
π₯ Movie Overview
π¬ Title: Ride or Die (Original Title: ε½Όε₯³, Kanojo, 2021)
π Country: π―π΅ Japan
π️ Genre: Psychological Thriller / Romance / Crime Drama
π️ Production & Release: Netflix, Standalone Film
⏳ Runtime: ~119 minutes
π’ Director: Ryuichi Hiroki
π️ Screenwriter: Nami Sakkawa
π Original Work: Gunjo (Author: Chin Nakamura)
πΊ Platform: Netflix
π©πΌ Cast: Mizuhara Kiko – Nagasawa Rei
Sato Honami – Shinoda Nanae
𧩠In-Depth Story Analysis (Spoilers)
π A Self-Destructive Odyssey Stained with Blood and Love
The protagonists are two women, Rei and Nanae.
- Rei: A wealthy cosmetic surgeon with a stable life and a girlfriend, yet unable to let go of her obsession with Nanae, whom she has admired since high school.
- Nanae: A victim suffering from severe domestic violence inflicted by her husband.
Nanae reaches out to Rei, showing her abused reality and asking her to kill her husband by exploiting Rei's longstanding crush. Rei, driven by blind love and desire for Nanae, ultimately commits the murder, and the two women embark on a bloody odyssey together after the shocking crime.
The film alternates between past and present during their escape, focusing intensively on the twisted dynamics and psychological states of the two.
πͺ Mixed Love and Desire: Rei’s Blind Sacrifice
Rei's actions stem from a fanatical obsession that goes beyond simple love. She abandons her stable life and commits murder to 'prove' her love for Nanae and to fulfill her desire to be her 'savior.'
- Savior Fantasy: Rei believes that by saving Nanae from her suffering, their love will be complete. However, Nanae simultaneously feels contempt and fear toward this act, filling their relationship with conflict and tension throughout their flight.
- Love vs. Desire: While Rei claims she committed murder out of 'love,' the film also highlights her intense sexual desire. This raw depiction shows the complex entanglement of love, sexual desire, and possessiveness in human psychology.
π¬ Transference of Violence and Liberation
The film juxtaposes the physical violence Nanae suffered from her husband with the psychological manipulation and control Rei exerts over Nanae. Though Nanae is freed from male violence, she becomes trapped in another form of binding obsession from Rei's blind affection.
The escape journey serves as a kind of emotional liberation for Nanae. Within her relationship with Rei, she struggles to reclaim her agency, moving from a passive victim to expressing her own feelings and desires.
π₯ Crime as Deus Ex Machina
In this film, the extreme act of murder is not the climax but rather the starting point of the narrative. The crime itself creates an environment where the two women become detached from the world and reliant solely on each other, providing the stage to test their 'true relationship'.
It recalls the 'Thelma & Louise' narrative of western cinema, but 'Ride or Die' focuses more on the self-destructive dynamics of the relationship rather than social liberation.
π‘ Controversy over the 'Male Gaze'
The most pointed criticism of the work arises from director Ryuichi Hiroki's filmmaking approach. Some critics argue that Rei's full-body nude scenes and her sexual interactions with Nanae’s husband or other men are portrayed excessively voyeuristically and sexually, even though this is a queer female narrative. Especially, scenes depicting sexual acts with men being longer and more detailed than the romantic acts between Rei and Nanae dilute the film’s theme and suggest commercial motives.
⚖️ Identity Confusion and Depth
Despite the lengthy runtime of 2 hours and 20 minutes, the film presents the characters' backgrounds and psychology in a fragmented manner. Some viewers find it difficult to fully understand why the two are so obsessed with and hateful toward each other. The ambiguity of whether Rei's motive is 'love' or 'twisted desire' sometimes undermines the film's psychological realism.
π Coexistence of Beauty and Discomfort
'Ride or Die' captivates viewers with its stunning cinematography moving between neon-lit cityscapes and desolate beaches, and the fiery chemistry of Mizuhara Kiko and Sato Honami. The climax on the beach, where Nanae first responds to Rei, delivers deep emotional resonance.
In the ending, Rei takes full responsibility and surrenders, granting Nanae freedom (survival), representing the ultimate sacrifice of blind love and a tragic form of happy ending.
This film is uncomfortable, intense, and sometimes imperfect, yet it leaves a strong impression for exploring the most primal and destructive aspects of human desire and salvation, outside the boundaries of normative love.
π― Personal Rating (Subjective)
π Love Scene Intensity: ♥♥♥♥♥
⭐ Rating: ★
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