Wandar A beautifully emotional, character driven film! Don't let the title or the seemingly porn-like plot fool you; this is not an overly erotic film. It is about the internal struggles of two lonely people who make a connection based on the need for physical closeness and acceptance. Though most likely just a cell phone reference lost in translation, I like to think the title refers to their use of each other. Though not deceitful nor malicious and perhaps even unknown to their conscious minds, they were only seeking self-gratification. This film deserves all its 21 awards plus more. Shinobu Terajima's role of Rei is the best portrayal of a mentally unstable young woman! The spoken stream of consciousness entwined with short written blurbs was a brilliant representation of her conscious narration in contrast to the uncontrollable thoughts in her head. It's refreshing that this disturbed character wasn't defined by a uniquely tragic past. The flashbacks aid in giving us a glimpse inside her mind, but we get few hints as to the cause of her angst. I think this lack of understanding is what the character herself feels. In the beginning she states, "I don't know why. No one ever hit me." and in the end, "I lust after the hand that knew violence." Perhaps it would be easier to accept herself and her problems if there were an obvious reason for them. This story unravels perfectly from its quirky beginning through its emotional climax to its absolutely flawless ending. It isn't contrived or glorified. The characters aren't changed by a magical epiphany nor will they live happily ever after. It's obvious the character Rei is not miraculously cured because she still buys the wine, gin, and ice cream that she went to the store for in the beginning. The difference is her attitude, her whistle signifying the transmission is over but not to worry. Her life may still be in shambles but she'll survive because, now that she knows someone else can accept her despite her neuroses, she's hopeful that she may be able to accept herself as something good.

sarandos-1 I saw Vibrator as part of a film festival in Greece.It was truly one of the worst movies of all time. The show at a supermarket, where the two stars meet and immediately "hit off", proceeding to a sex scene in the back of the man's truck. For the whole movie, the viewer watches the "road trip" that follows. Images of the Japanese countryside are all this film has to offer, and beyond that, chaos.I personally gave up on the film when the duo started a conversation on CB technology, which lasted about five minutes film time and truly wrecked my nerves.I have no idea who might find this film interesting. Lonely middle-aged women who read Cosmopolitan might perhaps find the film expresses their own ambitions about life, like going around with a truck driver, talking about CBs and the futility of things and the like. There is no "deeper symbolism" in this film, no "high-level cultural event" here. This is a film that deserves the under 100 people who have seen it worldwide.If you're a road movie maniac, go and see it. You might find it less horrible than I did. If not, pass. Heavens, STAY AWAY!

krvmshow Vibrator is a movie I'd like to forget. A movie where the fake-outs and plot twists get faked-out and twisted-over so you're right back where you started. A movie that transfers, seamlessly, from grotesquely silent anal sex sequences to intricately technical discussions over the innermost workings of CB radio.There are shots in this film that make you wonder if the projectionist accidentally spliced in thousands upon thousands of identical frames. Characters sit, silently eating soup, for up to and including ten minutes at a time. It's like watching paint dry, only at some point in the course of the first act, the paint is already dry, and you just sit around watching paint for two hours!Vibrator is truly remarkable in its refusal to tell a story, to grab your attention, or event to through in a shred of music every now and then! For a movie with practically two speaking parts, you might figure it to be a characters study, but that would involve actually wiggling some effort in the way of character development.Vibrator never surmounts to anything. The cinematography, flashy at best, is reminiscent of a Mitsubishi commercial, sans-techno. The main players do fine, but are given virtually no material to play to an audience with. Characters cry, and you just watch them. You don't feel them.I walked out of the late-night screening of Vibrator from the LA Film Festival feeling drastically cheated.

sixteen-nine Rei is a freelance writer embattled by personal demons. We first meet her in a convenience store where she is buying too much alcohol and not enough food. At the magazine rack she pauses to contemplate the happiness of the glamour girls on the glossies for which she writes. Only later do we realize that this is self-reflection. A chance encounter with truck driving Takatoshi, leads to a two day romp of sex, friendship and introspection. It's unclear if what happens to her is the product of her writer self imagining it all as a magazine serial (hence the inter-titles and voice of the narrator).The relationship has a certain healing sweetness that comes out in simple daily pleasures of Japanese life, like a bath or a bowl of hot soba on a cold winter's day. It's a little fluffy, but this seems to be an intentional point of the story: the musings of a glamour writer reaching out to the young readers who struggle in silence with the pain brought on by the ultra-thin, ultra-beautiful ideal put forward by the magazines for which she writes.In the end, it's a road-buddy picture that gives Western viewers a taste of the complex Japanese landscape that is both brilliant in its natural beauty and frightening in its industrialization.