Slight Fever Of A
20-Year-Old (Gay)
Picture: C
Sound: C+ Extras: C Feature: C+
Ryosuke Hashigushi’s Slight Fever Of A 20-Year-Old
(1993) tries to be a semi-autobiographical tale of a young man who falls for
another young man, until things get complicated by a female love interest and
the fact that the object of his affections is a rent-boy like himself. This is uncovered when he comes across a
Polaroid picture of his ideal guy from a pimp’s photo album.
At first, he says, nothing, then admits his love, then
does not know quite what to do about it.
Perhaps because Japan has its set of standards in politeness and things
unspoken, the story can be stretched to 114 minutes, but this would be lucky to
last 85 if this were an American production and we have seen this tale told
better elsewhere. Hashigushi even cast
the lead to look like him, though something still does not come to the surface
by the time all is said and done when it is over to make it well rounded enough
to be memorable. In fairness, it is an
early work, so you’ll have to judge for yourself.
The 1.33 X 1 image has limits and is not very detailed,
though the copy used does n to have markings or other problems. It is watchable, but its slight softness and
slightly muted colors throughout are dull.
The Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo is a little better, but has no surround
information of any kind. Extras include
a trailer and a near 42-minutes-long making of program.
- Nicholas Sheffo
