40
Manages the difficult feat of being simultaneously sordid and tedious at the same time and is ultimately surprisingly tame despite its unrated status.
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What are critics saying?
40
The New York Times by Dave Kehr
Feels fabricated, studio-bound and claustrophobic, which doesn't add to the ripped-from-the-headlines authenticity this genre has always depended on.
60
The first half of the film is engaging enough to overshadow the missteps of the final act. It's a down and dirty look at the world of the ko gals, but it has class.
60
Rather than portraying these girls as one-dimensional victims, Harada offers a complex portrait of teenagers who've learned to make their exploitation work for them.
60
Village Voice by Michael Atkinson
Casting Tokyo as a neon wilderness thick with aged "perverts" and teenage pimps, the movie frames a critique of socially permissible pedophilia as indelible as Harada's eavesdropping mise-en-scène.
40
Bounce Ko Gals ultimately devolves into a litany of social ills, with not enough of a proper story, and Harada loses the thread of the film whenever he slips into slapstick comedy, or has his female leads play the role of giggly best friends.