Moteki, the Japanese title of Love Strikes!, translates roughly to `season of irresistibility`, that mythical period in a gentleman`s life when he starts to find himself inexplicably attractive to women, doubtlessly due to the mojo one develops with maturity. The film transplants this idea onto its protagonist, Fujimoto (Mirai Moriyama), a 31-year-old otaku who`s down on his luck, but soon runs into (count `em) four beautiful women, whom he starts to develop relationships with.
The not-so-lovable protagonist of Love Strikes! is the kinda uber-geek who can quote Goethe and other dead German guys off the top of his head (err, not that this writer can…or anything…). The film itself is your typical wish-fulfilment fantasy crass, silly amusement that can get a little creepy at times. Despite the theme of the film, there`s precious little depicted raunch, save for a few boob-grabbing scenes. More`s the pity though: given that the premise already throws realism out the window, it should have just gone all out in the sexual humour department.
Speaking of German, there`s a term in the language known as schadenfreude, which refers to the joy one feels when watching the suffering of others. Love Strikes! scores well in that department, with some over-the-top song and dance routines performed every time our luckless protagonist strikes out with a particular woman. The acting is suitably over-the-top enough to elicit some guilty pleasure in these particular instances.
Unfortunately, the latter half of the film gets bogged down in some relatively joyless melodrama, which doesn`t work all that well considering how little empathy one feels for the undeveloped characters. Nonetheless, the film is an interesting, albeit patchy diversion. Either that or we just find Japanese lasses unreasonably attractive.
Summary: Waiting for our own Moteki…
Rating: 3/5 Raphael Lim