A One Way Ticket To Love is Shinoda's first movie as a director. A movie about rock and jazz musicians, it was designed to appeal to a young audience. Apparently it failed, because it bombed at the box office and it was years before Shinoda would be allowed to make the kind of movies he wanted to. The story revolves around a saxophone player, a girl he meets who may have been trying to commit suicide and a singer who is being billed as the Elvis Presley of Japan. All three of them become manipulated by members of the older generation. Can they escape their situation? Or will they, as one character puts it, be sacrificed at the altar of money? It's an interesting story at the Japanese entertainment industry of the early 60's. Unfortunately none of the characters are that interesting. Particularly the saxophone player and his sort of girlfriend are so passive that they seem practically inert. It's too bad because it it seemed like it could been a really good movie.
5 Reviews
During the time when musicians were struggling
jordondave-280854 April 2023
(1960) One Way Ticket To Love/ Koi no katamichi kippu
(In Japanese with English subtitles)
DRAMA
Written and directed by Masahiro Shinoda which takes place during the recession with struggling sax player, Kenji Shirai (Kazuya Kosaka) finally finding a gig to showcase his talents employed by an underground talent agency Eiko Yoshinaga (Yachiyo Ôtori). During this, Kenji meets a sobbing woman Mitsuko Maki (Noriko Maki) who looked like she was about to jump off on front of a subway over an already married man, but was convinced to stay with him for the night until he finds her some employment. It was during then we are then introduced to what is supposed to be the Japanese equivalent of an Elvis impersonator, Susumu Ueno (Masaaki Hirao) one of the agency's popular clients who begins to falls for Mitsuko as she agrees to be employed as hostess/ dancer of some sort in which she may being nude may be one of the requirements. Complicating matters is when the already married man wants to be a part of Mitsuko's life again when at the same is beginning to fall for the sax player, Kenji.
Written and directed by Masahiro Shinoda which takes place during the recession with struggling sax player, Kenji Shirai (Kazuya Kosaka) finally finding a gig to showcase his talents employed by an underground talent agency Eiko Yoshinaga (Yachiyo Ôtori). During this, Kenji meets a sobbing woman Mitsuko Maki (Noriko Maki) who looked like she was about to jump off on front of a subway over an already married man, but was convinced to stay with him for the night until he finds her some employment. It was during then we are then introduced to what is supposed to be the Japanese equivalent of an Elvis impersonator, Susumu Ueno (Masaaki Hirao) one of the agency's popular clients who begins to falls for Mitsuko as she agrees to be employed as hostess/ dancer of some sort in which she may being nude may be one of the requirements. Complicating matters is when the already married man wants to be a part of Mitsuko's life again when at the same is beginning to fall for the sax player, Kenji.
Decent old Japanese film
Jeremy_Urquhart27 December 2021
Not bad I guess? Looks like it was Shinoda's first feature, and through exploring his filmography, I've him to be a director who consistently puts out decent to good movies. None that I dislike, but also none that I can quite say I love.
This too falls under decent, though maybe on the lower end. It's less experimental or new-wavey than his other 60s films, with simple/fairly clear characters and a simple plot that's sort of there if you care, but isn't hugely important if you more just want to watch this for the characters and the overall vibes.
And there are vibes to be had. Plenty of music, and Shinoda's movies had pretty good visuals right off the bat, it seems.
Not bad, not great. As part of his early works, it helps give context to what came after (and still so many more to see from this always interesting director, who along with Yoji Yamada remains one of the last living Japanese directors of this era of Japanese cinema).
This too falls under decent, though maybe on the lower end. It's less experimental or new-wavey than his other 60s films, with simple/fairly clear characters and a simple plot that's sort of there if you care, but isn't hugely important if you more just want to watch this for the characters and the overall vibes.
And there are vibes to be had. Plenty of music, and Shinoda's movies had pretty good visuals right off the bat, it seems.
Not bad, not great. As part of his early works, it helps give context to what came after (and still so many more to see from this always interesting director, who along with Yoji Yamada remains one of the last living Japanese directors of this era of Japanese cinema).
Tear Down of the Entertainment Industry
IntakeCinema20 October 2022
Warning: Spoilers
"We'll be in the public eye, on stage in the bright lights. It might be a very dark place." - Maki
One Way Ticket to Love sets up an interesting contrast between it's main characters; a man (Shirai) who is wanted for his skills with an alto saxophone, and a woman (Maki) who is wanted for her body with no stage skills to speak of. Throw in seedy managers of both sexes, a star who is akin to Elvis with an ego to match, some exuberant groupies, and an ex-lover who can't seem to let Maki go and the film becomes so much more than what was set up. Which I think helped in being able to keep it interesting for 82 minutes, but also muddied that setup.
Shirai and Maki are frustrating characters, neither seem to be able to make a decision to save their life. Shirai repeatedly asks "what does she want from me?" even when she comes out and says exactly what she wants from him. Maki keeps going back to Shirai any time she must make a tough decision even after it's clear that Shirai won't help her make those decisions. The actors play the roles well, but that doesn't save them from being any less frustrating characters.
Where One Way Ticket to Love really shines for me is in it's capture of the sordid entertainment industry and how it breaks people down and molds them into whatever it wants them to be. Ueno (the Elvis of the story) parallels the King of Rock n' Roll's experience in the entertainment industry. He is used up and squeezed dry for all he is worth before he burns out; unfortunately, they seem to drop this build up in the last act of the film but there is still some room for interpretation that he might still be doing so against his will. For example, after he is shot at the concert, he stops for a moment and then just keeps performing, perhaps because "the show must go on" even if it means it's the death of you, and later the manager claims that he will be ready to sing again tomorrow and that he is in good spirits, but we don't see this so it could very well be false. The manager in question also has moments where she seems uncertain about what she's doing, primarily when Maki's manger is "not" threatening her into sleeping with Ueno to appease him.
There is even more going on here, but I digress. One Way Ticket to Love is a fantastic directorial and writing debut by Masahiro Shinoda, the story is strong but not without faults, the acting is great, and the cinematography is appropriately voyeuristic. There is also plenty of music to be enjoyed in this film, both pop and jazz, so that might tickle your fancy but it wasn't a major draw for me.
One Way Ticket to Love sets up an interesting contrast between it's main characters; a man (Shirai) who is wanted for his skills with an alto saxophone, and a woman (Maki) who is wanted for her body with no stage skills to speak of. Throw in seedy managers of both sexes, a star who is akin to Elvis with an ego to match, some exuberant groupies, and an ex-lover who can't seem to let Maki go and the film becomes so much more than what was set up. Which I think helped in being able to keep it interesting for 82 minutes, but also muddied that setup.
Shirai and Maki are frustrating characters, neither seem to be able to make a decision to save their life. Shirai repeatedly asks "what does she want from me?" even when she comes out and says exactly what she wants from him. Maki keeps going back to Shirai any time she must make a tough decision even after it's clear that Shirai won't help her make those decisions. The actors play the roles well, but that doesn't save them from being any less frustrating characters.
Where One Way Ticket to Love really shines for me is in it's capture of the sordid entertainment industry and how it breaks people down and molds them into whatever it wants them to be. Ueno (the Elvis of the story) parallels the King of Rock n' Roll's experience in the entertainment industry. He is used up and squeezed dry for all he is worth before he burns out; unfortunately, they seem to drop this build up in the last act of the film but there is still some room for interpretation that he might still be doing so against his will. For example, after he is shot at the concert, he stops for a moment and then just keeps performing, perhaps because "the show must go on" even if it means it's the death of you, and later the manager claims that he will be ready to sing again tomorrow and that he is in good spirits, but we don't see this so it could very well be false. The manager in question also has moments where she seems uncertain about what she's doing, primarily when Maki's manger is "not" threatening her into sleeping with Ueno to appease him.
There is even more going on here, but I digress. One Way Ticket to Love is a fantastic directorial and writing debut by Masahiro Shinoda, the story is strong but not without faults, the acting is great, and the cinematography is appropriately voyeuristic. There is also plenty of music to be enjoyed in this film, both pop and jazz, so that might tickle your fancy but it wasn't a major draw for me.
Slightly below-average soap opera/melodrama
mollytinkers10 November 2021
There's nothing other than the soundtrack that really shines in this film. It's about three men, two of them musicians, in love with the same woman. Nothing innovative as far as plot and story go.
The main leads play kind of wimpy characters. There was potential there for some hot-mess drama if the author had made them much stronger instead of portraying them as codependents who can be manipulated into doing just about anything. It made it difficult to find the film engaging.
I did like the camera work. The editing is actually quite good. But the ending left me with a big fat, "What?" It brought my initial rating of a 6 down to a 4.
The main leads play kind of wimpy characters. There was potential there for some hot-mess drama if the author had made them much stronger instead of portraying them as codependents who can be manipulated into doing just about anything. It made it difficult to find the film engaging.
I did like the camera work. The editing is actually quite good. But the ending left me with a big fat, "What?" It brought my initial rating of a 6 down to a 4.
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