The long take that opens “Ride or Die” could be reminiscent of the steadicam take in “Goodfellas”, if not the unsettling mood it evokes. On a clear evening in Tokyo, Rei (Kiko Mizuhara) enters an underground club and buys a stranger a shot of tequila. The excitement rises when Rei and the man retreat to his apartment and start having sex. Finally, the tension breaks – not with the orgasm, but with the gruesome murder, when Rei slits the man’s throat.
Based on a Japanese manga series, “Ride or Die” (on Netflix) follows the complicated relationship between two women: Rei, a reserved doctor, and her long-time crush, Nanae (Honami Sato). We learn that the stranger at the bar was Nanae’s husband, a wealthy businessman who physically abused her. When Nanae asked Rei to kill him, Rei was obliged out of love.
The rest of this long, often enigmatic film unfolds as a fleeting road movie. After the murder, Rei and Nanae flee to the country. They visit Nanae’s orphanage and protect themselves from the rain in a train depot. Despite the ferocious efforts Rei goes to for Nanae, the duo did not speak in a decade prior to the murder. Your outlier also serves as a reunion trip.
Director Ryuichi Hiroki carefully steps out of the couple’s flourishing alliance. Meals are times of laughter and bonding, while occasional recaps of the women’s prep school days provide a delicate backstory of their union. The film gracefully captures the rhythm of intimacy as it deepens faster in stolen time.
But even if they develop a relationship, the women themselves remain ciphers. We are asked to accept that Rei committed murder out of romantic enthusiasm, but her victim is too great to empathize with. Nanae’s feelings are dark too – what she wants out of their time together seems to change on a whim. This blurring of character never becomes clearer and makes “Ride or Die” an experience as frustrating as it is sentimental.
drive or die
Not rated. In Japanese with subtitles. Running time: 2 hours 22 minutes. Watch on Netflix.
