| Shinjuku Boys | |
|---|---|
The Shinjuku Boys: Kazuki, Tatsu, Gaish |
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| Directed by | Jano Williams, Kim Longinotto |
| Produced by | Kim Longinotto |
| Starring | Gaish Kazuki Tatsu |
| Music by | Nigel Hawks |
| Cinematography | Kim Longinotto |
| Editing by | John Mister |
| Distributed by | Second Run DVD |
| Release date(s) | 1995 |
| Running time | 53 minutes |
| Country | Japan |
| Language | English, Japanese, Subtitled |
Shinjuku Boys is a 1995 film by Kim Longinotto and Jano Williams. It explores the lives of three transgender women to men (FTM) who work at the New Marilyn Club in Tokyo, Japan.
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Shinjuku Boys introduces three onnabes who work as hosts at the New Marilyn Club in Tokyo. Onnabes are women who live as men and have girlfriends, although they don't usually identify as lesbians. As the film follows them at home and on the job, all three talk frankly to the camera about their gender-bending lives, revealing their views about women, sex, transvestitism and lesbianism. Alternating with these illuminating interviews are fabulous sequences shot inside the Club, patronized almost exclusively by heterosexual women who have become disappointed with real men. They often have relationships with them but the underlying fear is whether such a relationship can withstand the pressures on a woman to get married and have children.
In 1995 Shinjuku Boys won Outstanding Documentary at the Sand Francisco Gay and Lesbian Film Festival.[1] a Silver Hugo Prize at the Chicago International Film Festival[2] and Gold Prize at Houston Film Festival.[3] The Film has received positive reviews in its 2010 releasee by Second Run DVD. In a review at DVDTalk Chris Neilson praised the films directors, commenting that "Through low-key cinéma vérité filmmaking, Longinotto and Williams provide insight into the professional and personal lives of the trio of onnabe".[4] Sarah Cronin of Electric Sheep Magazine also notes that "Despite the fact that it’s a cruder, more dated film, it’s the strength of the interviews in Shinjuku Boys that makes it an even more arresting documentary."[5]