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DVD REVIEW . Delinquent Girl Boss: Blossoming Night Dreams

Delinquent Girl Boss: Worthless to Confess was easily my favorite film of Panik House’s Pinky Violence collection, so when I heard that Exploitation Digital was releasing Blossoming Night Dreams (aka: Zubekô banchô: yume wa yoru hiraku), you could say I was fairly excited.

The first film in the Delinquent Girl Boss series, Blossoming Night Dreams sees Rika (Reiko Oshida) as a freshly graduated reform school delinquent. After a brief introductory sequence on campus, we flash forward to the outside world, Rika having been released and allowed a chance at the straight and narrow, with a respectable job and a wholesome new image. But try as she might, her past still haunts her. After a series of misunderstandings and accusations involving her dry-cleaner employer, Rika moves on to work as a hostess in a local club, which just so happens to employ a good number of reform school grads. But when gangsters threaten the club’s mama-san Rika launches into action with her girl-squad in tow. When the dust settles, she might not be able to avoid a trip back behind bars, but at least she’ll have had the last laugh.

First and foremost there are the issues of presentation. Kazuhiko Yamaguchi’s direction is largely lacking — lazy even. Framing is something of a hit and miss affair, with as many curiously amateurish centered shots as there are standard, run-of-the-mill compositions. Some interesting camera movements do spice it up, however, as exhibited in the opening shot which appears to depict a woman preparing for her wedding, only to zoom out, revealing a delinquent school educational demonstration. Unlike the stunning swordplay of the series fourth film, Blossoming Night Dreams’s end fight seems almost completely improvised, and while fun, it fails to provide any real sense of danger or satisfactory vengeance. It is worth noting that this was Yamaguchi’s first film, and his skills did improve with time, but the lack of artistry is somewhat surprising for a Pinky Violence film, at least given the quality of other titles released in America.

Still, Blossoming Night Dreams’s tongue in cheek attitude works toward its advantage, providing a fair amount of laughs and good natured setups to supplement the action. It’s good deal more straightforward than the later, ultra dramatic Worthless to Confess, far more in line with an action/comedy manga adaptation. The film has more than its fair share of panty-shots and lecherous old men, but it’s more in line with ribald Benny Hill style fun than any sort of leering sleaze. The fights too, while not as well choreographed as those found in subsequent films, are at least entertaining. The first wash-room bath fight, and the later field-fight (both involving the same combatants) stand out in particular as decent rough and tumble fun.

In the acting corner, Reiko Oshida is great as the nonchalant girl boss. She’s all big eyes and smiles, a slouching amazon with a chill-out attitude. She’s not so much a miscreant as a young woman with a stong sense of self, and an even stronger integrity. I would have to say it is largely because of her fresh face and charming attitude that the series was allowed subsequent entries. The other girls aren’t half bad either, but most are reduced to caricatures rather than any real fleshed out humans (Even so, the transexual gang member stands out as particularly hilarious). Fans of these types of films will also enjoy an appearance by Golden Half, performing their same hit (and seemingly in the same club) as in Stray Cat Rock: Sex Hunter.

So, all in all, Blossoming Night Dreams may not be as good as its successors, but it still a fun film. For people who wondered how Rika’s story started, after seeing Worthless to Confess, now’s your chance to find out. At the very least I hope Exploitation Digital releases one more of these.

The DVD.
Exploitation Digital’s DVD release of Blossoming Night Dreams is about as bare bones as it could get. Presented in its original aspect ratio and Japanese mono language track, the film has received something of an uneven restoration. At times the colors pop, impressively crisp and clean, while at others they prove muddy, looking almost like an early-DVD laserdisc transfer. Subtitles are fairly good, though the opening song is curiously missing a translation (all other songs are translated however).

In the extras department the DVD contains the original trailer for Delinquent Girl Boss: Blossoming Night Dreams, as well as for other Exploitation Digital releases, including Rika 3 and Yellow Emanuelle (the other two aren’t even remotely related to Asian cinema). That’s it.

At an MSRP of $29.99, the disc seems a little expensive given current offerings by other companies, but I know for a fact this can be had for under $20 at local Best Buy stores.

All in all, this being a particularly niche title, Delinquent Girl Boss: Blossoming Night Dreams is a recommended purchase for collectors of Japanese cult films and fans of the Delinquent Girl Boss series. While a bit of a poor DVD treatment, at least someone took the time to release the film in the United States. If you pick it up, just make sure you don’t pay too much.

About the Author

Chris Nelson has been a film fanatic since age six. A former film and English major, he is now a Software Engineer and contract Technical Writer living in the Silicon Valley.