Schoolgirl Complex

Given the frequent fetishization of Japanese schoolgirls, I was worried about how sleazy Schoolgirl Complex could be. To my pleasant surprise, Schoolgirl Complex is hardly sexual or fetishized at all. But crossing the low threshold of not being sleazy and gross is not enough to make it an interesting movie.

Schoolgirl Complex is about a web of crushes and relationships that form between members of the radio broadcasting club. Chief among the girls is Manami Shintani. Manami is very close with another girl named Ai and generally well-liked. Then, Chiyuki Mitsuzuka joins the club. The girls have divisive opinions on the shy and mysterious Mitsuzuka. However, when Manami and Mitsuzuka grow closer and closer, tensions reach a breaking point. Ai has a crush on Manami, another girl has a crush on Mitsuzuka but Mitsuzuka also has a boyfriend who’s bad news. Most of the film is the girls slowly stumbling towards romance or romantic confessions. However, general teen awkwardness and a complete inability to express intentions clearly hinders such attempts at romance.

Schoolgirl Complex is a film where homosexuality is matter of fact and heavily normalized. This isn’t a film where two girls out of the whole school are queer. In this all-girls’ school, crushes between girls are commonplace, even if actual romances are rare. If any of the characters experience homophobia or internal struggles about liking girls, the movie doesn’t show it. So the film has that going for it.

Unfortunately, it was hard for me to understand what various characters saw in the object of their affects. The characters in Schoolgirl Complex are generally fairly flat. As a rule, each character is a stock character teenage girl with minor variation. The possible exception is Mitsuzuka. However, I also didn’t understand her romantic popularity given how sullen she is. It took me until halfway through the film to realize that Mitsuzuka’s appeal is that she’s the resident “bad girl”. However, not Mitsuzuka nor any other character came alive and seemed worthy of being crushed upon.

Schoolgirl Complex very much has a TV episode’s worth of plot that’s been stretched to 96 minutes. As a result, the film feels slow and meandering. My impression of the film is that it’s basically a lot of atmospheric, slow shots of nothing punctuated by occasional melodramatic outbursts. I get that teens are melodramatic, but with the film as often dull and slow as it is, the scenes showcasing a big emotional outburst feel jarring.

It doesn’t help that the stakes in Schoolgirl Complex are incredibly low. All that’s at risk is some hurt feelings and the fate of an extracurricular activity. Good movies have been made with lesser stakes. But Schoolgirl Complex never makes me invested in these characters enough that these low stakes matter to me. The film and its events never feel important. At the end of the film, the broadcast club does an introspective reading. The girls talk about how the big events in their life now will one day be lessons and important memories. But the film never made me believe the events of the film are big and important enough that they will be key moments of the girls’ lives. Their conflict feels too common and every day to be a memorable, life changing, series of events.

Schoolgirl Complex is inoffensive but dull. I mean, the extracurricular activity they focus on is radio broadcast. What an uninteresting hobby! It’s just speaking clearly. The characters are flat and there is no visible passion in the directing; no visual style or flourish. This is a perfectly acceptable movie about teen crushes that manages to sidestep being a sexualized venture. However, it never rises above the level of being rather dull.

Overall rating: 5.5/10

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