photography: Last News

Manuel Betancourt The love of self and the love of others are deeply intertwined, according to everyone from ancient philosophers to “Drag Race” host Ru Paul. We must be anchored in a solid space of self-love in order to let someone else into our lives. On its surface, this is the key tenet of Daishi Matsunaga’s “Egoist” (ergo its title).

But that sentiment serves instead to highlight how this maudlin Japanese drama about a gay man in his 30s coping with love and loss, rarely moves beyond the readymade platitudes that litter its well-meaning narrative. Based on the late Makoto Takayama’s autobiographical novel of the same name, “Egoist” follows Saitô Kôsuke (Ryohei Suzuki), a magazine editor whose picture-perfect life includes an immaculately designed condo, a quick-paced job surrounded by fashion and photography, a closet full of beautiful designer clothes and a coterie of gay male friends with whom he handily gets along. And yet, from early in the film, it’s clear there’s a pall over his life.

The loss of his mother many years ago still haunts him. The lack of a love life confounds him. So he hires a young hot personal trainer, Nakamura Ryûta (Hio Miyazawa).

Their chemistry is palpable from their first meeting, and the romance, however furtive it must remain (the better to keep Ryûta’s mother in the dark about their relationship), is endearing. Soon, as a cloying montage telegraphs, their budding relationship is in full bloom, with stylish and well-to-do Kôsuke taking the young Ryûta almost under his wing. But in the first of many seemingly insurmountable (but soon enough dispensed with) obstacles that will come their way, Ryûta skittishly shares a secret about his life he worries his lover won’t be able to overcome.

The secret is best left unspoiled. But it forces both halves of the couple to reassess what it is they want out of life and out of each other. The weight of Ryûta’s confession is shot with a claustrophobically-placed hand-held camera that fussily