Kosuke (Ryohei Suzuki), the protagonist of Daishi Matsunaga’s “Egoist,” is a lonely fashion magazine editor in Tokyo, with high cheekbones and deep pockets. When he meets and falls for Ryuta (Hio Miyazawa), a fresh-faced personal trainer, it all seems like a dream — until Ryuta reveals that he moonlights as a prostitute to make ends meet, and that their romance complicates his livelihood. Kosuke makes a proposition: He’ll give Ryuta a monthly stipend to cover his expenses.
It’s the perfect set up for a juicy erotic thriller. But “Egoist,” adapted from the novel of the same name by Makoto Takayama, has many surprises in store, not all of them pleasant. Halfway through the movie, a tragic twist turns what seems like a sexy romance full of intrigue into a sentimental (albeit handsomely performed) drama about loss.
Suzuki and Miyazawa have crackling chemistry, and they turn in delicate, finely tuned performances that are sometimes undercut by the script’s broad strokes and unsubtle flourishes. When we first meet Kosuke, his designer outfits, puffed chest and sad eyes show all we need to know; his voice-over, which tells us that clothes are his “armor,” is redundant. So are the film’s many montages underlining Ryuta’s plight — he toils at multiple jobs to care for his sick mother — that reduce the character to something of a sob story.
Class is the central theme in “Egoist”: Kosuke and Ryuta’s star-crossed romance shows us how money, and the struggle to make ends meet, can complicate even the most genuine love. But as the film leans into melodrama, it loses both its friction and frisson, and a steaming-hot premise turns into something cold to the touch.
Egoist
Not Rated. In Japanese, with subtitles. Running time: 2 hours. In theaters.
