Almost Transparent Blue on AllMovie

Kunihiko Mitamura plays an aimless Japanese youth who falls in love with equally disenfranchised older woman Mari Nakayama. Since "polite" society frowns on their relationship, Mitamura and Nakayama must satisfy their sexual urges whenever and wherever they can. Unable to get true satisfaction in bed, the couple turns dangerously to drugs. Writer/director Ryu Murakami's original novel was actually a lot more raw and unabashed than anything that appears on screen. Still, Almost Transparent Blue is strong medicine, its gorgeous photography running a distant second to the sordidness of the story.