AllMovie

Sex, culture and late-teenage dread intersect in unexpected ways in this experimental feature from Israel. 19-year-old Imri (Imri Kahn) has just left the Israeli army and his future is up in the air. Imri, who is gay, is fascinated by Japanese culture and wants to move to Tokyo, but he doesn't yet have the money. In the meantime, Imri works a boring, low-paying retail job, occasionally turns tricks, has periodic liaisons with men he meets in his spare time, hangs out with his best friend Neema (Neema Yuria) and surfs for porn on the internet. The aimless reality of Imri's day to day life stands in sharp contrast to the bizarre sexual netherworlds he discovers on line, and the film plays heavily on the stylistic and textural dissimilarities between them. Japan, Japan was the first feature film from writer, director and editor Lior Shamriz, who shot the picture on digital video using a production budget that has been reported to be as little as $200.