The bully wants your lipstick. Your clothes. Your secrets. Your everything.
This is a coming-of-age story set in a closed-off rural area in the Heisei era, depicting the summer spent by Mishima Futoshi, who has just realized his identity, and the boys around him. Mishima, who was bullied by his classmate Kirino Makoto, made it a daily habit to secretly apply lipstick and wear women's clothes. One day, he witnesses Kirino trying to apply lipstick to his lips that he had lost.
Acting
Towa Araki's silent mirror scenes — entire monologues in stillness.
Cinematography
Sweat, humidity, rural claustrophobia you can practically smell.
Direction
Sawada's patience — lets discomfort breathe until it chokes.
Director
Ikuko Sawada
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Heisei era (1989-2019) rural Japan often ignored queer narratives entirely; this film excavates that silence.
The lipstick functions as both weapon and wound — the film treats makeup as masculine ritual, not feminine escape.
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