Films about lovers on the run have been mostly a Western genre (the British Film Institute’s best 10 of such films mentions none from Asia), but examples do exist here.
The latest is Ryuichi Hiroki’s “Ride or Die,” which is based on a manga by Ching Nakamura, and will drop on Netflix on April 15. Hiroki’s first film project for the streaming giant, the film has his signature stylistic elements, from lyrical tracking shots of the two protagonists in joyous motion to closeups of them in soul-baring breakdowns, but with no tear-jerking manipulation whatsoever. He is a director with visual flair, and a sure sensitivity to his characters’ inner lives.
Hiroki alternates between commercial dramas and smaller, more personal projects, though he has told me more than once that to him they’re “all films.” “Ride or Die” is in the former category, with a story that kicks off with the murder of an abusive husband. That plot point may have thrilled Nakamura’s younger readers, but it initially struck this adult reviewer as cartoonishly overblown. Nonviolent solutions never seem to occur to the killer, Rei (Kiko Mizuhara), who is bent on avenging a high school crush she is still besotted with as both near age 30.