This was a surprise to me, since I usually watch (hardcore) Japanese horror movies. The fact that I'm very interested in learning Japanese also helped a lot with this particular kind of movie, since most horror movies use a lot of slang, that much I can recognize. It was also interesting to see that *SPOILER* once the girl was involved with the guy she was in love with, she wasn't all too interested anymore (maybe because he told her she wasn't all that good in bed after they slept with each other?), whereas with the persistent guy she pushed off time and time again, she seemed to be more receptive and satisfied.*END SPOILER* All in all, Tokyo Garbage Girl is a pretty interesting character study of an obsessed woman who doesn't seem to be sure what she really wants.

A waitress Miyuki becomes obsessed with a scruffy rock 'n' roll musician Yoshinori that lives in her apartment building. So she scrummage's through his garbage to learn more about him, as she's to shy to introduce her self or to start a conversation. While going through his garbage, she decides keep certain pieces to create a shrine for him in her apartment.Well, this is definitely one quirky and direct film. This is no love story, but actually a bizarre and sometimes bleak tale of adoration. Miyuki would head back home after work and get his garbage and go through it, every night. So it becomes some sort of chore, where she would collect items such as cigarettes butts, Marlboros boxes, cereal boxes, bottles and a worn out shirt. Though, she also would smoke the same cigarettes he did, used the same shampoo and cut pictures of him and put them next to pictures of her or vice versa. As well as Confronting his ex-girlfriend and then trying to be like the woman of his dreams.The story does have some charm to it, with some intriguing and spirited characters thrown into the mix. Especially at the café that Miyuki works at. Though, the actual story started to wore thin or drag the further the along it went. At times some of the sub-plots kind of derailed the main story and they weren't terribly engaging.It started to get tediously repetitious after a while. With to many scenes that drag into nothingness and dwell on empty scenes, where pretty camera work was used. The editing felt as if it could have been far sharper. The ending or last 20mins just felt over-long and out of place. My interest started to fade when she gets the courage to face him and when she learns that he knew about her habit of going through his garbage. The film just came across as feeling longer than it was.The film felt like it was basically shot on a hand held camera, with some scenes coming across like a documentary style and having a TV movie feel. The soundtrack was pretty reasonable and the director captures the sombre undertone of urban life in Tokyo.The leads are fair. Mami Nakamura as the obsessed Miyuki gives such a moody performance and in doing so it's perfect in capturing the fixation of her character. Ignoring the outside world, such as the guy in the café that tries to get her interest. Kazuma Suzuki as the admirably cool Yoshinori, is not bad as the unknown figure we learn more about through Miyuki.Though, it's not terrible, but overall the premise of the film ended up sounding more interesting than it actually was.

I actually found this movie fascinating. It had nice shots and the lead actress was captivating. The protagonist showed sanity in her insane little world. The plot wasn't in the foreground here, it was more an exploration of character, and i couldn't stop watching it. There were a few frustrations, mostly to do with the plot, but it made up for all that with the use of the cute lead. It has a really made-at-home sort of look which i usually don't go for, but it worked. Perhaps some of the shots went on a minute too long, but the point got through. The ending was a little slow to deliver but the movie as a whole was still interesting and worth a watch. Maybe just for those with patience.

I have to believe that people like Miyuki actually exist, because I knew a guy who did exactly the same thing though for a different purpose. He rummaged through waste paper baskets, garbage bags and incinerators in the hope of finding secret and useful information about the activities taking place in a competing company. A private spy, you might say.In this film a waitress called Miyuki wants to find out more about Yoshinori a young musician who lives in the apartment above hers so she sifts through his discarded garbage bags in the hope of finding some clues about his private life. Outside her working hours she seems to spend all her time seated on the floor poring over torn letters and photos, cigarette butts and empty packets,a musical score, rotten fruit and even a used condom. Frustrated Miyuki has the disgusting habit of diving her hand into a packet of biscuits while dissecting the contents of the garbage bags. So much for hygiene!Entertaining for the first ten minutes, it starts to get very boring because the pace is slow and for me there is nothing of interest amongst the garbage any way. The young actress is good and she really gets inside and maintains the character of a discontented girl with an unfulfilled passionate crush on the guy upstairs. Now and again a new discovery in the trash gives the story a bit of a lift. For example, her single-mindedness encourages her to seek out the address of a girl which she finds on a torn letter. Not what I call great drama.Not exciting enough for me. Warning: Don't waste your precious time!