Some would-be viewers will avoid "Vibrator" simply because of the title; others will view it for that very reason. Either way, that could be a mistake. Don't get me wrong: There's some sex and passion here, but VIBRATOR's definitely NOT a "nasty film" per se. It's more a dual character study of two very different people who meet by accident and what they gain by doing so. Shinobu Terashima convincingly plays Rei, an introverted, hard-drinking, and reclusive writer who meets Takatoshi, a free-spirited, hard-edged, yet compassionate truck driver equally well-played by Nao Omori, and on a whim decides to ride with him on his rounds across the main Japanese island of Honshu. It's a quiet, subdued movie, and its wintertime scenery is bleakly beautiful.It's hard to review this film without making it sound dull and/or depressing, but I found it to be neither. Although it's funny in places, "Vibrator"'s overall mood is simultaneously sad and uplifting. People who want lots of tension and dramatic action may be disappointed here: There's no violence, surprising reversals, or any of that kind of stuff. "Vibrator" remains, however, one of the most convincing and gripping slice-of-life pieces I have ever seen. There is something very genuine about the way it shows Rei getting out of herself in a much-needed way for just a little while. I sincerely wish that there were more films like "Vibrator."

I saw Vibrator as part of a film festival in Greece.It was truly one of the worst movies of all time. The show at a supermarket, where the two stars meet and immediately "hit off", proceeding to a sex scene in the back of the man's truck. For the whole movie, the viewer watches the "road trip" that follows. Images of the Japanese countryside are all this film has to offer, and beyond that, chaos.I personally gave up on the film when the duo started a conversation on CB technology, which lasted about five minutes film time and truly wrecked my nerves.I have no idea who might find this film interesting. Lonely middle-aged women who read Cosmopolitan might perhaps find the film expresses their own ambitions about life, like going around with a truck driver, talking about CBs and the futility of things and the like. There is no "deeper symbolism" in this film, no "high-level cultural event" here. This is a film that deserves the under 100 people who have seen it worldwide.If you're a road movie maniac, go and see it. You might find it less horrible than I did. If not, pass. Heavens, STAY AWAY!

I recently saw this movie at the Barcelona Asian Film Festival 2004, I really was astonished. I think that it deals with the self confidence and the self opinion of people in a very delicate way. It also went deep inside myself. This surely is not universal but I highly recommend this movie. The person I was with didn't like it. I guess it's a question of identification. Either you get identified with the character or not. This is a radical (but delicate movie). Cannot think of a better way to deal with this themes Also a perfect example to learn how to shoot a digital low cost high quality movie.

I made the mistake of being sucked in by glowing reviews and saw this film at the Philadelphia film festival a few days ago. It was apparently reviewed as THE BEST Japanese film of the year by a few Japanese film critics. Moreover the Philadelphia Film Festival review touted it as a "must see" for those interested in modern Japanese cinema. This movie was truly horrible. I'm foreign film fanatic and usually enjoy the relatively slow pace of most foreign films vis-a-vis the A.D.D-ness of Hollywood films, but this film was painful. Character development was nonexistent. There were minutes and minutes of filler scenes of a truck driving across Japan. The dialog was banal and the use of voice overs annoying. If this is the best that Japanese cinema has to offer (and I know it isn't!) this would be the last Japanese film I'd see ever. Horrible, horrible, horrible.