Watching a character make poor choices can be a trying experience, depending on the genre at hand. Seeing this in a comedy? Potentially hilarious. Observing similar acts in a drama? Quite possibly heartbreaking. The new drama Lost Girls & Love Hotels comes very close to going too far over the edge, but a tremendous central turn from Alexandra Daddario saves the day. Without her, it would have been a bleak and unduly trying experience. With her, it becomes a tough but compelling bit of cinema. By no means is it an easy one to watch, but armed with Daddario’s performance, there’s enough here to make it worthy of a slight recommendation. The movie is a character study, mixing some thriller elements into its drama. Margaret (Daddario) has found herself in Japan, living a duel life. By day, she’s an English teacher at a flight attendant academy, teaching a host of Japanese women the job. By night, she explores the neon puzzle that is Tokyo, often winding up in a bar or a love hotel, which are particularly designed for hooking up. Margaret clearly has no direction in life, almost winding up in the country by accident, but she floats about her days as if trying to forget something. Most of the time, she and fellow ex-pat Ines (Carice van Houten) just get drunk in a Japanese dive bar, leading to Margaret then picking up a random guy for a love hotel encounter. That starts to change when she crosses paths with Kazu (Takehiro Hira). Initially a suave yet mysterious man, she quickly learns that he’s actually a dashing yakuza, though she falls in love with him in short order, regardless. As she balances her hard memories with the potential hopefulness of a relationship, a portrait of this young woman begins to emerge. William Olsson directs a screenplay by Catherine Hanrahan (who also wrote the book), with music by Ola Fløttum, as well as cinematography from Kenji Katori. Supporting players include Kate Easton, Elisabeth Larena, Andrew Rothney, Mariko Tsutsui, and more. Alexandra Daddario is the reason why this film works. She gives an emotionally naked performance, on top of the brave physical state of her character. It’s downright stirring to watch her try and overcome her poor choices, even if it largely seems to be halfhearted or in vain. Daddario has piercing eyes, so watching this hard to read character have […]