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Repeating both the dialogue and basic plot structure Hartley has now expanded on his original film by shooting another variation on the same theme in Berlin. In this episode "the aimless flirt" is a gay expatriate named Dwight (Dwight Ewell) whose present lover also presents him with an ultimatum .
The third and final episode involves Miho (Miho Nikaidoh), a pert Tokyo dance student. Her lover, an American filmmaker played by Hartley, is also pressuring her to renounce all others which, needless to say, she can't quite do because she's irresistibly drawn to her married teacher.
Hartley's droll experiment in narrative structure is occasionally amusing but the film
becomes progressively more monotonous even when the setting is as visually intriguing as
Tokyo. There are some clever touches, most notably a sort of Greek chorus of concerned
German construction workers. But it's like seeing a well-designed building and then
discovering it's just an empty shell. You may admire the building's novel structure but
you're left feeling somewhat cheated and emotionally unsatisfied.
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