A decent little movie, but hardly a major one, from Iran's master filmmaker Abbas Kiarostami, who, self-exiled, here shoots in Tokyo with an all-Japanese cast. Akiko (Rin Takanashi), a college student by day, leads a deceptive night life as a call girl, lying to her boyfriend about where she is and what she does. Guilt-ridden, she can't bring herself to meet with her loving grandmother, who comes to Tokyo for one day to see her. But there might be some kind of salvation when her pimp sends her for an engagement with an aging retired college professor (Tadashi Okuno), who, instead of bedding Akiko, prepares her dinner and treats her with benevolence. It's a good setup, and the actors are personable; but there's too much inconsequential talk, a sometimes phlegmatic pace, and a frustratingly abrupt ending. Also, is it a coincidence that the stooped professor is called Mr. Watanabe, the name of Akira Kurosawa's bent-back elderly hero in the masterly Ikiru (1952)?
