Zipper and Tits

No less demanding than Shirakawa's earlier first-person films, this two-part DV feature gets inside the heads of two prostitutes, one male, one female, and reveals gaping holes where their self-esteem should be. 'Zipper' centres on a rent-boy who works the Tokyo streets and back alleys, despised by his johns and taken completely for granted by the boyfriend he lives with. The 30-year-old woman in 'Tits' works in the apartment she shares with her boyfriend/banker; the episode centres on the day she gets her first female client, a brittle woman who turns out to have ulterior motives for being there. Shirakawa's brooding, expressionist visuals and the sexual frankness build a wounding sense of what it means to lose even your sense of loss.