Gaea Girls

Name: Gaea Girls
Director: Kim Longinotto
Released: 2000
Rating: 5.8
Cast: Chigusa Nagayo, Meiko Satomura, Yuka Sugiyama, Saika Takeuchi

2000 · ★ 5.8 · Dir. Kim Longinotto

This fascinating documentary is based around the Japanese wrestling organisation Gaea's rural training camp, and traces, in the main, the careers of four hopefuls. In charge are two magnificent specimens, the butch champion Chigusa Nagaya, still venting her hurt at the hands of her army father as she tries to whip her surrogate daughters through the pain and commitment barriers; and her sophisticated and slightly menacing Chairman. It's a gruelling, physical film, as you would expect, but the makers don't make heavy weather of it. And it certainly disposes of any idea that the game is faked.

Released: 2000-08-16
Runtime: 104 min
Language: EN
IMDb: View ↗