The DCist has recommended the documentary ‘The Great Happiness Space: A Tale of an Osaka Love Thief’, which was recently shown at the SILVERDOCS 2006 Documentary Film Festival near Washington, DC. ‘The Great Happiness Space’ is a documentary about lives of Japanese hosts who work at a host club in Osaka. Here is what the DCist has to say about it:

The Great Happiness Space – Tale of an Osaka Love Thief, directed by Jake Clennell: It’s hard to believe Clennell, an experienced British DP, is a first-time director. The Great Happiness Space is a truly startling, layered look at the lives of young Japanese men who make their livings as “hosts,” sort of high-priced male escorts who offer wealthy women not sex, but manufactured love. Operating under the assumption that what women really want is someone to tell them they’re beautiful, lavish them with attention, and occassionally scold them for being naughty, these over-coiffed, cynical boys sell the dream of romance without the committment — and profit handsomely.

What starts off as an examination of a quirky subculture quickly transforms into a complex study of the social ramifications of prostitution and modern love. A shocking revelation a third of the way through the film is too good to give away, and in the end it’s difficult to say for sure just who is using whom. But it would be impossible to walk away from this story and not be concerned about the future of male-female relationships in Japan, and perhaps in the world at large.

Based on the dozens of host-related documentaries I have seen on Japanese TV in the last year, I think I can guess what this amazing secret spoiler is: many of the women who go to the host clubs are workers in Japan’s sex industry. There’s obviously no better way for a prostitute to spend her earnings than buying bottles of champagne for a bunch of sissy-haired hosts to drink…

Watch the trailer at the official site.