Tiger

😁 Tiger (Taiga), dir. Anshul Chauhan, 2025, Japan, 126 min., in Japanese with English subtitles
Tuesday, June 23, 2026, 8:45 PM, Vogue Theatre
🌎 North American premiere

Tiger (Taiga)
(photo: Mina Moteki, reduced for web use)

Frameline blurb: A vivid snapshot of queer life in contemporary Japan, set beneath the blinding neon-lit bulbs of Tokyo, Tiger centers on a 35-year-old erotic masseur named Taiga (played by the equally sensitive and sensual Takashi Kawaguchi). While trying to revive his unsatisfying love life and navigate complicated family dynamics at the same time, Taiga is also attempting to parlay his massage skills into on-camera sex work — a task that sounded much easier than it ends up being.

On top of his romantic and professional exploits, complications arise around his ailing father and domineering sister, who threatens to cut Taiga out of the family inheritance. Writer/director Anshul Chauhan realizes his center’s purgatory with stunning detail, from the pulse-pounding beats that drive Tokyo nightlife to the nightmarish hum of hospitals. Tiger is the work of a confident and assured young filmmaker, one with a talent for presenting a portrait of the everyday life of dynamic individuals determined to live life on their own terms.

My take: From the Frameline description, I was expecting a bit lighter story; Tiger is actually a fairly heavy drama, with the family dynamics and the challenges of living and working in Tokyo getting more screen time than the neon-lit nightclubs and other joys of Taiga’s daily life. That said, it’s well done, and in particular palpably gets into the head and heart of the main character, so that you feel his frustrations with his sister and his jobs, and his pining for what might have been and his hopes for what might still be. The writing is solid, the acting is on point, and the editing is deft, lingering perhaps a little bit in a few scenes, but earning most of its 126 minutes.

Although the story deals with sex quite a bit, and suggests a fair amount, there is nothing explicit on screen. If you’re looking for a drama, and perhaps a glimpse of the challenges of LGBTQ life in Japan — the story is inspired by the real lives of people in the Tokyo LGBTQ community — this is a good choice. Highly recommended.

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