You are here:

The Shortest Distance Is Round 3: Fallen Flowers

Name: The Shortest Distance Is Round 3: Fallen Flowers
Director: Daisuke Yamanouchi
Released: 2020
Duration: 70 min

Representation Score

7.5/10

Good

2020

Director

Daisuke Yamanouchi

Runtime

70 minutes

Average Rating

No ratings yet

New Showbiz Analysis

The film excels as a character study that delves into underrepresented social spaces and unconventional lifestyles. By centering a queer romantic history, it moves away from mainstream archetypes to explore complex human connections. However, its scope is limited by focusing on a specific, homogeneous urban subculture. This leads to less representation of racial and disability diversity, as the narrative remains tightly centered on its central romantic mystery. Ultimately, the work finds its strength in moral relativism and the exploration of social fringes, offering a nuanced look at intimacy outside of traditional domestic settings.

Watch this, not that →

Category Breakdown

Does The Shortest Distance Is Round 3: Fallen Flowers have LGBTQ+ representation?

Good

The film places its emotional core on the romantic history between two men, Haruto and Aoyama. This shifts the focus away from typical heterosexual relationships, making a male-male relationship the main dramatic conflict.

How does The Shortest Distance Is Round 3: Fallen Flowers portray gender?

Fair

Gender roles are examined through the lens of service and intimacy within the escort industry. Characters like Ruka highlight a range of roles and control within a highly sexualized, professional environment.

How racially and ethnically diverse is The Shortest Distance Is Round 3: Fallen Flowers?

Fair

The story focuses on a localized, homogeneous social setting within a Japanese urban subculture. It lacks explicit multi-ethnic representation, concentrating instead on class-based diversity within underground networks.

How does The Shortest Distance Is Round 3: Fallen Flowers represent religion and culture?

Good

The narrative avoids traditional moral frameworks, emphasizing instead the subjective truths and survival instincts of its characters in a sensual, underground world. It critiques mainstream society by prioritizing the personal experiences of its characters.

Does The Shortest Distance Is Round 3: Fallen Flowers include disability representation?

Fair

There are no characters with visible or invisible disabilities. The narrative focuses solely on romantic tension and the central mystery.

Present on Screen

Centers a complex male-male romantic relationship as the primary emotional driver.
Explores non-traditional intimacy and queer-coded social spaces through an underground setting.
Challenges conventional moral frameworks by focusing on the subjective truths of underrepresented characters.

Limited or Absent

Lacks explicit multi-ethnic representation, focusing instead on a localized, homogeneous setting.
Provides no visible or invisible representation of characters with disabilities.
Relies heavily on a specific subculture that may limit broader social diversity.

Official Synopsis

Haruto and Aoyama, once a couple, are now completely without contact. As Aoyama's secrets are gradually revealed, Haruto, now the shop manager of an underground escort club, is starting to question whether the man he loves is worth the wait; his feelings for escort Ruka has also evolved from mere compassion into something more. A mystery sex toy links the past and now of Aoyama, Shibahara, Ruka, and Haruto. A sudden murder then happens in 'Rain& Soda' as one of the escorts serves a customer. The murder horrifies the club, and the truth is soon to be brought under the light of this sensual world of sultriness.

How are these scores produced? →