If I were to say to you that “Man, Woman, and the Wall” was “kind of like ‘Rear Window’, only in Japan and with an awful lot of nudity”, you might be tempted to slap me upside the head.

One, after all, is a suspense classic about a guy who spies on his neighbors and discovers a horrific crime, and the other is, well, actually kind of similar, just with a hefty dose of “Oh, JAPAN”.

Rather than being laid up with a broken leg and spying on his neighbors with binoculars, however, this particular voyeur simply moved into an apartment with extremely thin walls, and as a result becomes aware of every detail of his neighbor’s life, then obsessed with them to the point where it honestly becomes rather creepy and you’re wondering if you’ve accidentally rented a horror movie instead of a comedy.

That’s about when he discovers that the neighbor he’s spying on is actually in danger, and thus begins a quite clever scheme to a) save the girl and of course b) get the girl.

Having a main character who’s essentially a stalker makes for a difficult movie to sell. Amelie, to pick another stalker-hero-movie, pulled it off by having a thoroughly charming main character, and this film does more or less the same; the guy may be a bit of a manboy, with a cluttered apartment and action figures for decoration, but at least he’s employed and can cook, which is pretty good for a guy.

As mentioned previously, the female star of the movie does spend an awful lot of time with her knickers off for the camera, so it’s not exactly one to watch with the folks, even if your folks are into bizarre Japanese romantic comedies, but it’s a pretty good way to spend 90 minutes.