As Pink Lady fans are well aware, a year and a half after Mie and Kei broke up, Mie, having quickly launched a successful solo recording career also delved into acting. Maybe she caught the bug after performing with Kei in PL’s 1978 motion picture, and that, in turn led to what’s become her infamous performance (at least to me anyway) in her very first starring role in Call Girl where she played a hooker. To this day, twenty-five years after the fact, I’m still amazed that Mie took on what I thought to have been a highly controversial role, well; at least I thought it was.
I’ve mentioned this several times before, but I’ll bring it up again for the benefit of anyone who’s new here. For five years, Mie was one half of the most wholesome and family friendly pop act Japanese music fans had ever seen, I mean Pink Lady was most popular with kids and teenagers, hell, the girls even starred in a 1978 TV show tailored to moppets for God’s sake! To have gone from Pink Lady to playing, well, a whore was nothing short of incredible, to give you a modern day example, that would’ve been like say, Miley Cyrus (better known to the teen and pre-teen set as Hannah Montana) playing a female serial killer, it was THAT out of left field. And yet, Mie went ahead and did the movie which, in my less than informed opinion was just a notch above soft porn, despite the tissue paper thin plot of Mie’s character, Mari, selling herself for money to rescue her lover from bad guys, it was pretty much all about Mie jumping in the sack with nearly half a dozen men during the course of the film.
After learning about the movie, I wondered if Call Girl would negatively affect Mie’s image. However, that wasn’t the case as two years after the movie, she and Kei got back together for the first of many Pink Lady reunions over the next two decades, and Mie was just as popular as ever. In terms of her performance, I thought Mie did a very good job in her role, playing a sly and jaded woman who used her body to work her will with men, if you know what I mean, and I'm sure you do. As far as I know (which doesn’t say very much), Call Girl wasn’t exactly a box office blockbuster, nor has it been re-released on DVD since it first came out in 1982. I’ve occasionally joked with PL fans that Mie was so embarrassed by her participation in the film; she bought all the studio masters and burned them. Speaking of which, while the quality of this video isn't exactly high definition pristine, I’m sure you’ll enjoy the captures I’ve provided for your viewing pleasure. And with that, on with the show!
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