What asian film/series have you just seen.. marks out of 5

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Re: What asian film/series have you just seen.. marks out of 5

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Sex and Fury (不良姐御伝 猪の鹿お蝶) (Japan, 1973) [35mm] - 4/5
Finally got to see this in 35mm, although the print was a little dark and deteriorated. Seminal pinky violence classic with Reiko Ike and Christina Lindberg, featuring one of the coolest action sequences ever filmed, but not quite on par with the very best in the genre due to some programmer-type screenwriting. Since I've reviewed this more than once before, I shall refrain from going into more detail this time.

Theatre of Life: Return of Hishakaku (人生劇場 続飛車角) (Japan, 1963) [DVD] - 3.5/5
Beautiful and emotional closing half to Tadashi Sawashima's film adaptation of the famous, often filmed yakuza novel. Together with the first film, Theatre of Life: Hishakaku (1963), these are considered some of the earliest and most influential ninkyo yakuza films. They are, however, a little unusual entries because of their approach to the subject matter. This film picks up four years after the first film ended. Honourable yakuza Koji Tsuruta is just out of prison, but his love Yoshiko Sakuma has fled because she's ashamed of the relationship she had with Ken Takakura in the previous film. Tsuruta then falls in love with another woman, a gang boss' daughter. What is unusual is how the film depicts Tsuruta family life, happiness and rise in the ranks, eventually becoming an oyabun himself, as opposed to the stereotypical stoic ninkyo hero who neither gets to shows nor enjoy love or emotions. In terms of cinematic style and themes of honour among old school yakuza, the two films are however unmistakably everything audiences would come to expect from Toei ninkyo films, and serve as an excellent starting point for newcomers.

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Re: What asian film/series have you just seen.. marks out of 5

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Audition (Japan, 1999) Amazon VOD 4/5
dir: Takashi Miike
It's strange to see this and Dead or Alive back to back and realize it's the same director in the same YEAR.
Audition really takes it's time setting up the story, and letting us get inside the world of this widower character (Ryo Ishibashi from The Grudge), and his simple, easy going, quiet life with his son, and how the sexy, demure, mysterious 'audition' (Eihi Shiina) slowly invades it. (His home AND his head).
This was my introduction to Miike back in the day, and seeing it again many years later, it strikes me as even more nuanced on many levels than I remember. There's a lot more to take in here than just the simple premise of 'boy meets girl, girl turns out to be a psycho' and now I want to re-watch a few of his other films to see if they hold up as well.
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Re: What asian film/series have you just seen.. marks out of 5

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Four Iron Men 2.5/5
Very early and little seen Casanova Wong actioner. Simple plot- Wong's childhood friend investigating gold smuggling on a remote island is captured,blinded and presumably dead. Wong is recruited to investigate. Source was a widescreen VHS with custom english subs, nice to see there's still fans releasing this stuff.

One Armed Swordsman 4/5
Seminal Chang Cheh/Wang Yu collaboration. 88 films blu ray is the same transfer as the older HK blu but benefits from being on a BD50 and a nicer overall package.
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Re: What asian film/series have you just seen.. marks out of 5

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Does One Armed Swordsman have any extra features? :)
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Re: What asian film/series have you just seen.. marks out of 5

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Pleasure in the Mirror (鏡の中の悦楽) (Japan, 1982) [DVD] - 1/5
A college kid starts spying on his sister's sex sessions thru a magic mirror and of course soon wants to join in. One would assume this film was done after the success of Pink Curtain, Nikkatsu's other similarly themed and slightly classier picture, but "Pleasure" actually came first, by a 14 day margin. With this subject matter, with even more sex than usual packed into 65 minutes, it's guaranteed to leave its audience feeling dirty, even if it looks and sounds surprisingly good. There's a lot of interesting talent behind the camera; director Shogoro Nishimura, assistant director Naosuke Kurosawa (Zoom Up: Rape Apartments, 1980), writer Chiho Katsuura (House, 1977) and cinematographer Yoshiro Yamazaki (Outlaw: Heartless,1968), most of them slacking with the exception of Yamazaki. Actor Nobutaka Masutomi, one of the most recognizable male faces in Roman Porno, seems to have been dubbed by someone else than himself for some reason.

True Account of Hishakaku - A Wolf's Honor and Humanity (実録飛車角 狼どもの仁義) (Japan, 1974) [TV] - 3/5
Interesting although not especially visceral de-romantization of the Theatre of Life saga for the jitsuroku era. Bunta Sugawara portrays "Hishakaku" as a short tempered, violent yakuza and thief who falls in love with prostitute Rie Nakagawa. Tsunehiko Watase and Kyosuke Machida are his pals, Akira Kobayashi an enemy. Mostly unexceptional but entertaining and relatively slick late film by director Shinji Murayama who was more of a 60s filmmaker. It's also one of the few jitsuroku style films set in Taisho and early Showa era as opposed to post WWII. Curiously, this was probably the first and only Theatre of Life film that was indeed a true account to an extent. It is a little known fact that the original novel was based on a real life yakuza called Hikoichi Ishiguro, whose account however was fictionalized and romanticized to no end in the novel and film adaptations. This film goes back to the real Ishiguro, as depicted in the grittier 1974 novel "Okami domo no jingi", rather than the Theatre of Life novel from the 1930s.

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Re: What asian film/series have you just seen.. marks out of 5

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grim_tales wrote:Does One Armed Swordsman have any extra features? :)
Bey Logan audio commentary, an interview with a HK film expert, a mini booklet.
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Monkey Fist Of Shaolin 2/5
1974 basher featuring Mr Han himself,Shek Kien in another baddie role.Also stars Feng Tien from Fist Of Fury. Takes a while to get going and mainly standard fare but the climactic 25 minute fight is pretty good.

Dragon Missile 2.5/5
Baddie Lo Lieh is pursued amongst others by Tony Liu from the Big Boss, unfortunately he's an expert with the title weapon and can take your head clean off! Another in the flying guillotine type genre,this isn't bad,lots of action and at 85 minutes short and sweet.88 films blu ray is ok.
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Re: What asian film/series have you just seen.. marks out of 5

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saltysam wrote:
grim_tales wrote:Does One Armed Swordsman have any extra features? :)
Bey Logan audio commentary, an interview with a HK film expert, a mini booklet.
Cheers :)
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Re: What asian film/series have you just seen.. marks out of 5

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Creepy Hide & Seek ひとりかくれんぼ よみがえり遊び (2016) DVD 2/5
First (and, so far, only) narrative film by Kaoru Adachi, who previously contributed to FACES OF DEATH 4, the similar Japanese series DEATH FILES and bucketfuls of bizarre fetish porn. This one here is very tame considering his resume. Three girls meet online and decide to play the titular game in an abandoned former hospice. Things go awry in typical J-horror fashion with only a death by impalement being more gory than is common for this played out genre. Director Adachi brings a weird artsy approach to some scenes but that doesn't change the fact that this film is more interesting as a curiosity in its director's oevre than it actually entertains or thrills. Acting by the three leads, recruited from Adachi's previous porno shoots, is about what you'd expect. One interesting extra has the lead actress try the titual ritual (apparently based on a 2ch creepypasta) verbatim and of course nothing whatsoever happens.
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Path of Chivalry (侠客道) (Japan, 1967) [TV] - 1.5/5
Chris D had nothing but praise for this transitional ninkyo / jitsuroku (though not based on a true account) yakuza film by Norifumi Suzuki. I wish I could share his enthusiasm. This is yet another Toei yakuza film that suffers from a lack of identity. It's neither about the romantic chivalry (ninkyo) nor the gritty reality (jitsuroku). It's just a standard programmer about yakuza gangs quarrelling with other yakuza gangs, filmed without anything to make it stand out from the rest. It's also a good reminder that leading man Noboru Ando, with his mediocre acting talent and limited screen charisma, was better suited for supporting roles.

White Skin Glimmering In the Darkness (闇に浮かぶ白い肌) (Japan, 1972) [VoD] - 3/5
Young wife Kazuko Shirakawa goes missing during her honeymoon, only to return six months later with a memory loss. Husband Hironobu Takahashi, who lives in a big mansion (also utilized in Noboru Takana's Midnight Fairy) is happy, but his blind sister Yuri Yamashina smells something fishy. Relatively decent early Roman Porno with an Edgar Allan Poe style mystery / horror story and supernatural elements. Sex is kept in check and there's some nice ero-guro imagery towards the entertaining climax, although one shouldn't get hopes up too high. Director Shogoro Nishimura was the most prolific of all Roman Porno directors. He rarely reached the quality of his pre-Roman Porno mainstream pictures during the pink era (1984's Fujunna kankei is an exception), but this film was one of the better attempts.

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Re: What asian film/series have you just seen.. marks out of 5

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The Dragon's Snake Fist (1981)

Dragon Lee is at it again, in a more restrained than usual outing. Although this is apparently about the clash between the Snake FIst School and the Crane Fist School, we don't really see much of either style, as the emphasis is more on tae kwon do style kicks, and later some outrageous fire breathing antics. Yuen Qiu of The Man With The Golden Gun and Kung Fu Hustle (not to mention Rumble in Hong Kong) fame co-stars. Incidentially, Toby Russell's interview with Dragon Lee, included on the DVD, is incredibly amateurish, even for him!

4/10
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Re: What asian film/series have you just seen.. marks out of 5

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Ran no nikutai (蘭の肉体) (Japan, 1984) [VoD] - 1.5/5
Roman Porno vending machine Shogoro Nishimura must have been trying to entertain himself with this sex film disguised as a gangster flick. Two small time goons and debt collectors (a guy and a girl) accidentally cause a desperate man to jump to his death from a high roof. Other people living in the house retaliate, causing the guy to run and the girl to seek shelter in one of the apartments. Unfortunately what could've been "The Porno Raid" then turns into a standard sex drama with one girl and too many (outlaw) guys with the hots on her. The gangster stuff adds slight curiosity to it, but is ultimately little more than a minor backdrop. How disappointing.

Gambling Den Assassins (必殺 博奕打ち) (Japan, 1969) [TV] - 3/5
Part 7 in the Gambling Den series, and one of the better entries alongside parts 4, 6 and 8. None of the films are connected story / character wise. This time Koji Tsuruta is a gambler who feels sympathetic towards a woman whose naive husband is driven to a debt trap by a rotten gambling den owner (Tatsuo Endo) and his dishonest card dealer (Isamu Nagato). The plot is standard stuff and features too much talk, but there's also a decent balance between melodrama and lyricism in the form and storytelling. Tsuruta was a perfect fit for these kind of roles, with the stoic and emotional sides nicely mixed in his screen persona.

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Killers On Wheels 2.5/5
A Shaw brothers take on Straw Dogs. Two couples seemingly well off rent a house on a remote island and end up being terrorised by a biker gang. Entertaining expoitation fare.

The Pirate 2.5/5
Ok Ti Lung/David Chiang movie, directed by Chang Cheh. Not one their best, just ok,i enjoyed spotting the beared chubby thug from WOTD in the opening ship hijacking. Never spotted him in anything else.

Boxer Rebellion 2/5
Another Chang Cheh film, this one stars Fu Sheng & Beardy in a historical epic based on the "chinese boxer" movement rising up and fighting back against the foreign infidels taking over their country. Richard Harrison of Multi-Godfrey Ho Ninja movies is a german general in this one.very overlong at 143 minutes.

Chinese Godfather 1.5/5
70's basher with Chan Wai Man. Some familiar faces here can't lift this pretty bad movie.

Struggle Through Death 2/5
The company who own the local gold mine don't bother advertising for recruits to work there, they just kidnap the local men, imprison and routinely torture them to make them do as they are told . Of course John Liu amongst others doesn't take kindly to this. First hour is a rather boring escape capture torture escape rinse and repeat but it livens up towards the end. Paul Wei appears here in a rare goodie role as one of the workers.

Black Mask 2/5
Jet Li as the title character is a supersoldier who can't feel pain who escapes his former life only to be drawn back in when his friends are in danger. Time hasn't been kind to this frenzied actioner.
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Re: What asian film/series have you just seen.. marks out of 5

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Jeez, Sam. You're tough today. Even I gave this bunch better ratings. (Except WHEELS, which was pants). ;)
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Re: What asian film/series have you just seen.. marks out of 5

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Girl Boss: Crazy Ball Game (Japan, 1974) Fan Subbed DVD – 3/5
In the final installment of this series, Reiko Ike and Miki Sugimoto are noticeably absent - but luckily, Yuko Kano steps up and gives a noteworthy performance. She's not in Reiko and Miki's class as far as looks, but she's got enough spunk and attitude to carry the movie and make it worth seeing. And with the help of many of the supporting players from other Japanese Bad Girl cinema surrounding her (Ryoko Ema, Harumi Tajima - oh those breasts!), this flick barely misses a beat.
It does everything right - the girl fights, the casual nudity, the torture, the cool clothes, the 70's music, Toru Abe as the boss... the finale is a little goofy, but as a complete film stands on it's own, even without the star power.

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The Insanity Being 2.5/5
Early 70's taiwanese basher is your standard evil japs vs heroic chinese epc but has a very entertaining climax which introduces a new fighting style, "spade kung fu" :)

Hitman 2/5
ok but forgettable Jet Li actioner
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Gate of Flesh (肉体の門) (Japan, 1977) [VoD] - 2.5/5
Nikkatsu's semi-lavish Roman Porno adaptation of the famous novel, produced with a larger than usual budget and released with an exceptional 97 minute running time. It's a good story and there are fine, even poignant moments depicting life in the post war slums. Director Shogoro Nishimura also inserts occasional effective moments of beauty and hope. Ultimately, though, one has to ask exactly how much point was there to the film other than money. Seijun Suzuki's 1964 adaptation was just as violent and erotic despite having less nudity, and twice as stylish. A more realistic touch to the drama is the only new contribution this version has to offer.

Virgin nanka kowakunai (ヴァージンなんか怖くない) (Japan,1984) [VoD] - 3/5
The Warriors (or perhaps more like The Bronx Warriors) goes Roman Porno in a punk action gang chase film! Except there is only one gang, and the runaways are a motorbike riding radio DJ who offended a gang member, and a guy who comes to her rescue. It's certainly a unique film in the Roman Porno series, for the main gang alone, which includes a crazed blonde punk, guys in gladiator clothing armed with blades and nunchakus, and two crazy women who look like pro wrestling escapees, all with ridiculous sex drives. Rikiya Yasuoka also appears as a sort of gang godfather. Luckily and unluckily the film was helmed by Hiruyuki Nasu, a trendy but somewhat talentless director with music video sensibilities, one who was never better than the scripts he worked with. The film is a mess with lots of potential; a better filmmaker could have made something really cool with the material. Still, it's a entertaining ride with punk and rock that earns an extra point for its sheer peculiarity.

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Eros Schedule Book: Female Artist (色暦女浮世絵師) (Japan,1971) [VoD] - 2/5
A sick artists finds success with dirty paintings he based on sketches done by her wife (Setsuko Ogawa), who in turn was left with a fixation for eros after being raped by a semi-retarded drooling nobility idiot. Passable period film, and director Chusei Sone's debut film. Like many of his early pictures, this one relies on a set of good looking, sometimes unusual (the grittiness of the rapes come as a surprise) images and scenes to carry a film that is not consistently good filmmaking. He did helm some superior efforts though, such as Secret Chronicle: Prostitute Market (1972), before delivering his finest pictures in the late 70s and early 80s (Red Violation, Red Classroom etc.)..

Bridal Doll (団鬼六 花嫁人形) (Japan, 1979) [VoD] - 2/5
A young man falls in love with a woman (Asako Kurayoshi, an actress with very expressive eyes) who has been sold as human doll to an slimebag who is into SM. He responds by kidnapping the slimebag's wife and subjecting her to similar treatment. This is junk director Katsuhiko Fujii's arthouse picture, a melancholic, impressionist revenge movie with occasional surreal visual sequences. Fujii paints the frame in red, cuts to historical past and shows a crucifixion, not entirely unlike directors like as Nobuhiko Obayashi, Shuji Terayama and Shunya Ito. But Fujii could never dream of being in their league, and this film is a superficial imitation with lesser execution and little meaning to the images. Still, it's a bit better than most other Oniroku Dan SM junk. The score is quite beautiful at times.

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Veteran (2015-South Korea) **½
Slick, enjoyable cop thriller has a dark sense of humour, but takes too long to reach its inevitable conclusion.
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Jitsuroku: Ganso manaita show (実録・元祖マナ板ショー) (Japan, 1975) [VoD] - 1.5/5
The birth of the "manaita show" (strippers engaging in sexual acts with the audience on stage) as presented by junk director Katsuhiko Fujii. Still, it is questionable if this "true account" was based on much other than Nikkatsu's budget and box office calculations. It was yet another film that put the word "jitsuroku" (true account, or docu-drama) into its title, a trend initiated by Toei yakuza films in the early 70s and soon adapted by Nikkatsu (Naked Resume: True Story of Kazuko Shirakawa; Gypsy Rose: A Docu-Drama; Jitsuroku Abe Sada aka A Woman Called Abe Sada etc.). The film stars Yuri Yamashina alongside real strippers doing what they do best. There is one amazing strip dance number with genuinely impressive staging, choreography and music. Unfortunately the rest of the film is a series of dull sex scenes linked with meaningless brief dialogue bits, as one would expect from D-grade director Fujii.

Seifuku yurizoku - Warui asobi (制服百合族 悪い遊び) (Japan, 1985) [VoD] - 3/5
Cute lesbian schoolgirls in a love triangle! Questionable but functional entertainment by Koyu Ohara, a director capable of going back and forth between roughies and pop flicks. His tender side was always his best side, and that's what puts this film a few notches above the competition. Although the film may have been nothing but an excuse to fill the screen with girls in (and without) sailor uniforms, it's really quite a sweet film with evident sympathies for its heroines. From cute dialogue exchanges ("do you think we're doing something wrong?" heard as best friends Mami Mochizuki and Mayumi Asakura discover girl love by accident) to solid character confrontations (Chie Yamaguchi, delivering an unexpectedly strong performance as a mentally unstable girl in love with an about-to-be-married man, walking into the bride's condo to confess) and plenty of attractive skin, the film somehow achieves the unusual: you start rooting for these girls, and not just to take their clothes off.

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Bonded by Sorrow / Rapist / Wanted: For Forced Entry (犯る男) 2016 DVD 3/5
Daisuke Yamanouchi has had a rough millennium so far. Having come to international attention with a couple late-90ies splatter flicks (RED ROOM, MUZAN E, GIRL HELL 1999) he's spent the last 20 years directing anything from TV episodes, harcore AV porn, insufferable zombie flicks and... Shinjuku Swan knock-offs. This is easily his most interesting work in ages, telling the story of a woman suffering under her abusive and insanely controlling husband unti she snaps and fights back. Looking to kill herself afterwards, she jumps off a bridge but is washed ashore and found by a man surviving on the fringes of society by breaking into houses, raping women and stealing their credit cards. Some decent acting, especially from Yota Kawase, and genuine sympathy for its damaged protagonists mix well with the more exploitative elements. A word of warning is in order, too, since the film exists in R-15 and R-18 versions and goes by at least 3 different titles, with the version released by Pink Eiga (and available for streaming through amazon) being the shorter 60 minute cut and the Japanese DVD release running 11 minutes longer.

Sex and Onmjoji (本当はエロい日本の裏伝奇 泡姫陰陽師) 2012 DVD 3.5/5
An office lady gets possessed by the vengeful spirit of Doman Ashiya and faces off against Seimei Abe's distant relative Seiko with the fate of all of Japan at stake. A very simple story of tentacle rape and sucking smegma off a fat dude's dick gets beefed up by long dissertations about anything from creation myths, the Meiji restoration, Western morality vs. Shintoism, the history of Onmjodo and more. This could be a recipe for boredom were it not for the fact that all these lessons are fucking hilarious and incredibly politically incorrect. The climactic battle eventually turns cosmic and features the line "Do you really think a black hole and defeat the big bang?"
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Probably won't bother seeing those two, but great to read about them!

Love Beast: Flower of Vice (愛獣 悪の華) (Japan, 1981) [VoD] - 1/5
Other than being a sort of come-back series for actress Jun Izumi, who starred in two Nikkatsu films in 1976 before trying a mainstream career with other studios, the Love Beast series is interesting for being crime films within Roman Porno. The follow-up to this movie, the Naosuke Kurosawa directed neo noir Love Beast: Attack! (1981), was rather successful. This opening instalment by workman director Akira Kato fires blanks, however. What begins as a 'yakuza giving heat to a bar owner and his girl (Izumi)' thriller soon turns into 'abducted girl trained for prostitution' boredom. That is, sex, sex, sex. How disappointing.

Seifuku niku-dorei (制服肉奴隷) (Japan, 1985) [VoD] - 1.5/5
Potential but disappointingly underwritten dark drama about a high school girl (Mami Mochizuki) who is bullied and sexually abused both at home and in school. There are moments powerful filmmaking, many of which have to do with Mochizuki's performance. She was a young actress with seemingly limited acting talent but good screen presence. In fringe and school uniform, playing an alienated and disturbed teenager, she shared much with the early 2000s Chiaki Kuriyama. This was the last of her only three Nikkatsu appearances (followed by a small role in Obayashi's His Motorcycle, Her Island before apparent retirement). It is too bad the film, helmed by the frequently disappointing Junichi Suzuki, features more sex than storytelling. A missed opportunity.

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Re: What asian film/series have you just seen.. marks out of 5

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Beads From a Petal (花弁のしずく) (Japan, 1972) [VoD] - 3/5
Interesting if uneven directorial debut by Noboru Tanaka, whose background in French literature and poetry is worth keeping in mind when watching his early films. This movie, about a traumatized, sexually frigid woman (Rie Nakagawa in her first Nikkatsu film), is constructed as an allegory for the Japan that was defeated in WWII. The film borders on ridiculous at times, especially when it comes to her treatment in the hands (quite literally) of a doctor, but it's so well shot and edited, conveying an almost paranoid sense of mental insecurity, that it easily keeps the audience on board for 70 minutes. It is precisely the kind of film a young director veering towards arthouse would make when given some money and a condition to do something centring around sex. Tanaka, unlike some others, saw Roman Porno as an opportunity to create unique stories and art within certain confinements.

Afternoon Affair: Metamorphosis (Japan, 1973) (昼下りの情事 変身) [VoD] - 3/5
A young woman (Miyoko Aoyama) earns extras cash working as a prostitute at night, unbeknownst to her family and friends. Another good-ish early film by Noboru Tanaka, and a contrast and companion piece to his debut Beads From a Petal (1972). There's not terribly much character depth for a film that is essentially a character study, but Tanaka shows visual ambition again, creating long scenes void of dialogue (and sex), using only music and images as means of expression. Flowers and colours are used symbolically throughout the film. Attempts at depicting the flow of life in a metropolis via various supporting characters (brutish flower shop owner Akira Takahashi, his wife Moeko Ezawa and brother Morio Kazama etc.) fall short though; their lives are overly sexualized for the sake of adding more (boring) sex into the film.

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That's Roman Porno: Smile of Goddesses (ザッツ・ロマンポルノ 女神たちの微笑み) (Japan, 1988) [VoD] - 1.5/5
A 95 minute collection of clips (not trailers, like sometimes claimed) from Roman Porno films, disguised as a "documentary" (which it is not, save for an occasional narrator voice or an screen text), released in commemoration of the series after the series came to its end in 1988. There are no great discoveries to be made for well educated Roman Porno aficionados as all the clips are from relatively well know films.

White Whore (白い娼婦 花芯のたかまり) (Japan, 1974) [VoD] - 2.5/5
Dark and cold, if not very deep psychological drama by Masaru Konuma. It takes a bit of patience because there's a random filler sex scene right at the start, immediately sending the film off the rails. But there's better things to come. Well, "better". Yuri Yamashina is a hooker, always dressed in white (hence the delicate title), with a brother confined in a wheelchair. She keeps feeding him with young girls (some willing, others not) until one day she's raped (by a laundry delivery boy) in front of him, much to his delight. Things only get more twisted after this sexual awakening. This isn't one of Konuma's best pictures, but the storyline and arty approach work alright once you get over the poor start. His finest films remain the breezy love story Wandering Lovers: Dizziness (1978) and the atmospheric horror drama Woman In the Box 2 (1988).

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HungFist
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Re: What asian film/series have you just seen.. marks out of 5

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Female Teacher: Boy Hunt (女教師 少年狩り) (Japan, 1975) [VoD] - 2/5
There's a slight promise of something unusual with a title like "Boy Hunt", an anomaly among the more comfortably chauvinist "Woman Hunt" titles. And indeed, an all boy's school set film with a predatory female protagonist seems to have been a bit much for the Roman Porno audiences whose faith in their manhood had to be restored by having dentist Akira Takahashi drilling the fore mentioned heroine, and a bunch of schoolboys target her in the name of vengeance (her ex-student committed a suicide)... All of which largely undo the promise, especially when her misconducts are, despite the title, largely limited to an ex-romance and shaving misbehaving boys' pubic hair as a punishment in one scene! A bit of an odd film, and not really that bad of a movie even if it's a bit pedestrian in execution.

Live Act: Top Stripper ((本)噂のストリッパー) (Japan, 1982) [VoD] - 3.5/5
A genuinely warm slice of life piece following the lives of a small strip theatre staff and dancers, and a very sympathetic young man (mainstream actor Ken Miyawaki) who falls in love with a dancer called Gloria (Kaori Okamoto). Meanwhile, a lonely and sweet girl named Yoshiko (Ayako Ota, looking like an 80s idol ala Hiroko Yakushimaru or Tomoyo Harada) befriends him and falls in love with him. There's a bit of crude sex as a genre burden and the characterization could benefit from a longer running time, but those are relatively minor flaws. This is one of those films people go in expecting a skin flick and come out having experienced something more profound: a good story with decent characters. It also functions as a decent, musically oriented zeitgeist to early 80s Japan. Writer / director Yoshimitsu Morita helmed his most celebrated film The Family Game the following year.

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