Re: Retro Cinemas and Cult Films in Tokyo
Posted: 09 Jan 2016, 14:26
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Oh my, is that a 35mm screening of Noboru Ando's Chronicle of Fugitive Days and Sex 安藤昇のわが逃亡とSEXの記録 (1976)? I'd be so down for that! A hilarious film that I consider one of the highlights of Tanaka's career.HungFist wrote:Chirashi for the Tanaka Retrospective!
Yes, it is. And I'm gonna see it there. It also screened last year in Cinema Vera in Noboru Ando retrospective, but I had no chance to attend that.Guro Taku wrote:Oh my, is that a 35mm screening of Noboru Ando's Chronicle of Fugitive Days and Sex 安藤昇のわが逃亡とSEXの記録 (1976)? I'd be so down for that! A hilarious film that I consider one of the highlights of Tanaka's career.HungFist wrote:Chirashi for the Tanaka Retrospective!
That sounds good. When I watched Harry and the Geisha Girl 生贄の女たち (1978), another Toei sofcore porn comedy featuring an American actor (Harry Reems in this case), they actually replaced his real voice with some guy trying to speak English through a very thick Japanese accent. And they subtitled that in Japanese. Just bizarre! No matter how bad Reems' acting may have been, it couldn't have been worse than what they ended up using... unless they did it for added comedic effect and the "entertainment value" was just lost on me.HungFist wrote:What’s also nice is that we have the cast speaking in their own tongues: no dubbing here. Kelly speaks English, and a few sentences of (understandable) Japanese here and there, the rest of the cast speaks Japanese and a few sentences of (understandable, again) English here and there.
I was thinking about that too. I don't think you missed anyone.Guro Taku wrote: I find it fascinating that Toei was able to bring actors and actresses like Christina Lindberg (SEX AND FURY), Sandra Julien (TOKUGAWA SEX BAN), Harry Reems (HARRY AND THE GEISHA GIRL) and Sharon Kelly (OH WONDERFUL UTAMARO) over to Japan and put them in their movies. Am I missing anyone else they imported?
I scanned a few still photos from Sugisaku's pinky violence book. Quality is poor, though, and they make the film look more violent than it really is. Anyway.HungFist wrote: Thursday: Poster for A Haunted Turkish Bathhouse (Bakeneko Toruko furo) (1975)
A Haunted Turkish Bathhouse was a bit like a dress rehearsal for Wolfguy (1975), only different genre and a bit less outrageous. Nikkatsu actress Naomi Tani is the star of the first third, playing a poor wife tricked by evil husband Hideo Murota to work in a brothel. She's eventually killed by Murota and his lover, but her spirit returns to haunt them, first as a cat, and then as a white faced creature that looks like a runway cast member from a CATS musical. Boobs, violence, supernatural horror that isn't scary in the least, ultra-funky score, occasional apocalyptic sunsets, and bloody cat attacks (where the evidently bored and not-aggressive-at-all cat is being thrown through the air by the staff). It's a fun film and never boring, but the climax isn't quite as far-out as one would wish, especially when compared to the amazing Wolfguy. Consider it Yamaguchi's House-lite, Toei Porno style.
I like this illustration by manga artist Kazuichi Hanawa (inspired by the real life incident, not Tanaka's film, obviously):HungFist wrote:Village of Doom (Japan, 1983) [35mm] - 3.5/5
As a truly odd move, Roman Porno director Noboru Tanaka went to "family film studio" Shochiku for a movie that is not only full of sex, but also so violent it would've been considered a prime example of a video nasty had it been released in the UK back in the days. It's a film that belongs to a genre I like very much: the "something odd going on in a small village" movies. The film follows a young man, unfit for army, who is left practically alone with all the women after the other men are sent to war. He ends up getting seduced by the horny housewives, then dumped by everyone when their husbands return. He eventually goes crazy and conducts an amazingly bloody massacre, the kind that hasn't been seen in Japanese cinema since then until Miike's Lesson of Evil. A fascinating movie, and very bleak. Potentially harmful for mental health. And based on true story. Co-star Misako Tanaka is very cute, btw, and gets naked.
What was the German clown flick? I can't figure it out from the visible posters.HungFist wrote:Of course it was just my luck that the films played were in German, Japanese and Spanish (and no, my Japanese subtitle reading skills still aren't up to much), and the only English language film played after I had left.
I'm actually not the biggest fan of Tanaka's Watcher in the Attic. It adapts more than just the titular Rampo story and ends up a bit of a mess in my opinion. Akio Jissoji's 1994 version is more faithful and better for it.HungFist wrote:But there was positive irony to the one Japanese film being Tanaka's Watcher in the Attic, which I missed at the retro because it screened before I landed in Tokyo.
Who Am I - Kein System ist sicher (2014). Not much clown in it, though.Guro Taku wrote:What was the German clown flick? I can't figure it out from the visible posters.HungFist wrote:Of course it was just my luck that the films played were in German, Japanese and Spanish (and no, my Japanese subtitle reading skills still aren't up to much), and the only English language film played after I had left.
I think it's good but not among Tanaka's best films. I'm not familiar with Jissoji's version or the original storyGuro Taku wrote:I'm actually not the biggest fan of Tanaka's Watcher in the Attic. It adapts more than just the titular Rampo story and ends up a bit of a mess in my opinion. Akio Jissoji's 1994 version is more faithful and better for it.HungFist wrote:But there was positive irony to the one Japanese film being Tanaka's Watcher in the Attic, which I missed at the retro because it screened before I landed in Tokyo.
I may have found someone else but I can't figure out who she actually is and if she's an "import" or another Sally May type! Fact is, someone called サラ・バーネット starred in Nobuaki Shirai's 1973 film 外人妻 (Gaijin tsuma/Foreign Wife). That seems to be her only credit...HungFist wrote:I was thinking about that too. I don't think you missed anyone.
On a semi-related note, Nikkatsu had Sally May, who was Japanese (daughter of American father and Japanese mother) but had 100% Western looks. She was in the three Rashamen Oman yakuza / roman porno films.
I guess that would be "Sara Burnett" in romaji. And yeah, I can't find anything about her either.Guro Taku wrote:I may have found someone else but I can't figure out who she actually is and if she's an "import" or another Sally May type! Fact is, someone called サラ・バーネット starred in Nobuaki Shirai's 1973 film 外人妻 (Gaijin tsuma/Foreign Wife). That seems to be her only credit...HungFist wrote:I was thinking about that too. I don't think you missed anyone.
On a semi-related note, Nikkatsu had Sally May, who was Japanese (daughter of American father and Japanese mother) but had 100% Western looks. She was in the three Rashamen Oman yakuza / roman porno films.
No wonder I got such a good match. That's the same fucking beach! I just realized todayHungFist wrote:
I was trying to nail the Love & Pop still here