I took another dive into my
Angel Guts box for another sampling of Japanese softcore cinema again today, and viewed
Angel Guts: Red Porno (天使のはらわた 赤い淫画 -
Tenshi no harawata: Akai inga; 1981). Once again I must say that I am very impressed. What strikes one immediately is the skillful use of sound, the first scene working almost like an hommage to
Once Upon a Time in the West: Long, total silence with sudden jarring sounds, including a squeaky playground sounding very much like the squeaky... what was it? a sign?... at the beginning of
Leone's masterpiece.
The director of the film,
Toshiharu Ikeda makes the most of the film medium, and of his camera and sound. The movie is all about sound and image, with many fascinating compositions, such as the one above, of Nami (the lead character in the series) laying in the playground in the rain after an aborted sexual encounter. The camera rises up from Nami, through the playground bars, with the rain falling down. Ugly as the situation in the story, it's still a breath-takingly beautiful moment. The suicide of this talented filmmaker--Toshiharu Ikeda-- at the end of 2010 was a tragic loss.
The lead actress,
Jun Izumi (seen above), is quite attractive, and was a major celebrity in Japan at the time, as I remember. She was also in the previous
Angel Guts film reviewed here--
Red Vertigo (1987)-- though not in the main role of Nami Tsuchiya, which she plays in
Red Porno. She's not at all Boobpedian-- much less Dekkappedlian in figure-- though none of the ladies in this film are. They fit the usual bony, skinny Japanese vision of femininity of the time. And though there are a lot of sex scenes, I never felt my libido stimulated in the slightest through most of the film. Actually the only scene that moved me was, oddly, when Nami's boyfriend has sex with his homely wife, on whom he is cheating. She is probably the least attractive actress in the film, and is just as thin, but she is
very arousing in the one sex scene in which she performs. She's got the same kind of homely/earthy but very erotic face as
Kyôko Kishida from a generation earlier. Also, this lady really seems to enjoy her sex-- or at least was good enough an actress to put that feeling across-- and that enthusiasm is contagious. Strange that the husband of this red-hot mama would be cheating on her for the relatively mundane, even if younger, Nami... The other sex scenes are visually interesting, from a cinematic or intellectual point of view, but not at all erotically stimulating. Most of the sex, for some reason, is onanistic, with female masturbation, in various creative forms, being the central attraction.
There is some violence against women in this one, but not nearly as much as some of the other films in this genre. The
Angel Guts series focuses on rape and its aftermath, but rape has a very low presence in this particular entry in the series. Most reviews I've seen online note that the sex scenes are very extreme, calling them near hardcore. I find this puzzling, since all the sex is standard softcore, simulated sex, with nary a sex organ even almost visible. This one does have a bit
more sex than usual, and it is of a more creative-- i.e., perverted-- nature than most, but it still leaves a lot more to the imagination than it shows. And thank God for Japanese censorship laws for that. The lack of explicitness forces creativity, making the sex scenes really interesting. The few American pornos I've seen, which can and do show it all, not only cannot compare as works of erotic art, they don't even exist in the same world as some of these Japanese erotic masterpieces. Also, the sex scenes in this film seem to be much more part of the plot, and the story is advanced during them, than in most Pink films. Unlike with many Pink films, I did not find myself fast-forwarding through the sex in this one.
Though I put off watching these films because of the warning on the DVD box of "extreme sexual violence," like the previous
Angel Guts film I saw--
Red Vertigo-- I give this one a qualified, but very high rating. If you don't mind a lot of eroticism in your films (and if you do, why are you reading this blog?) this film is a must-see. But even for fans of unusual cinematic treats who are not necessarily fans of the erotic, this little film has more than enough style, technique, and thought to reward a viewing. Eight out of Ten stars from yours truly.
I took another dive into my Angel Guts box for another sampling of Japanese softcore cinema again today, and viewed Angel Guts: Red Porno (天使のはらわた 赤い淫画 - Tenshi no harawata: Akai inga; 1981). Once again I must say that I am very impressed. What strikes one immediately is the skillful use of sound, the first scene working almost like an hommage to Once Upon a Time in the West: Long, total silence with sudden jarring sounds, including a squeaky playground sounding very much like the squeaky... what was it? a sign?... at the beginning of Leone's masterpiece.
The director of the film, Toshiharu Ikeda makes the most of the film medium, and of his camera and sound. The movie is all about sound and image, with many fascinating compositions, such as the one above, of Nami (the lead character in the series) laying in the playground in the rain after an aborted sexual encounter. The camera rises up from Nami, through the playground bars, with the rain falling down. Ugly as the situation in the story, it's still a breath-takingly beautiful moment. The suicide of this talented filmmaker--Toshiharu Ikeda-- at the end of 2010 was a tragic loss.
The lead actress, Jun Izumi (seen above), is quite attractive, and was a major celebrity in Japan at the time, as I remember. She was also in the previous Angel Guts film reviewed here-- Red Vertigo (1987)-- though not in the main role of Nami Tsuchiya, which she plays in Red Porno. She's not at all Boobpedian-- much less Dekkappedlian in figure-- though none of the ladies in this film are. They fit the usual bony, skinny Japanese vision of femininity of the time. And though there are a lot of sex scenes, I never felt my libido stimulated in the slightest through most of the film. Actually the only scene that moved me was, oddly, when Nami's boyfriend has sex with his homely wife, on whom he is cheating. She is probably the least attractive actress in the film, and is just as thin, but she is very arousing in the one sex scene in which she performs. She's got the same kind of homely/earthy but very erotic face as Kyôko Kishida from a generation earlier. Also, this lady really seems to enjoy her sex-- or at least was good enough an actress to put that feeling across-- and that enthusiasm is contagious. Strange that the husband of this red-hot mama would be cheating on her for the relatively mundane, even if younger, Nami... The other sex scenes are visually interesting, from a cinematic or intellectual point of view, but not at all erotically stimulating. Most of the sex, for some reason, is onanistic, with female masturbation, in various creative forms, being the central attraction.
There is some violence against women in this one, but not nearly as much as some of the other films in this genre. The Angel Guts series focuses on rape and its aftermath, but rape has a very low presence in this particular entry in the series. Most reviews I've seen online note that the sex scenes are very extreme, calling them near hardcore. I find this puzzling, since all the sex is standard softcore, simulated sex, with nary a sex organ even almost visible. This one does have a bit more sex than usual, and it is of a more creative-- i.e., perverted-- nature than most, but it still leaves a lot more to the imagination than it shows. And thank God for Japanese censorship laws for that. The lack of explicitness forces creativity, making the sex scenes really interesting. The few American pornos I've seen, which can and do show it all, not only cannot compare as works of erotic art, they don't even exist in the same world as some of these Japanese erotic masterpieces. Also, the sex scenes in this film seem to be much more part of the plot, and the story is advanced during them, than in most Pink films. Unlike with many Pink films, I did not find myself fast-forwarding through the sex in this one.
Though I put off watching these films because of the warning on the DVD box of "extreme sexual violence," like the previous Angel Guts film I saw-- Red Vertigo-- I give this one a qualified, but very high rating. If you don't mind a lot of eroticism in your films (and if you do, why are you reading this blog?) this film is a must-see. But even for fans of unusual cinematic treats who are not necessarily fans of the erotic, this little film has more than enough style, technique, and thought to reward a viewing. Eight out of Ten stars from yours truly.
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