Tonight's viewing was something more appropriate to the nature of this blog than the old American B-films I've been watching. I dived head-first into the wild world of Nikkatsu Roman Porno:
Lovers Are Wet (
恋人たちは濡れた -
Koibito-tachi wa nureta), released in Japan on March 24, 1973, and recently released on DVD in the U.S. under the title
Twisted Path of Love.
The director,
Tatsumi Kumashiro, is probably the most highly-regarded of Nikkatsu's Roman Porno directors-- or, at least, he was the most honored while the series was being produced. He has four films listed on
Kinema Junpo's list of the best Japanese films of the 20th century (#69 "Twisted Path of Youth" would be this film). Like Ozu, his fans call him one of the "most Japanese" directors (though it's pointed out Kumashiro, unlike Ozu, is a "little" artist). I fell in love with Ozu's films at first sight, and he remains one of my favorite of all directors. But I've had more difficulty warming up to Kumashiro. I have only seen two films of his films so far, and neither impressed me much. I have seen
A Woman with Red Hair (1979), and I first saw this one--
Twisted Path of Love-- a couple years ago and was underwhelmed by both. This time, however, I was positively impressed. It's a rather plotless, impressionistic sort of film of the style that was popular in the early '70s, in U.S. film as well. It's "adult", not just in that it concerns sex (it actually has about the bare minimum amount of sex that can be included in a film that is supposed to be about sex), but in that it assumes the audience is mature, can think for themselves, and does not need a lot of non-stop razzle-dazzle action to keep from getting bored.
The plot, such as it is:
A young man returns to his hometown (a fishing village in Katsuura, Chiba Prefecture) hoping no one recognizes him, and insisting he is not Katsu when they do recognize him and call him by name. He takes a job at a porno theater run by an older married woman and he gets involved with a young couple. We find out he has returned from Tokyo after killing a man, and is being pursued by the yakuza. He has an affair with the theater owner. When he leaves her she hangs herself. He goes out of town with the young couple.
Not much of this is presented straightforwardly. It has to be worked out and surmised through hints in the dialogue. Kumashiro does not appear to be interested in telling a story, but more in presenting a setting and a group of characters, and letting them live, interact and reveal themselves in an elliptical yet lyrical way. The cinematography is by
Shinsaku Himeda, who
worked often with Kumashiro. He was nominated for a U.S. Academy Award for his work on
Tora! Tora! Tora! (1970), and worked with
Imamura on such classics as
Pigs and Battleships (1961),
The Insect Woman (1963),
Intentions of Murder (1964),
The Pornographers (1966) and
Vengeance Is Mine (1979). The music was rather interesting, touching on a wide variety of styles present in contemporary Japan: Traditional music imitated on the guitar, enka, Brahms, shunka ("bawdy songs"), etc.
Kumashiro is said to have been a staunch opponent of the Japanese censorship policies, and to have laden his films with anti-censorship jabs. He makes fun of Japanese censorship practice here by exaggerating the black blocks on the screen which were used to hide genitalia. At times almost half the screen is hidden by a wandering black block. The sex scenes very modest, even by Japanese softcore standards, yet it appears that frames are removed randomly, giving them sudden minor jumps. Again, rather than really serving the purpose of censorship, this seems to actually be mocking censorship forced on Japanese filmmakers. But the story itself doesn't seem to have an obvious relationship to censorship, so I don't get how these visual jokes tie in with the story... True, much of it is set at a porno theater, and Katsu has to work as a barker, singing obscene songs in praise of the films being shown... but no signs of problems with censorship is shown in the narrative... (Should anyone doubt that censorship is still a problem-- even a bigger problem now than it was in Japan in 1973-- just look at
Eigapedia / Wikia's article on this film. The eunuch über-Admin Brandon has deleted both posters to the film as "against TOS"-- the only applicable "Term of Service" being "no pornography". So today, in the year 2012, in the English-speaking world of the Internet, these two artistic images can be labeled pornography and censored-- yes, CENSORED-- by any twit who has managed to get in favor with Jimbo Wales and his cult... and you think YOU had it rough, Kumashiro?)
Predictably enough for its time, style and place of production, there was nothing very stimulating to the Dekkapedian aesthetic of big, jolly, bouncy ladies. The theater-owner, was rather attractive in her mature way, and the main featured actress, (
Rie Nakagawa) was good in her role as Youko, the woman of the young couple. There was one plump village girl, Sachiko (played by Senro Azame -- 薊千露-- IMDb has her as
Chizuyu Azami) who caught my attention, but, unfortunately, her only purpose in the film is to function as a rape victim... While I am now convinced this is a good movie, and I'll probably re-visit it later on to see if my approval and understanding grows with time, there was not much here to stir my libido. So just to keep my own interest aroused, allow me to present for your viewing pleasure above left, the Dekkappedlian
Konata (aka Konata Yuusei (遊星こなた), in director
Ryudai's Wagnerian epic,
Thunder-Thigh Fetish Doll (
IZM; ICD-162; September 2011). And with that, I bid you a soft, warm, cuddly good night.
