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Movie Going Madness in Japan

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  • I'd agree. Besides the ATG retro it's mostly the usual big names. I'm fine with that, but of course am also quite jealous on all the great programs you have opportunities to go and see

    I'm really happy that they feature a few "rarer" names in their Shochiku New Wave program. Really don't know what to expect from these movies, but being able to see them in 35mm alone is worth it for me. It's just something completely different than watching them on home video formats and they also will provide a at that time probably already much needed break from my current focus on Roman Porno

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    • Originally posted by Takuma View Post
      Some cool stuff there, but at the same time I can't help but to think most of those retro's present the usual "prestige director" retrospectives. What I really love about Japan is that you get retros for people like Kazuhiko Yamaguchi, Yuji Makiguchi, Chiho Katsura (screenwriter), and Akane Shiratori (script girl!!!), and not just the usual Ozu, Kurosawa etc.

      I love Akira Kurosawa, but imagine a Naosuke Kurosawa retro! Now that would be something special!

      There was a Chiho Katsura retrospective, Takuma?

      What films were shown?

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      • Originally posted by AngelGuts View Post
        There was a Chiho Katsura retrospective, Takuma?

        What films were shown?
        A brief one back in 2005.

        Assault! Jack the Ripper (1976)
        Rape! 25th Hour (1977)
        Secret Honeymoon: Rape Train (1977)
        Zoom In: Rape Apartment (1980)
        Zokubutsu zukan (1982)
        Rope and Breasts (1983)
        Assaulted Female Teacher (1983)
        Star (1986)
        - http://www.laputa-jp.com/laputa/program/chiho/

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        • Teruo Ishii retro in Cinema Vera: Part 1/2



          Killer's Black List (1970) (x2) + The Joy of Torture (1968)


          Killer's Black List (1970) + Abashiri Prison 9 (1967)


          Yakuza's Law (1969) + Tattooed Ambush (1964) + Jitsuroku 3 okuen jiken: Jiko seiritsu (1975)


          Abashiri Prison 9 (1967) + Settlement (1967)


          Prisoner's Black List (1970) + Bohachi bushido (1973)


          Woman's Body and the Wharf (1958) + Orgies of Edo (1969)


          Japanese Hell art


          Ishii kantoku


          Seeing Bohachi bushido in 35mm was pretty amazing! Fantastic action, terrific fast paced scrip, amazing visuals, impeccable imagination and hot girls. Certainly Ishii's best film and one of the masterpieces of pinky violence! This was the first time I realized the ninja played by Ryuhei Uchida belongs to the Kurokuwa clan, the same one that keeps sending assassins after Ogami Itto in the Lone Wolf and Cub films. Of course the Bohachi clan also appears in the 3rd Lone Wolf film...

          Orgies of Edo was nice on the big screen also, although I think it is one of the lesser of Ishii's ero-guro films. Gotta love the scene where two foreign midgets rape a Japanese girl, who the gets pissed and starts whipping them in return! Dear Toei, why don't you make films like this anymore?

          Woman's Body and the Wharf was a pretty cool and atmospheric, although slightly too talkative 50's sexy noir. Digital unfortunately, but Shin Toho films are hard to come by in 35mm.

          Prisoner's Black List basically plays out like an unofficial Abashiri Prison film with added scatological humour. Even features Kanjuro Arashi as Onitora. Kinda entertaining, but the action at the end is rather by-the-book.

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          • Teruo Ishii retro in Cinema Vera: Part 2/2

            Horrors of Malformed Men (1969). Second time seeing in 35mm, amazing as always. The soundtrack is coming out in Japan in June, btw.


            Queen Bee and the School for Dragons (1960)


            Secret Agent 101: Bodyguard Murder (1966). Cool Hong Kong / Macao locations and fast pace with some cool swing, but weak script and ultra shabby stunt action at the end. Shochiku was no place for filming action movies, Ishii admitted in an interview.


            Love and Crime (1969). It's impossible not to have a good time with films like this. That being said, this jitsuroku bloodbath with 3+3 true (love) crime episodes is not among Ishii's best ero-guro films.


            The gruesome, atmospheric and at times hypnotically beautiful Inferno of Torture (1969), whose star...


            ... Yumiko Katayama was there! She's 67 years old, but still beautiful and full of energy.


            Someone please interview this girl for DVD / BD extras! She's awesome!


            She was telling some great stories about Toei and how she got into Inferno of Torture, where she plays the first girl tattoeed by both Asao Koike and Teruo Yoshida. She said she joined Toei via Toei's new faces competition (like Sonny Chiba and Ken Takakura before her). Toei brought the screenplay to her but she refused it on basis of the nudity and its extreme nature. The film later went into production with a different actress, who however quit in the middle of filming because she couldn't take it! Meanwhile Katayama had agreed to do a bikini shoot for Heibon Punch, but it turned out a nude photo shoot! She used a fake name, but Toei found out said now she has no excuse not to do (replace the missing actress in) Inferno of Torture.

            As many people probably know, Ishii had caused quite a stir with The Joy of Torture which had been hated by the press, and even Toei stars like Tomisaburo Wakayama and Koji Tsuruta publicly spoke against it. There was actually a protest by Toei Kyoto Studios staff against Inferno of Torture during its production. The Ishii gumi ("Ishii gang") was quite widely disliked by the Kyoto staff back then. Inferno of Torture was Katayama's first starring role and not all the attention it brought to her was positive. After the film, Tomisaburo Wakayama had her cast in one of his movies and made her play an extra (a farmer with a dirty face who appears in some group scene with 70 other extras) apparently just to humiliate her because she was in Ishii films.

            She also revealed a fun bit of trivia: she had been offered a nun's role in The Joy of Torture, but she refused because she was asked to shave her hair. Unthinkable for a 19 year old girl!

            In case your memory isn't so good, Katayama was also in films like Delinquent Girl Boss: Worthless to Confess, Female Prisoner Scorpion and Criminal Woman: Killing Melody





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            • Yeah she doesn't look 67. Very cool that you got to attend this.
              Rock! Shock! Pop!

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              • I just remembered a few more things Katayama mentioned. She said she's now proud to have been part of Ishii gumi as Ishii's films enjoy cult reputation around the world, but she has actually never seen Inferno of Torture! She can't stomach violent movies! She said she recently subscribed to Toei Channel (TV) but half of the movies there are too shocking for her to watch! She feels like the characters on the screen are real people.

                She also recalled the filming experience (Inferno of Torture) as "being naked from 9 to 5".

                She was also asked about Asao Koike who plays the serial killer rapist in Love & Crime, and she said she remembers how he was giving her advice how to put on the maebari...

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                • sounds like a great retrospective... I think they didn't include Female Yakuza Tale... too bad, as it also belonged there... great to hear about Yumiko...

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                  • Great post Takuma, as usual ^_^

                    Yumiko Katayama always was one of my favorite Pinky Violence girls. Would've loved being there!!

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                    • Originally posted by tetrapak View Post
                      sounds like a great retrospective... I think they didn't include Female Yakuza Tale... too bad, as it also belonged there... great to hear about Yumiko...
                      They probably didn't include it becase it was in Laputa Asagaya's Reiko & Miki series just a couple of months ago.

                      The full program was (is)
                      Invaders From the Planets, Super Giant 3 [DCP]
                      The Earth in Danger, Super Giant 4 (1957) [DCP]
                      Woman's Body and the Wharf (1958) [DCP]
                      Black Line (1960) [DCP]
                      Queen Bee and the School for Dragons (1960) [DCP]
                      Gang vs. Gang (1962) [35mm]
                      Underworld Boss: Eleven Gangsters (1963) [35mm]
                      Tattooed Ambush (1964) [35mm]
                      Secret Agent 101: Bodyguard Murder (1966) [35mm]
                      Settlement (1967) [35mm]
                      Abashiri Prison: Challenging the Wicked (1967) [35mm]
                      The Joy of Torture (1968) [35mm]
                      Shameless: Abnormal and Abusive Love (1969) [35mm]
                      Orgies of Edo (1969) [35mm]
                      Love and Crime (1969) [35mm]
                      Yakuza Law (1969) [35mm]
                      Inferno of Torture (1969) [35mm]
                      Horrors of Malformed Men (1969) [35mm]
                      Blind Woman's Curse (1970) [DCP]
                      Killer's Black List (1970) [35mm]
                      Prisoner's Black List (1970) [35mm]
                      Bohachi Bushido: Code of the Forgotten Eight (1973) [35mm]
                      Jitsuroku 3 okuen jiken: Jiko seiritsu (1975) [35mm]
                      Wakusei Robot Dangard A tai Konchu Robot Gundan (1977) [35mm]
                      Japanese Hell (1999) [35mm]
                      Blind Beast vs. Killer Dwarf (2001) [35mm]

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                      • While I was in Tokyo, I also visited a small theater called Cinema Novecento in Yokohama.
                        - http://cinema1900.wixsite.com/home

                        This recently established 28 seat theater is what you could rightfully call a mini-theater. While they are also screening some recent indie films, most of the films are older stuff from kaiju films to film noir and Roman Porno. There are quite a few special events with filmmaker quests, though tickets to these events cost premium price. Screening format varies, it can be anything from 35mm film to DCP or even DVD. Check the website in advance.

                        There's also a mini-restaurant and bar with a couple of tables.























                        I went there to see Ishiro Honda's Rodan (1956) in 35mm.

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                        • First visit to the pink theatre Cine Roman Ikebukuro.

                          Stairway down to the theatre. You can also see the ticket vending machine.


                          Upcoming program


                          Upcoming program


                          Upcoming program


                          Upcoming program + vending machine for drinks.


                          A few quick observations:
                          - Located in the basement floor.
                          - Corridor and stairs full of sleazy porno posters.
                          - Tickets bought from a vending machine.
                          - Employee who checks the tickets looked like a rapist from a 1980s Roman Porno film.
                          - No breaks between the films as no one is expected to see films from the beginning / for the story.
                          - One customer sitting in the dark cinema with sun glasses on.
                          - One customer thinking aloud during films ("oh, there was camera").
                          - One customer walking around with small bells attached to his clothes.
                          - One customer whose phone rang four times during the film.
                          - One customer walking around in dress and high heels. I'm not too sure "she" was a woman.

                          The place is clean, though. There is actually a small break after three films when the staff comes in to clean the place a bit. It's a bit of a zoo otherwise, but that is to be expected from a pink theatre whose customers are mostly sleazy, senile old men. Speaking from a bit of experience, you'd probably witness far more suspicious customers and behaviour if you went there a few more times.

                          Movies are played in triple features, with the same three films playing from morning to night. I had not visited the place before because, unlike Shimbashi Roman Gekijo (R.I.P), this is more a of real pink cinema focusing on T&A and little else. Roman Porno films play only once a month, with one RP paired with two pink films, and the film selections are usually not terribly inspired. The other films are mainly OP, Xces and Shin Toho.

                          I'm a little embarrassed to say but I couldn't really make out of the screening format. The films I saw were Embraced by the Dark (1982) and Chikan to nozoki: Shitagi mania (1991?). Embraced by the Dark looked like a good, film-like DCP. Chikan to nozoki looked like a dirty 35mm print digitalized without any clean up though I wasn't quite 100% sure what I was seeing. You probably shouldn't expect film screenings when you go there but at least, based on these two films, they're not screening DVDs or SD files.

                          Embraced by the Dark (left), Chikan to nozoki: Shitagi mania and a third film that I did not stay to see. I figured that 3rd film and Chikan to nozoki would both probably suck, but I wanted to give one of them a try, so I chose the one whose actress seemed more attractive


                          I rather liked Embraced by the Dark, which plays out like a follow-up to A Woman's Trail: Wet Path (1980). Both are sedate stories about encountering people that have an influence on your life, and the passing of time, set against natural landscapes. A Woman's Trail was more lyrical, but this one isn't bad either. Chikan to nozoki on the other hand was a genuine, honest pink flick. It's about a pervert real estate agent who inserts cameras and peepholes into cribs he's renting out. Tons of sex and no artistic ambitions, but it does come with its own cultural appeal. I love that once upon a time films like this were shot in 35mm for theatrical distribution in pink joints where old men in raincoats would line up to see tits, ass and women fondling themselves.

                          Seeing Chikan to nozoki with an audience whose average age was around 65 also helped me better understand why films like many Hisayasu Sato flicks were sometimes hated by audiences and theatre owners alike. These folks are (lonely?) old men who come to the cinema to see some pretty girls getting naked, and maybe daydream about them for the rest of the week. They don't come there to see a shocking serial killer film; they might not even like violent movies.

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                          • Originally posted by Takuma View Post
                            Embraced by the Dark (left), Chikan to nozoki: Shitagi mania and a third film that I did not stay to see. I figured that 3rd film and Chikan to nozoki would both probably suck, but I wanted to give one of them a try, so I chose the one whose actress seemed more attractive
                            Confusion time!

                            Anyone who can read even a little bit of Japanese probably noticed that the poster in the middle does not say Chikan to nozoki: Shitagi mania (痴漢と覗き 下着マニア). The title in the poster is actually reads Hitozuma no nozoki-kata: Yogoreta shitagi o nerae (人妻の覗き方 汚れた下着を狙え). They are, however, the one and same movie.

                            Re-titling movies upon their re-release is a standard practice in the pink film industry. This film was called Chikan to nozoki: Shitagi mania when it first came out in theaters in the 1990s. When it was re-released 20 years later the title was changed to Hitozuma no nozoki-kata: Yogoreta shitagi o nerae and it was given a totally new poster that would never have you guess it's the same movie. Mysterious are the ways of pink cinema.

                            I was referring to the film by its original title but the poster in the photo is the re-release poster.



                            The titles translate roughly as "Molester and Peeper: Underwear Mania" (orig.) and "Housewife Peeper: Targeting Dirty Underwear".

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                            • I visited Laputa Asagaya and made what will most likely reman the biggest discovery of the year!



                              Too Young to Die (死ぬにはまだ早い) (Japan, 1969) [35mm]
                              Kiyoshi Nishimura is one of the most exciting undiscovered Japanese directors. The opening for this film is cinema at its purest, and best! Nishimura uses very little dialogue as he first shows a man and a woman in bed, making love. We don't know exactly who they are and what their relationship is, but they're not married. Quick crosscuts reveal that he appears to be a former race driver. She makes references to her husband who is away, somewhere. Cut to the following night as they are in a car. They stop in a small bar by the highway. Minutes later a desperate gunman charges in and takes everyone as hostage. This is the premise for Nishimura's gritty and intelligent debut film which serves as a prime example of what is good filmmaking. The film drafts excellent characters without ever over-explaining them, which allows us to feel for them, yet we cannot anticipate their every move. Nishimura's attention for every detail, every drop of sweat, every painful breath, combined with sparse but clever use of music make this one hell of a thriller. Unfortunately, it has never been released on home video.









                              Director Nishimura's other films include the existential car chase film Hairpin Circus (1972), often referred as the Japanese Vanishing Point, and the action film The Creature Called Man (1970) that anticipated the 80s and 90s John Woo classics to a stunning degree, featuring everything from slow motion gunplay to heroic bloodshed and a storyline about a detective chasing a professional killer who has fallen in love with a woman. Unfortunately many of his other films remain extremely difficult to see thanks to Toho's general lack of interest in releasing their own films other than Godzilla and Kurosawa on DVD and BD.

                              Anyway, back to Laputa. I also saw another good Toho action thriller, City of Beasts



                              City of Beasts (野獣都市) (Japan, 1970) [35mm]
                              Director Jun Fukuda is probably best known for his Godzilla films. Those films gave little indication he could make films this good. This aptly titled film follows a university student (Toshio Kurosawa) who makes friends with a middle aged factory owner (Rentaro Mikuni). The men have a common interest: guns. When Mikuni takes the young apprentice to a shady business meeting, he cold bloodedly guns down the men who showed up with guns. The two click immediately and a father-son like relationship develops between them. Kurosawa's loyalty comes much in need when his mentor's sexy daughter is about to be married to a man with close family ties to the yakuza, who in turn are looking for the men Kurosawa shot dead and dumped in the bottom of a lake. Cold, gritty and fast paced while simultaneously offering a fascinating insights to the characters. Based on a book by Haruhiko Oyabu (Youth of the Beast).

                              edit: I originally claimed Fukuda directed Godzilla vs. Hedorah, which is of course completely false.

                              The 2nd installment in Toho's Dracula trilogy, Lake of Dracula (1970), on the other hand was a real bore. The dull, bloodless film attempts to relocate European horror to Japan, but the characters are boring, style is lacking, and the storyline fails to spark any interest.



                              Finally, I did not have a chance to see this film (on the right) but I love the title Saraba Moscow gurentai (Farewell, the gangs of Moscow)
                              Takuma
                              Senior Member
                              Last edited by Takuma; 07-09-2017, 07:47 AM.

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                              • Man, these posts continue to be awesome. I don't have much to add but please keep them up, they're a lot of fun and I love the pictures. One of these days I'll make it to Japan!
                                Rock! Shock! Pop!

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