Cinema Retro staff writers are humanitarians at heart who selflessly sacrifice to put the needs of our readers before their own interests. For example, Dean Brierly had to subject himself to watching hours of Japanese erotica simply to bring you this report. It was a dirty job but someone had to do it. We'll send him your thanks as soon as he emerges from the cold shower.
Odd Obsessions
by Dean Brierly
Thanks to the advent of DVD, Western film fans have become
familiar with such iconic Japanese genre directors as Seijun Suzuki (surreal
gangster satires), Kinji Fukasaku (nihilistic yakuza films) and Teruo Ishii
(erotic-grotesque epics). The director Masaru Konuma, although an equally
gifted visual stylist, has yet to enjoy similar name recognition. That’s understandable
given that he has spent virtually his entire career making roman porno
(romantic pornography) films, beginning in the early 1970s. Pioneered by
Nikkatsu Studios to pump up sagging box office receipts, the roman pornos were
glossier, classier versions of the independent pink films of the previous
decade. If they have been slower to penetrate the American home video market,
it’s because these films explore aspects of sexuality from a darker, distinctly
Japanese perspective that’s often discomfiting to Western critical
sensibilities.