Sion Sono: Friend or Foe of Feminism?

Though a self-proclaimed contributor towards misogyny, at his height Sion Sono was deemed one of Japan’s great feminist archangels. Of course, not everyone agreed. The disagreement and confusion comes in his films’ seeming hypocrisy: simultaneously theming about the sexualization of women in media while fitting their camera at a low-angle whenever low-skirts are incautiously worn — what people might rightly call “having your cake and eating it too.”

Fig. 1 (Love Exposure)

Fig. 2 (Love Exposure)

Fig. 3 (Guilty of Romance)

Fig.3a

Fig. 4 (Guilty of Romance)

Fig.4a

Fig. 6 (Virgin Psychics)

The Life of Sion Sono

In what sounds like the plot to one of his films, Sono ran away from home at 17, finding himself a starving Tokyo street kid. A particularly Sono-esq anecdote from this time is his random run-in with a woman who lured him to a hotel — via an obvious method — and, with a knife held to her throat, threatened to commit suicide if the teenage-Sono didn’t accept to play the part of husband during a meeting with her family. He did; spending close to a month with them in the country.

In what turned out to be the plot to one of his later films, after leaving the woman who compensated him with a minor actor’s fee, Sono found himself a member of the Unification Church — A.K.A “the Moonies,” a Korea born cult globally popular in this ‘70s, ‘80s period. The starving-Sono had accepted following a U.C. 's priest's promise of food. Sono fled after the cult’s danger became apparent, finding himself a runaway with a flock of angry Moonies on his tail.

Seeing it as his only means of escape, Sono joined a terrorist group protesting the expansion of Narita Airport, given they promised him sanctuary and safety. Sono later managed to escape both the terrorist group and the Unification Church’s interest, enrolling in Hosei University and dubbing himself a poet, graffiting poetry on the walls of bathroom stalls.

In 1985, he began making films on Super 8, one of which was selected at Ria film festival. His film Bicycle Sighs, made two years later, received similar acclaim. His growing reputation allowed him to attend the University of California, Berkeley. However, Sono the student spent the majority of his time being anything but. Watching B-movies and porn when he was expected to attend classes. For Sono, such a routine was, by his own opinion: an education. He stated in interviews that he moved to San Francisco to study film, wanting to “clear his head of classic cinema.”

This alternative education resulted in another film, The Room, upon his return to Japan. For 9 years Sono enjoyed the quaint life of a surviving artist. It wasn’t until 2001, with his infamous film, Suicide Club, that Sono became a houshold name in every cinephile’s habitation. 7 years later, with Love Exposure, a roughly 4 hour long film, Sono grew to arguably even more promincence.

Fig. 7 (Utsushimi)

Fig. 8 (Utsushimi)

Fig. 9 (Utushimi)

Fig. 10 (The Virgin Psycichs)

The Style to Expect of Sono

As you would expect from someone whose film output is the result of an education in B movies and Porn films, in the public’s mind “a Sion Sono picture” often denotes low-grade exploitation and lower grade sexploitation. Both of which are traditionally considered — not just un- but — anti-artful. This is why it's so interesting that Sono has garnered a reputation quite unlike other directors of similar pulpish ilk, being referred to as a provocateur — a term seemingly used exclusively with affection — and even Japan’s greatest living director.

Fig. 11 (Guilty of Romance)

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