Romantic Pornographic
1971, along with being the year in which the first Mcdonald’s opened in Japan, marks the introduction of the now-famous sex-genre films dubbed “Roman Pornos.” These films were created by Nikkatsu corporation as a last means to save their failing, close to bankrupt film company, as television had recently become a passe luxury no less common than a standard futon or zabuton, and been seen by an introverted society as a more convenient and comfortable alternative to the extroverted act of theater going. Nikkatsu, who created films for theaters and relied on a theater-enthused public to stay in business, figured that the only way to combat the convenient, 30-minute thrills of television was to provide something that television could not, that being moving images of men and women scant in any sense of wardrobe: unclothed and unchained by the “obscenity laws” which censored and limited Japanese TV programs.
Fig. 1 (“She Cat” 1983)
Fig.2 (“Oh! Woman: A Dirty Song” 1981)
Fig.3 (“Star of David: Beauty Hunting” 1979)
Fig. 4 (“The Hell-Fated Courtesan” 1973)
Fig. 5 (“Horny Diver: Tight Shellfish” 1985)
Fig. 6 (“Star of David: Beauty Hunting” 1979)
Fig. 7 (“Pink Curtain” 1982)
New Generation
Nikkatsu billed the project as follows: films of at least 70 minutes, with at least a sex scene (or scene of some sexual nature) every 10 minutes, besides that, the writer/ director had near to complete freedom. Though the allure of pure artistic freedom was tempting for many directors, the majority which Nikkatsu contacted declined as they didn’t want to make films of such philistine subjects like sex, they wanted to make films of the caliber of Kurosawa or Ozu. As a result, there was a massive opening in directing positions at Nikkatsu, and many ADs, looking to get into the industry as directors, suddenly had an opening and took full advantage to install themselves as the “next generation” of Japanese filmmakers.
Fig. 8 (“She Cat” 1983)
Fig. 9 (“Star of David: Beauty Hunting” 1979)
Painful Bliss, Final Twist (1977)
The plot of “Painful Bliss, Final Twist” is difficult to distill into a quick synopsis. It follows a young executive as he is taken to the home of a hostess to meet her Yakuza boyfriend, where he has “a bad night.” From there, viewpoints switch and alternate and as the story continues from various perspectives. The director of “Painful Bliss, Final Twist” is Tatsumi Kumashiro, perhaps the most renowned filmmaker in the world of Roman Porno-dom. Compared to other sex genre films, unique to the “Roman Porno” is the attitude of wanting to make cinema first and pornography second. The films of Kumashiro epitomize this philosophy as they are of a quality far more artistic than most of what you find in the Japanese mainstream. Given that the majority of “R.P” directors were young, freshly graduated art-students, political activists, and erudite intellectuals, their cinematic output was far more experimental and political than what was common of big budgeted 35mm productions. Kazuko Shirakawa, Roman Porno actress, said in a documentary on the Roman Porno genre (“The Erotic Empire”): “Sex films were seen as dirty films and were ignored, I wanted to challenge those stereotypes. We rebelled.” We see a piece of that rebellion in “Painful Bliss, Final Twist.” which was not just against prudishness, but against conventionality in form.
Fig. 10 DVD cover Painful Bliss, Final Twist (1977)
Fig. 11 Painful Bliss, Final Twist ( 1977)
In the exclusive Premium edition you can discover more about the downfall of Roman Porno genre and its big impact, the genre classics Sex Hunter (1980), analyses of Beautiful Wrestlers Down For the Count (1984), all interspersed with numerous arousing photos.
Click HERE for part II or here for the most striking pornographic parody film of the 20th century.
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