Survey Map of a Paradise Lost (aka 'Hard Focus') by Hisayasu Sato (1988).

Going back almost twenty years then, not far from the beginning of Sato's career as a Director, and you get an early example of Pink pleasure from one of the Directors of the very recent 'Rampo Noir'. Yes, Artsmagic (lost track of the review DVDs being offered up to us) seem to be issuing two Sato movies (this, better known as 'Hard Focus', and 'Iyarashi Hitozuma Nureru') onto the American market this year. The films issued previously in the 'Angel Guts' Box are also seemingly coming out as individual releases too. Sato is also known for the films 'Naked Blood' (released originally by Japan Shock in Europe), 'The Bedroom' (out in the UK on R2 DVD) and still going strong with a more recent film than 'Rampo Noir' - 'Si-Sei', covered on these very pages.

Here's a synopsis / overview from Robert Firsching, All Movie Guide, "Cult director Hisayasu Sato, fresh off the masterful Kamen No Yuwaku the previous year, began to mature as a filmmaker with this outstanding (albeit sadistic) pinku-eiga effort from Shintoho. Rio Hashikawa leads the cast as a telephone company employee who starts a sadomasochistic affair with a phone-sex operator, only to wind up dead. The film is based on a supposedly true story, and contains some nice photography and surprisingly effective performances from a cast including Kiyomi Ito, Toru Nakane, and future director Kazuhiro Sano." and here's the Artsmagic Synopsis, "Reporter Nukada's next big story is investigating the hidden secrets of Japanese phone sex clubs. His editor puts him in touch with Midori, an employee at a telephone club, who may be able to help him out with his story. But when Midori is discovered at the scene of a brutal and bloody murder, Nukada is unexpectedly exposed to an unseen world of hard bondage and rough sex. Investigating further into the incident, Nukada realizes that his story has become much larger than he could imagine."

Hisayasu Sato's 'Hard Focus' is released as 'Survey Map of a Paradise Lost on R1 USA DVD June 27th 2006.