Japanese 'pink' film - or pinku eiga - is in the international eye now as never before. Scholars such as Jasper Sharp have been the driving force towards early critical examination of the genre - Sharp having written a book on the topic and organized a traveling retrospective of landmark pink films - while recent productions such as the Tribeca-selected Underwater Love have given some mainstream traction. And now the genre is getting the documentary treatment.
Director Yves Montmayeur already boasts documentaries about Johnnie To, Christopher Doyle, yakuza eiga and more to his credit. His work is well enough respected that he has received the retrospective treatment at international festivals - Fantasia did one a few years back - and his latest is Pinku Eiga: Inside the Pleasure Dome Of Japanese Erotic Cinema.
Already confirmed to premiere at the Paris Cinema International Film Festival before moving on to San Sebastian, the film includes interviews with notable figures such as Tani Naomi, Arisue Go, Takahasa Zeze, Oniroku Dan, Ryuichi Hiroki, Konuma Masaru, Aoyama Minami,Inside The Pleasure Dome Of Japanese Erotic Cinema focuses on one of the most famous branches of japanese filmmaking, the erotic Pink film genre, known as pinku eiga, and the closely related Roman Porno cult films series produced by notorious Nikkatsu studios from 1971 to 1988.
Films of this genre first appeared in the early 1960s, and dominated the Japanese domestic cinema for decades, dealing constantly with local censorship. Major studios and independent companies started to blend in violence element into the pinku eiga, creating sub genres such like SM bondage. For the first time this film documentary takes the viewer on a wild journey into the backyards of Japanese culture and society, where the weird and wonderful world of sex films mingled with radical politics and pop culture. Many key figures from this popular cinema talk here about their involvement in this unique adventure.
Makoto Nara, Asakura Daisuke (Sato Keiko), Kurosawa Kiyoshi, Christopher Doyle, Ogawa Kinya, Koda Riri, Sugimoto Aya, Nabeshima Takaoki, Yoshiyuki Hayashida, Maeda Yonozo, Nishimura Shogoro, and Wakamatsu Koji.