Jason Gray Visits The Set Of Christopher Doyle Lensed Sex Musical UNDERWATER LOVE

I was picked up in front of famed indie cinema Theater Pole-Pole Higashi-Nakano by the film's publicity company staff and we were off to Lake Kasumigaura in Ibaraki Prefecture. I was joined on the 90km ride by Japanese cinema expert and former Tokyo animeOnline editor Bryan Hartzheim, who also happened to translate the shooting draft of the Underwater Love screenplay.

We turned off the highway, navigating local roads and rural routes until we finally arrived at the waterfront set. Lake Kasumigaura was much larger than I expected. The  picturesque inlet where the shoot was taking place featured a long, log pier and quaint old wooden boats bobbing up and down in the little port. In the opposite direction stretched a green carpet of lotus leaves. Standing nearby was a small tsukudani (preserved food boiled in soy) plant owned by Yamasa, where shooting had taken place the day before with the facility doubling as a fish factory.

Rapid Eye founder and the film's producer Stephan Holl (a.k.a. the nicest guy in the film industry) greeted us warmly. Upon complimenting the location he told us that director Rei Sakamoto, who happens to be one of the "Seven Lucky Gods" of pink, came across it just before pre-production was locked. Sakamoto was serving as AD this time out - not surprising in this unique arena of the film world.

In fact, the whole Underwater Love production has followed the pink film ethos: shot on 35mm, shot without live sound (occasional films buck the trend), no video assist, less than a week to shoot (Underwater Love was a "luxurious" seven days, this day being the fourth), minimal crew, and a miniscule budget. A typical pink film costs around $35,000. Underwater Love had somewhere around three times as much to work with - still a pittance for a celluloid feature. "We want to edit and do everything pinku eiga style," Holl said happily.

Other locations spread across Tokyo, Ibaraki and Chiba prefecture include a 50-year-old apartment where lead character Asuka (Sawa Masaki) lives,  an abandoned house, the aforementioned fish factory, a mountain path and a cave. The shooting schedule includes such beguiling notes as "Tissue; ejaculation," "Anal pearl," and "Ukiyoe print of kappa."

It has been Holl's dream to produce Underwater Love as Rapid Eye's first foray into film production for several years. "It's either going to be the worst or the greatest pink film ever made," he says, laughing. The mood on set is both positive and productive, as if nobody has the time to stop and question the sheer surreality of producing a softcore sex film yokai musical.

As the director of such notable pink titles as Despite All That, Frog Song, Uncle's Paradise and Tender Throbbing Twilight (a Rapid Eye acquisition), Shinji Imaoka was always Holl's first choice. Early meetings were held at Nippon Connection in Frankfurt with successive drafts of the script churned out over the past two years.

And then there's the man behind the camera - his credits need not be listed. But how did Christopher Doyle become involved? In fact, Holl has been working closely with Doyle on a book of his still photographs to be published through Rapid Eye. All the elements and schedules finally fell into place this year. Though obviously earning far, far less than he would on his Hollywood or even Asian productions, it was a project Doyle was enthusiastic about. And his after-work drinks flow freely.

"You can't do better than Chris," explained Holl. "What I think is interesting is that it's like two different worlds but somehow the pink style of shooting perfectly fits what Chris does. You go to a location or set, find something, arrange it a little bit and then go for it."

The man himself comes out of the factory after a break, looking a lot less flustered by the heat than everyone else. "Don't tell my mum I'm here. She'll disown me. She's already disowned me three times!" he joked.

While most of us wilted under the scorching sun, Doyle's energy remained unabated. As Imaoka would quietly work with the actors Doyle would excitedly set up shots and improvise with props and blocking. Indeed, when Doyle became jazzed by a frame he would start snapping still images for his personal collection almost as soon as the take was in the can.  No dolly? No problem. A mini pickup truck does nicely. One of its sweat-drenched grips was on-set Japanese-English interpreter Taro Goto (subtitler of movies such as The Blood of Rebirth).

As the years go by in Japan one has less and less "am I really here?" moments, but that day was one of them for me. From an entry on my own blog the day after the set visit:

"Doyle and his crack pink film crew capture three kappa (including a female one), a buxom vixen, a Rastafarian-inspired "God of Death" and a group of rubber-aproned female fish factory workers as they do a goofy para para dance routine to music by Stereo Total playing on a cheap boom box on the grass in front of expansive green lotus fields."

How Underwater Love's six musical scenes, approximately as many sex scenes and its petite love story all come together is anybody's guess as the film is assembled in post-production. "It's ambitious but we're not going for 'perfection'. It has a charm like Fatboy Slim's video for Praise You," states Holl.

Following is a small selection of photos I took. There was no nudity on this particular day (sorry, readers). Unfortunately some of the best shots can't be released at this time as Rapid Eye wants to avoid publishing close-ups of the kappa costumes and "God of Death" (played by Fumio Moriya, also the film's co-writer) until the film is done. But look for more Underwater Love images released exclusively on ScreenAnarchy in the coming months.

Article by Jason Gray

Images

Doyle goes handheld into the thick of the dance, set to music by Stereo Total, complete with kooky Japanese lyrics.

Christopher Doyle frames a shot of lead actress Sawa Masaki, who plays lead character Asuka.