Sex and Fury


Title: Sex and Fury
Rating: 4/5
Genre: “Pinky Violence” (Action, Crime, Thriller)
Starring: Reiko Ike, Agemi Negishi, Christina Lindberg
Director: Norifumi Suzuki
Language: Japanese

If you’re female, this should be the last line of this review you should take the time to read as pinky violence knows exactly who its target audience are, and its not you. It’s unashamedly Japanese, and the more I learn about the culture the more truthful this seems to be. It may be most closely associated as part of the movement of ‘pink films’ in the 70s, revolving around humiliation and ‘sexploitation’ of the young female lead, but this genre doesn’t finish there. It’s a pink film with gratuitous violence and bloodshed, sword wielding yakuza nutters doing battle with our scantily clad sex crazed heroine, and this combination of random sex and violence isn’t mutually exclusive; one scene in particular sees our gorgeous lead dispatch a dozen assailants who ambush her in the bath, and they don’t exactly wait for her to put on her kimono.

The last time I dived into the genre was with my fascination with Meiko Kaji – a situation that was resolved by me buying half of her starring films – but it was time to move onto a new starlet to explore, and nobody caught my attention quite like Reiko did. She is by all definitions of the word, a badass. A tattooed beauty constantly doing battle with law enforcement with regards to numerous drug charges and frequent involvement with illegal underground gambling rings, it would seem as though little acting is needed to bring such a character to the screen, and coincidentally that is precisely the character she plays.

Following our young protagonist Ocho (Reiko), already a master pickpocket who habitually steals without realising, as well as a keen gambler; it is in this tale of revenge that she quests for those responsible for killing her father all those years ago and exact her revenge. Her journey soon leads her to a man involved in a prostitution racket and a deadly tale of English ‘diplomats’ (in reality, spies, but not very good ones) sporting English accents despite the main of the two, Christina Lindberg, actually being Swedish, resulting in some hilarious Swenglish/Japanese conversations. Mix into this a sub-plot of forbidden love and underground anarchists fighting those in control of the city and you get a glimpse at the bizarre story that allows for all the random sex and violence required.

There is a lot here that’s done right. The swordplay and excessive carnage whilst not as frequent as I’d have liked lacks nothing in style; the frequent gratuitous nudity pushing this into borderline softcore porn, yet done with an odd sense of tastefulness to it; a tongue in cheek knowledge that it was no coincidence that every fight scene involved a woman having her top fall off. The plot is gloriously more complex and involving than I anticipated, the story of revenge spun out to a game of assassins, hunting down the intended target whilst a tragic love story unfolds in the background. This film is essentially “Lone Wolf and Cub” performed by nymphomaniacs; swordplay, lesbian love, and blood-dripping bare breasted badassery. What heterosexual male could say no?

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Female Prisoner: Scorpion

Image
Title: Female Prisoner: Scorpion Rating: 4/5 Genre: Drama, Thriller, Crime Starring: Meiko Kaji, Rie Yokoyama, Isao Natsuyagi Director: Shunya Ito Language: Japanese It was the 70s that saw the rise in Japanese grindhouse cinema (also known as ‘Pinky Violence); tired of the very ‘traditional’ style of many local films, and with the rise in success of Hollywood titles such as ‘Dirty Harry’ and ‘The Great Escape,’ a new wave of daring and experimental directors came to light. Armed with a low budget and all the influences of the early Western grindhouse cheap gore flicks, they combined it with traditional Japanese film-making sensibilities to create a style that somehow succeeded in being both artistic in style whilst retaining those cheap traditions such as gratuitous nudity and violence to result in something rather unique. And it was with this, the first instalment in the ‘Female Prisoner’ series, that would influence a wave known as ‘Women in Prison’ films; with a strong the...
Read more

Slasher Hunter

Image
Title: Slasher Hunter (2011) Rating: 3/5 Genre: Horror, Comedy Starring: Chad Phillips, Derek Rothermund, Ryan Sullivan Director: Steve Rudzinski Duration: 35 mins Four pals are planning to have a great weekend of sex and brews in an old cabin in the woods. Now, I know what you’re thinking: “this is the exact set up to every slasher movie from ‘79 to ‘99; this can’t end well.” Well our group of campers have thought of that, that’s why they brought sci-fi nerd Lee along for the ride who carries within him the so-called “survivor gene.” This special gene helps prevent him from being the unfortunate victim of any slasher maniacs that may be lurking about. Unfortunately this gene is also highly coveted by a group of the most dastardly slashers around: Frank, Larry, Jay, Charles, Pleatherface, and Puzzle (I didn’t say their names were very dastardly, did I?). It’s up to a renegade, federally-employed Slasher Hunter to thwart the slashers’ plan and save Lee and his friends before it’...
Read more

Chinese Erotic Ghost Story

Image
Title: Chinese Erotic Ghost Story Original Title: Yuk lui liu chai Genre: Comedy, Exploitation Rating: 2.5/5 Starring: Ben Ko Chu, Chun Chung, Siu Wan Hung Director: Kin-Nam Cho Language: Chinese It's always a little tricky to think how these sort of films should be rated; from the title it's apparent that they aren't perhaps the most creative when it comes to titles, though if nothing else it certainly is an accurate one, with perhaps some mention of how batshit insane the bizarre events of the actual film are being the only thing missing. It all kicks off rather normally; Chu is introduced as the debt collector working for an asshole of a King with a beautiful mistress, two beautiful daughters and an even prettier wife, whilst he's stuck with a woman who sleeps 20 hours a day and spends the remaining four awake eating. Caught in the embrace of one of the King's daughters he's punished with the task of entering Satan's Temple and stealing the statu...
Read more