Pink film: Difference between revisions
Line 7: | Line 7: | ||
"The eroductions are the limpest of softcore, and though there is much breast and buttock display, though there are simulations of intercourse, none of the working parts are ever shown. Indeed, one pubic hair breaks an unwritten but closely observed code. Though this last problem is solved by shaving the actresses, the larger remains: how to stimulate when the means are missing."<br>– '''[[Donald Richie]] (1972)'''<ref name="Richie-156">{{cite book |last=Richie|first=Donald|title=A Lateral View: Essays on Culture and Style in Contemporary Japan|origyear=1972|year=1987|publisher=Stone Bridge Press|location=Berkeley, California|isbn=0-9628137-4-5|chapter=The Japanese Eroduction|page=156}}</ref></div> |
"The eroductions are the limpest of softcore, and though there is much breast and buttock display, though there are simulations of intercourse, none of the working parts are ever shown. Indeed, one pubic hair breaks an unwritten but closely observed code. Though this last problem is solved by shaving the actresses, the larger remains: how to stimulate when the means are missing."<br>– '''[[Donald Richie]] (1972)'''<ref name="Richie-156">{{cite book |last=Richie|first=Donald|title=A Lateral View: Essays on Culture and Style in Contemporary Japan|origyear=1972|year=1987|publisher=Stone Bridge Press|location=Berkeley, California|isbn=0-9628137-4-5|chapter=The Japanese Eroduction|page=156}}</ref></div> |
||
The ''pink film'', or "eroduction" (erotic production) as it was first called,<ref>Domenig. ''Vital Flesh''. "The term pink eiga was first coined in 1963 by journalist Murai Minoru. But it did not come into general use until the late 1960s. In the early years the films were known as 'eroduction films' (erodakushon eiga) or 'three-million-yen-films' (sanbyakuman eiga)."</ref> is a cinematic genre without exact equivalent in the West.<ref name="Domenig"/> Though called pornography, the terms "[[erotica]]", "[[soft porn]]" and "[[sexploitation]]" have been suggested as more appropriate, although none of these precisely matches the ''pink film'' genre.<ref name="Weisser-20">{{cite book |last=Weisser|first=Thomas|author2=Yuko Mihara Weisser |title=Japanese Cinema Encyclopedia: The Sex Films|year=1998|publisher=Vital Books: Asian Cult Cinema Publications|location=Miami|isbn=1-889288-52-7|page=20}}</ref> Due to the nature of Japanese censorship laws, the display of genitals, and even pubic hair, were long-held taboos in the genre. This restriction forced Japanese filmmakers to develop sometimes elaborate means of avoiding showing the "working parts", as Richie puts it.<ref name="Richie-156"/> In order to work around this censorship, most Japanese directors positioned props—lamps, candles, bottles, etc.—at strategic locations to block the banned body parts. When this was not done, the most common alternative techniques are digital scrambling, covering the prohibited area with a black box or a fuzzy white spot, known as "[[Fogging (censorship)|fogging]]".<ref>Weisser. p.23.</ref> |
The ''pink film'', or "eroduction" (erotic production) as it was first called,<ref>Domenig. ''Vital Flesh''. "The term pink eiga was first coined in 1963 by journalist Murai Minoru. But it did not come into general use until the late 1960s. In the early years the films were known as 'eroduction films' (erodakushon eiga) or 'three-million-yen-films' (sanbyakuman eiga)."</ref> is a cinematic genre without exact equivalent in the West.<ref name="Domenig"/> Though called pornography, the terms "[[erotica]]", "[[soft porn]]" and "[[sexploitation]]" have been suggested as more appropriate, although none of these precisely matches the ''pink film'' genre.<ref name="Weisser-20">{{cite book |last=Weisser|first=Thomas|author2=Yuko Mihara Weisser |title=Japanese Cinema Encyclopedia: The Sex Films|year=1998|publisher=Vital Books: Asian Cult Cinema Publications|location=Miami|isbn=1-889288-52-7|page=20}}</ref> Due to the nature of [[Censorship in Japan|Japanese censorship laws]], the display of genitals, and even pubic hair, were long-held taboos in the genre. This restriction forced Japanese filmmakers to develop sometimes elaborate means of avoiding showing the "working parts", as Richie puts it.<ref name="Richie-156"/> In order to work around this censorship, most Japanese directors positioned props—lamps, candles, bottles, etc.—at strategic locations to block the banned body parts. When this was not done, the most common alternative techniques are digital scrambling, covering the prohibited area with a black box or a fuzzy white spot, known as "[[Fogging (censorship)|fogging]]".<ref>Weisser. p.23.</ref> |
||
Some have claimed that it is this [[censorship]] which gives the Japanese erotic cinema its particular style. Donald Richie says, "American pornography is kept forever on its elemental level because, showing all, it need do nothing else; Japanese eroductions have to do something else since they cannot show all. The stultified impulse has created some extraordinary works of art, a few films among them."{{citation needed|date=February 2013}} Writing in 1972, at the commencement of the Second Wave of ''pink film'', he qualifies his statement with, "None of these, however, are found among eroductions."<ref>Richie. ''The Japanese Eroduction''. p.163.</ref> Contrasting the ''pink film'' with Western [[pornographic film]]s, Pia Harritz says, "What really stands out is the ability of pinku eiga to engage the spectator in more than just scenes with close-ups of genitals and finally the complexity in the representation of gender and the human mind."<ref name="Harritz">{{cite web|last=Harritz|first=Pia D|year=2006|title=Consuming the Female Body: Pinku Eiga and the case of Sagawa Issei |url=http://www.medievidenskab-odense.dk/index.php?id=57|work=[http://www.medievidenskab-odense.dk/ mediavidenskab]|accessdate=2007-07-07 |archiveurl = http://web.archive.org/web/20070702120500/http://www.medievidenskab-odense.dk/index.php?id=57 <!-- Bot retrieved archive --> |archivedate = 2007-07-02}}</ref> |
Some have claimed that it is this [[censorship]] which gives the Japanese erotic cinema its particular style. Donald Richie says, "American pornography is kept forever on its elemental level because, showing all, it need do nothing else; Japanese eroductions have to do something else since they cannot show all. The stultified impulse has created some extraordinary works of art, a few films among them."{{citation needed|date=February 2013}} Writing in 1972, at the commencement of the Second Wave of ''pink film'', he qualifies his statement with, "None of these, however, are found among eroductions."<ref>Richie. ''The Japanese Eroduction''. p.163.</ref> Contrasting the ''pink film'' with Western [[pornographic film]]s, Pia Harritz says, "What really stands out is the ability of pinku eiga to engage the spectator in more than just scenes with close-ups of genitals and finally the complexity in the representation of gender and the human mind."<ref name="Harritz">{{cite web|last=Harritz|first=Pia D|year=2006|title=Consuming the Female Body: Pinku Eiga and the case of Sagawa Issei |url=http://www.medievidenskab-odense.dk/index.php?id=57|work=[http://www.medievidenskab-odense.dk/ mediavidenskab]|accessdate=2007-07-07 |archiveurl = http://web.archive.org/web/20070702120500/http://www.medievidenskab-odense.dk/index.php?id=57 <!-- Bot retrieved archive --> |archivedate = 2007-07-02}}</ref> |
Revision as of 20:26, 26 January 2015
Pink film (ピンク映画, Pinku eiga or Pink eiga) is a broad cinematic term used to categorize a wide variety of Japanese films with adult content. This encompasses everything from dramas to action thrillers and exploitation films (a.k.a. pinky violence), and softcore pornographic (romance pornography or roman poruno) features. The term is often mistakenly used to apply only to sex films. However, the so-called pink movie is part of an ongoing (and evolving) cycle of films rather than a specific genre.
Pinku eiga, along with the bloody and violent yakuza-eiga, or contemporary gangster film, both became wildly popular in the mid-1960s and dominated the Japanese domestic cinema through the mid-1980s.[1][2] In the 1960s, the pink films were largely the product of small, independent studios. In the 1970s, some of Japan's major studios, facing the loss of their theatrical audience, took over the pink film. With their access to higher production-values and talent, some of these films became critical and popular successes.[3] Though the appearance of the AV (adult video) took away most of the pink film audience in the 1980s, films in this genre are still being produced.
Description of the pink film
– Donald Richie (1972)[4]
The pink film, or "eroduction" (erotic production) as it was first called,[5] is a cinematic genre without exact equivalent in the West.[3] Though called pornography, the terms "erotica", "soft porn" and "sexploitation" have been suggested as more appropriate, although none of these precisely matches the pink film genre.[6] Due to the nature of Japanese censorship laws, the display of genitals, and even pubic hair, were long-held taboos in the genre. This restriction forced Japanese filmmakers to develop sometimes elaborate means of avoiding showing the "working parts", as Richie puts it.[4] In order to work around this censorship, most Japanese directors positioned props—lamps, candles, bottles, etc.—at strategic locations to block the banned body parts. When this was not done, the most common alternative techniques are digital scrambling, covering the prohibited area with a black box or a fuzzy white spot, known as "fogging".[7]
Some have claimed that it is this censorship which gives the Japanese erotic cinema its particular style. Donald Richie says, "American pornography is kept forever on its elemental level because, showing all, it need do nothing else; Japanese eroductions have to do something else since they cannot show all. The stultified impulse has created some extraordinary works of art, a few films among them."[citation needed] Writing in 1972, at the commencement of the Second Wave of pink film, he qualifies his statement with, "None of these, however, are found among eroductions."[8] Contrasting the pink film with Western pornographic films, Pia Harritz says, "What really stands out is the ability of pinku eiga to engage the spectator in more than just scenes with close-ups of genitals and finally the complexity in the representation of gender and the human mind."[9]
Richie and Harritz both enumerate the fundamental elements of the pink film formula as:
- The film must have a required minimum quota of sex scenes[10]
- The film must be approximately one hour in duration[11]
- It must be filmed on 16 mm or 35 mm film within one week[12]
- The film must be made on a very limited budget[13]
History of the pink film
Background to the pink film
In the years since the end of World War II, eroticism had been gradually making its way into Japanese cinema. The first kiss to be seen in Japanese film—discreetly half-hidden by an umbrella—caused a national sensation in 1946.[14] Although throughout the 1940s and early 1950s nudity in Japanese movie theaters, as in most of the world, was a taboo,[15] some films from the mid-50s such as Shintoho's female pearl-diver films starring buxom Michiko Maeda, began showing more flesh than would have previously been imaginable in the Japanese cinema.[16] During the same period, the taiyozoku films on the teen-age "Sun Tribe", such as Kō Nakahira's Crazed Fruit (1956), introduced unprecedented sexual frankness into Japanese films.[17]
Foreign films of this time, such as Ingmar Bergman's Summer with Monika (1953), Louis Malle's Les Amants (1958), and Russ Meyer's The Immoral Mr. Teas (1959) introduced female nudity into international cinema, and were imported to Japan without problem.[15] Nevertheless, until the early 1960s, graphic depictions of nudity and sex in Japanese film could only be seen in single-reel "stag films," made illegally by underground film producers such as those depicted in Imamura's film The Pornographers (1966).[18]
First wave (The "Age of Competition" 1962–1971)
The first wave of the Pink film in Japan was contemporary with the similar U.S. sexploitation film genres, the "nudie-cuties" and "roughies".[19] Nudity and sex officially entered Japanese cinema with Satoru Kobayashi's controversial and popular independent production Flesh Market (Nikutai no Ichiba, 1962), which is considered the first true pink film.[20] Made for 8 million yen, Kobayashi's independent feature film took in over 100 million yen. Kobayashi remained active in directing pink films until the 1990s. Tamaki Katori, the star of the film, went on to become one of the leading early pink film stars, appearing in over 600, and earning the title "Pink Princess".[21]
In 1964, maverick kabuki, theater and film director Tetsuji Takechi helped invigorate the "First Wave" of pink film, by directing Daydream, the first big-budget pink film. Takechi's Black Snow (1965), resulted in the director's arrest on charges of obscenity, and a high-profile trial which became a major battle between Japan's intellectuals and the establishment. Takechi won the lawsuit, and the publicity surrounding the trial helped bring about a boom in the production of pink films.[22]
In her introduction to the Weisser's Japanese Cinema Encyclopedia: The Sex Films, actress Naomi Tani calls this period in pink film production "The Age of Competition".[23] Though Japan's major studios, such as Nikkatsu and Shochiku made occasional forays into pink film territory in the 1960s, such as director Seijun Suzuki's Gate of Flesh (1964)—the first mainstream Japanese film to contain nudity,[20] the pink films of this era were mainly independent, low-budget productions. Independent studios such as Nihon Cinema and World Eiga made dozens of cheap, profitable "eroductions". Among the most influential independent studios producing pink films in this era were Shintōhō, Million Film, Kantō, and Ōkura.[6] Typically shown on a three-film program, these films were made by these companies to show at their own chain of specialty theaters.[24]
Another major pink film studio, Wakamatsu Studios, was formed by director Kōji Wakamatsu in 1965, after quitting Nikkatsu. Known as "The Pink Godfather",[25] and called "the most important director to emerge in the pink film genre",[26] Wakamatsu's independent productions are critically respected works usually concerned with sex and extreme violence mixed with political messages.[27] His most controversial early films dealing with misogyny and sadism are The Embryo Hunts In Secret (1966), Violated Angels (1967), and Go, Go Second Time Virgin (1969).
Three other important pink film directors of this time, Kan Mukai, Kin'ya Ogawa and Shinya Yamamoto are known as "The Heroes of the First Wave".[28] In 1965, the same year as Wakamatsu became independent, directors Kan Mukai and Giichi Nishihara established their own production companies—Mukai Productions and Aoi Eiga.[29]
The "first queen of Japanese sex movies" was Noriko Tatsumi,[30] who made films at World Eiga and Nihon Cinema with director Kōji Seki.[31] Other major Sex Queens of the first wave of pink film included Setsuko Ogawa,[32] Mari Iwai,[33] Keiko Kayama,[34] and Miki Hayashi.[35] Other pink film stars of the era include Tamaki Katori, who appeared in many films for Giichi Nishihara and Kōji Wakamatsu; Kemi Ichiboshi, whose specialty was playing the role of a violated innocent;[36] and Mari Nagisa.[37] Younger starlets like Naomi Tani, and Kazuko Shirakawa were starting their careers and already making names for themselves in the pink film industry, but are best remembered today for their work with Nikkatsu during the 1970s.
Second wave (The Nikkatsu Roman Porno era 1971–1982)
Until the late 1960s, the "pink film" market was almost entirely the domain of low-budget independent companies. At the beginning of the 1970s, now losing their audiences to television and imported American films, Japan's major film studios were struggling for survival. In 1972, Richie reported, "In Japan, the eroduction is the only type of picture that retains an assured patronage."[38]
In order to tap into this lucrative audience, major studio Toei entered the sexploitation market in 1971. In films like his ero-guro series and Joys of Torture series of the late 1960s director Teruo Ishii had provided a model for Toei's sexploitation ventures by "establishing a queasy mix of comedy and torture."[39] Producer Kanji Amao designed a group of series—shigeki rosen (Sensational Line), ijoseiai rosen (Abnormal Line), and harenchi rosen (Shameless Line), today collectively referred to as Toei's "Pinky Violence".[3][40] Most of Toei's films in the pink film style used eroticism in conjunction with violent and action-filled stories. Several of these films have the theme of strong women exacting violent revenge for past injustices. The series was launched with the Delinquent Girl Boss (Zubeko Bancho) films starring Reiko Oshida.[41] Other series in the Pinky Violence genre included Norifumi Suzuki's Girl Boss (Sukeban) films, and the Terrifying Girls' High School films, both starring Reiko Ike and Miki Sugimoto.[42][43]
Other examples of Toei's films in this genre include Shunya Ito's Sasori (Scorpion) series of women in prison films based on Toru Shinohara's manga. Starting with Female Convict #701: Scorpion (1972), the Scorpion series starred Meiko Kaji, who had left Nikkatsu Studios to distance herself from their Roman Porno series. Toei also set the standard for Japanese nunsploitation films (a subgenre imported from Italy) with the critically acclaimed School of the Holy Beast (1974) directed by Norifumi Suzuki.
Also in 1971, Takashi Itamochi, president of Nikkatsu, Japan's oldest major film studio, made the decision to take his own company's high production values and professional talent out of action films and put them into the pink film genre.[44] Like Toei, Nikkatsu had made some previous films in the sexploitation market, such as Story of Heresy in Meiji Era (1968) and Tokyo Bathhouse (1968), which featured over 30 sex-film stars in cameo appearances.[45] Nikkatsu launched its Roman Porno series in November 1971 with Apartment Wife: Affair In the Afternoon, starring Kazuko Shirakawa.[46] The film became a huge hit, inspired 20 sequels within seven years, establishing Shirakawa as Nikkatsu's first "Queen", and successfully launched the high-profile Roman porno series. Director Masaru Konuma says that there was essentially no difference between the pink films and Roman Porno except for the studio's higher budget.[47] Nikkatsu would make these higher-quality pink films almost exclusively, at an average rate of three per month,[48] for the next 17 years.
Nikkatsu gave its Roman porno directors a great deal of artistic freedom in creating their films, as long as they met the official minimum quota of four nude or sex scenes per hour.[49] The result was a series that was popular both with audiences and with critics.[50] One or two Roman Pornos appeared on the top-ten lists of Japanese critics every year throughout the run of the series.[51] Nikkatsu's higher-quality sex films essentially took the pink film market away from the smaller, independent studios until the mid-1980s, when the AV all but ended the theatrical pornographic film.[6]
Tatsumi Kumashiro was one of the major directors of the Roman Porno. Kumashiro directed a string of financial and critical hits unprecedented in Japanese cinematic history, including Ichijo's Wet Desire (1972) and Woman with Red Hair (1979), starring Junko Miyashita.[52] He became known as the "King of Nikkatsu Roman porno"[49][53] Noboru Tanaka, director of A Woman Called Sada Abe (1975), is judged by many critics today to have been the best of Nikkatsu's Roman Porno directors.[54][55] The S&M subgenre of the Roman Porno was established in 1974 when the studio hired Naomi Tani to star in Flower and Snake (based on an Oniroku Dan novel), and Wife to be Sacrificed, both directed by Masaru Konuma.[56] Tani's immense popularity established her as Nikkatsu's third Roman Porno Queen, and the first of their S&M Queens.[57] Other subgenres of the pink film developed under the Roman Porno line included "Violent Pink", established in 1976 by director Yasuharu Hasebe.[58]
1980s
When ownership of VCRs first became widespread in the early 1980s, AVs (adult videos) made their appearance and quickly became highly popular.[59] As early as 1982 the AVs had already attained an approximately equal share of the adult entertainment market with theatrical erotic films.[60] In 1984, new government censorship policies and an agreement between Eirin (the Japanese film-rating board) and the pink-film companies added to Nikkatsu's difficulties by putting drastic new restrictions on theatrical films. Theatrical pink movie profits dropped 36% within a month of the new ruling.[60] Eirin dealt the final blow to theatrical pornography in 1988 by introducing stricter requirements for sex-related theatrical films. Nikkatsu was finally forced to concede defeat to the AV industry, and closed its production facilities in April 1988. Bed Partner (1988) was the final film of the venerable 17-year-old Roman Porno series. Nikkatsu continued to distribute films under the name Ropponica, and theatrical pornography through Excess Films, however these were not nearly as popular or critically respected as the Roman Porno series had been in its heyday.[61] By the end of the 1980s, the AV had become established as the main form of adult cinematic entertainment in Japan.
The dominant directors of pink films of the 1980s, Genji Nakamura, Banmei Takahashi and Mamoru Watanabe are known collectively as "The Three Pillars Of Pink".[62] All three were veterans of the pink film industry since the 1960s. Coming to prominence in the 1980s, a time when the theatrical porn film was facing considerable difficulties on several fronts, this group is known for elevating the pink film above its low origins by concentrating on technical finesse and narrative content. Some critics dubbed the style of their films "pink art".[52]
By the time Nakamura joined Nikkatsu in 1983, he had already directed over 100 films.[63] While the plots of his films, which could be extremely misogynistic, were not highly respected, his visual style earned him a reputation for "erotic sensitivity."[52] Nakamura directed one of Japan's first widely distributed, well-received films with a homosexual theme, Legend of the Big Penis: Beautiful Mystery (1983),[64] for Nikkatsu's ENK Productions, which was founded in 1983 to focus on gay-themed pink films.[3] Some of Nakamura's later pink films were directed in collaboration with Ryūichi Hiroki, and Hitoshi Ishikawa under the group pseudonym Go Ijuin.[65]
Banmei Takahashi directed "intricate, highly stylistic pinku eiga",[66] including New World of Love (1994), the first Japanese theatrical film to display genitals.[67] Another prominent cult director of this era, Kazuo "Gaira" Komizu, is known for his Herschell Gordon Lewis-influenced "splatter-eros" films, which bridge the genres of horror and erotica.[68]
1990s
Nikkatsu, Japan's largest producer of pink films during the 1970s and 1980s, declared bankruptcy in 1993.[69] Nevertheless, even in this most difficult period for the pink film, the genre never completely died out, and continued exploring new artistic realms. Indeed, at this time the pink film was viewed as one of the last refuges of the "auteur" in Japan. So long as the director provided the requisite number of sex scenes, he was free to explore his own thematic and artistic interests.[70]
Three of the most prominent pink film directors of the 1990s, Kazuhiro Sano, Toshiki Satō and Takahisa Zeze all made their directorial debuts in 1989. A fourth, Hisayasu Satō, debuted in 1985. Coming to prominence during one of the most precarious times for the pink film, these directors worked under the assumption that each film could be their last, and so largely ignored their audience to concentrate on intensely personal, experimental themes. These directors even broke one of the fundamental pink rules by cutting down in the sex scenes in pursuit of their own artistic concerns. Their films were considered "difficult"—dark, complex, and largely unpopular with the older pink audience. The title "Four Heavenly Kings of Pink" (ピンク四天王, pinku shitenno) was applied to these directors, at first sarcastically, by disgruntled theater owners. On the other hand, Roland Domenig, in his essay on the pink film, says that their work offers "a refreshing contrast to the formulaic and stereotyped films that make up the larger part of pink eiga production, and are strongly influenced by the notion of the filmmaker as auteur."[3]
Pink film today
The newest prominent group of seven pink film directors all began as assistant directors to the shitenno. Their films display individualistic styles and introspective character indicative of the insecurity of Japan's post-bubble generation. Known together as the "Seven Lucky Gods of Pink" (ピンク七福神, pinku shichifukujin) they are Toshiya Ueno, Shinji Imaoka, Yoshitaka Kamata, Toshiro Enomoto, Yūji Tajiri, Mitsuru Meike and Rei Sakamoto.[3] Ueno was the first director of this group to rise to prominence, acting as an "advance guard" for the group when his Keep on Masturbating: Non-Stop Pleasure (1994) won the "Best Film" award at the Pink Grand Prix.[71] Founded in 1989,[72] the Pink Grand Prix has become a yearly highlight for the pink film community by awarding excellence in the genre and screening the top films.[73]
The 2000s have seen a significant growth in international interest in the pink film. Director Mitsuru Meike's The Glamorous Life of Sachiko Hanai (2003) made an impression in international film festivals and gained critical praise.[74] A planned annual "women-only" pink film festival was first held in South Korea in 2007, and again in November 2008.[75][76][77] In 2008 a company called Pink Eiga, Inc. was formed with the sole purpose of releasing pink films on DVD in the U.S.[78] Choice titles include RoboGeisha (2009), Helldriver (2010) and the upcoming gangster noir, Gun Woman (2014), all starring former Japanese porn star, Asami Sugiura.[79]
Directors
While some directors have used pink films as a steppingstone for their careers, others work exclusively with the genre. Some notable directors of pink films include:
Actresses
Some notable pinku eiga actresses include:
Notable Pink films and related genres
Pink films
- Flesh Market (Kobayashi, 1962)
- Daydream (Tetsuji Takechi, 1964)
- The Embryo Hunts In Secret (Koji Wakamatsu, 1966)
- Violated Angels (Wakamatsu, 1967)
- Inflatable Sex Doll of the Wastelands (Yamatoya, 1967)
- Slave Widow (Noriko Tatsumi, 1967)
- Go, Go Second Time Virgin (Wakamatsu, 1969)
- Sexy Battle Girls (1986)
- S&M Hunter (Shuji Kataoka, 1986), five-film series
- Tokyo Decadence (Ryu Murakami, 1992)
- The Glamorous Life of Sachiko Hanai (Meike, 2003)
- Ambiguous (Ueno, 2003)
- Uncle's Paradise (Imaoka, 2006)
Nikkatsu "Roman Porno"
- Apartment Wife: Affair In the Afternoon (Nishimura, 1971)
- Ichijo's Wet Desire (Kumashiro, 1972)
- Flower and Snake (Konuma, 1974)
- Wife to be Sacrificed (Konuma, 1974)
- A Woman Called Sada Abe (Tanaka, 1975)
- Cloistered Nun: Runa's Confession (Konuma, 1976)
- Watcher in the Attic (Tanaka, 1976)
- Fairy in a Cage (Kōyū Ohara, 1977)
- Rope Hell (Ohara, 1978)
- Rope Cosmetology (Nishimura, 1978)
- Angel Guts (9-film series, 1978–1994)
- Woman with Red Hair (Kumashiro, 1979)
Toei "Pinky violence"
- Shogun's Joys of Torture (Teruo Ishii, 1968)
- Female Convict 701: Scorpion (Itō, 1972)
- Girl Boss Guerilla (Norifumi Suzuki, 1972)
- Terrifying Girls' High School: Lynch Law Classroom (Norifumi Suzuki, 1973)
- Sex & Fury (Norifumi Suzuki, 1973)
- Female Yakuza Tale: Inquisition and Torture (Teruo Ishii, 1973)
- School of the Holy Beast (Norifumi Suzuki, 1974)
- Zero Woman: Red Handcuffs (Yukio Noda, 1974)
- Deep Throat in Tokyo (Mukai, 1975)
Awards
Outstanding Pink films and their actors and directors have been given awards both from the adult entertainment industry and from the mainstream film community. The following is a partial listing.
Hochi Film Award
Mainstream film award.
1979
- Best Actress—Junko Miyashita for The Woman with Red Hair'[80]
Kinema Junpo awards
Cinema bi-weekly journal film award.
1969
- Best Independent Film—Shinya Yamamoto for Spring of Ecstasy (1968)[81]
1972
- Best Director and Best Scriptwriter—Tatsumi Kumashiro for Ichijo's Wet Lust[82]
Nikkatsu awards
Nikkatsu studio's in-house awards.
1985
- Best Film—Shinji Somai for Love Hotel[83]
1987
- Best Film—Junichi Suzuki for Angel Guts: Red Rope - "Until I Expire"[84]
Ona-Pet Award
Tabloid magazine award for "the girl you think of while masturbating". The other yearly award was given for the "Tsuma No Mibun", or "girl you would like to marry."
1976
Pink Grand Prix
Hosted every April by PG magazine. Currently the major pink film award ceremony. Founded 1989, covers 1988–present.
- See: Pink Grand Prix
Pinky Ribbon Awards
Annual award held by the Kansai region Pink Link magazine. 2004–present.
- See: Pinky Ribbon Awards
Yokohama Film Festival
Mainstream film festival awards.
1985
- Best New Director Shūsuke Kaneko for Kōichirō Uno's Wet and Swinging, OL yurizoku 19 sai and Eve-chan-no hime [86][87]
Zoom-Up Awards
The Zoom-Up Film Festival (ズームアップ映画祭) pink film awards began in 1980 for movies released in the previous year.[88] The awards continued to at least 1994. Since no listing of the awards seems to be presently available, the following scattered references are what items can be gleaned from the web.
1st Zoom-Up Awards (1980)
- Best Film—Virgin Rope Makeover (少女縄化粧, Shōjo nawa geshō)[89]
- Best Actress—Mayuko Hino[90]
- Best Supporting Actor—Masayoshi Nogami[89]
- Best Supporting Actress—Naomi Oka[91]
- Best Director—Mamoru Watanabe[92]
2nd Zoom-Up Awards (1981)
- Best Supporting Actress—Cecile Goda[89]
- Best Director—Genji Nakamura[89]
3rd Zoom-Up Awards (1982)
- Best Actor—Shirō Shimomoto[89]
- Best Supporting Actor—Hiroshi Imaizumi[89]
- Best Supporting Actress—Kayoko Sugi[89]
- Best Director—Banmei Takahashi[89]
5th Zoom-Up Awards (1984)
- Best Supporting Actor—Makoto Yoshino[89]
- Best Director—Yōjirō Takita[93][94]
6th Zoom-Up Awards (1985)
- Held in Shinjuku, Tokyo in May 1985.[95]
- Best Actor—Tōru Nakane[96]
- Best Director—Yōjirō Takita[93][94][95]
7th Zoom-Up Awards (1986)
- Best Actor—Tōru Nakane[96]
8th Zoom-Up Awards (1987)
- Best Actor—Shirō Shimomoto[89]
- Best Actress—Kyōko Hashimoto[89]
- Best Supporting Actor—Yutaka Ikejima[89]
- Best Director—Motusuga Watanabe[89]
9th Zoom-Up Awards (1988)
- Best Actress—Kaori Hasegawa[89]
- Best Supporting Actor—Kinkichi Ishibe[89]
- Best Director—Hitoshi Ishikawa[97][89]
- Best New Director—Daisuke Goto[98]
Notes
- ^ Richie, Donald (2001). "After the Wave". A Hundred Years of Japanese Film: A Concise History. Tokyo: Kodansha International. ISBN 4-7700-2682-X.
For a time, almost half of the annual film production figures released in Japan were composed of these hour-long mini-features.
- ^ Domenig, Roland (2002). "Vital flesh: the mysterious world of Pink Eiga". Archived from the original on 2004-11-18. Retrieved 2007-02-19.
Since the mid-1960s, pink eiga have been the biggest Japanese film genre... By the late 1970s the production of pink eiga together with Roman Porno amounted to more than 70% of annual Japanese film production.
- ^ a b c d e f Domenig, Roland (2002). "Vital flesh: the mysterious world of Pink Eiga". Retrieved 2007-02-19.
- ^ a b Richie, Donald (1987) [1972]. "The Japanese Eroduction". A Lateral View: Essays on Culture and Style in Contemporary Japan. Berkeley, California: Stone Bridge Press. p. 156. ISBN 0-9628137-4-5.
- ^ Domenig. Vital Flesh. "The term pink eiga was first coined in 1963 by journalist Murai Minoru. But it did not come into general use until the late 1960s. In the early years the films were known as 'eroduction films' (erodakushon eiga) or 'three-million-yen-films' (sanbyakuman eiga)."
- ^ a b c Weisser, Thomas; Yuko Mihara Weisser (1998). Japanese Cinema Encyclopedia: The Sex Films. Miami: Vital Books: Asian Cult Cinema Publications. p. 20. ISBN 1-889288-52-7.
- ^ Weisser. p.23.
- ^ Richie. The Japanese Eroduction. p.163.
- ^ Harritz, Pia D (2006). "Consuming the Female Body: Pinku Eiga and the case of Sagawa Issei". mediavidenskab. Archived from the original on 2007-07-02. Retrieved 2007-07-07.
{{cite web}}
: External link in
(help)|work=
- ^ Richie. The Japanese Eroduction p.159–160. "In theory, directors are instructed to aim at some kind of sex scene every five minutes; in practice, however, it has proved almost impossible to construct a story-line which allows this, with the results that sex scenes are sometimes fewer but somewhat longer."
- ^ Domenig. Vital Flesh. "Pink eiga... typically 60 minutes long..."
- ^ Richie. The Japanese Eroduction p.157. "The shooting-time for each remains short—a week at the most..."
- ^ Harritz. Writing in 2006, Pia Harritz gives the required budget as about $35,000.
- ^ Bornoff, Nicholas (1994) [1991]. "18 (Naked Dissent)". Pink Samurai: An Erotic Exploration of Japanese Society; The Pursuit and Politics of Sex in Japan (Paperback ed.). London: HarperCollins. p. 602. ISBN 0-586-20576-4.
- ^ a b Weisser, p.22.
- ^ Anderson, Joseph; Donald Richie (1982). The Japanese Film: Art and Industry (Expanded ed.). Princeton, New Jersey: Princeton University Press. pp. 266–267.
- ^ Sato, Tadao (1987) [1982]. Gregory Barrett (translator) (ed.). Currents in Japanese Cinema (paperback ed.). Tokyo: Kodansha. pp. 212–213. ISBN 0-87011-815-3.
{{cite book}}
:|editor=
has generic name (help) - ^ Sharp, Jasper. "Tetsuji Takechi: Erotic Nightmares". www.midnighteye.com. Retrieved 2007-03-15.
- ^ Fentone, Steve (1998). "A Rip of the Flesh: The Japanese 'Pink Film' Cycle". She. 2 (11): p.5.
{{cite journal}}
:|pages=
has extra text (help) - ^ a b Weisser, p.21.
- ^ Connell, Ryann (March 2, 2006). "Japan's former Pink Princess trades raunchy scenes for rural canteen". Mainichi Shimbun. Retrieved 2007-03-06.
- ^ Firsching, Robert. "Kuroi Yuki". Allmovie. Retrieved 2007-10-29.
The resultant obscenity trial... ended with a landmark decision which allowed complete narrative freedom in Japanese films. This development paved the way for the thousands of softcore pinku eiga and S & M films which would define Japanese exploitation cinema until... the late '80s...
- ^ Weisser, p.12.
- ^ Richie. A Hundred Years of Japanese Film
- ^ Weisser, p.287.
- ^ Desser, David (1988). Eros Plus Massacre: An Introduction to the Japanese New Wave Cinema. Bloomington and Indianapolis: Indiana University Press. pp. 99–101. ISBN 0-253-31961-7.
- ^ Iwauchi, Hideki. "Koji Wakamatsu Film Director Interview". www.insite-tokyo.com. Archived from the original on 2007-04-26. Retrieved 2007-07-07.
He... produced numerous films that are shocking for their treatments of sex, violence, and politics.
{{cite web}}
: External link in
(help); Unknown parameter|work=
|coauthors=
ignored (|author=
suggested) (help) - ^ Weisser, p.105.
- ^ Sharp, Jasper (2008). Behind the Pink Curtain: The Complete History of Japanese Sex Cinema. Guildford: FAB Press. p. 53. ISBN 978-1-903254-54-7.
- ^ Weisser, p.81.
- ^ Weisser, p.79.
- ^ Weisser, p.131.
- ^ Weisser, p.441.
- ^ Weisser, p.151.
- ^ Weisser, p.153.
- ^ Weisser, p.103.
- ^ Weisser, p.197.
- ^ Richie. The Japanese Eroduction, p.158.
- ^ Macias, p.189.
- ^ Macias, p.189
- ^ D., Chris (2005). Toei's Bad Girl Cinema (booklet to DVD set The Pinky Violence Collection. Panik House Entertainment. p. 8.
- ^ Macias, p.190
- ^ Chris D., p.10.
- ^ Macias, Patrick (2001). "Nikkatsu's Roman Porno". TokyoScope: The Japanese Cult Film Companion. San Francisco: Cadence Books. p. 187. ISBN 1-56931-681-3.
- ^ Weisser, p.420, 434.
- ^ Sato. p.244.
- ^ Konuma, Masaru. Interviewed by Weisser, Thomas and Yuko Mihara Weisser. (1998). "An Interview with Masaru Konuma; An exclusive ACC interview with Nikkatsu's most notorious director conducted... in Tokyo on November 6, 1998." in Asian Cult Cinema, #22, 1st Quarter 1999, p.21."The company wanted to convince people that these movies were somehow different, perhaps to make them immediately socially acceptable. However—from the creator's side—there was no difference between the making of Roman Porn and Pink."
- ^ Bornoff, Nicholas (1994) [1991]. "Bye-Bye Pink Cinema, Hello Adult Video". Pink Samurai: An Erotic Exploration of Japanese Society; The Pursuit and Politics of Sex in Japan (Paperback ed.). London: HarperCollins. p. 603. ISBN 0-586-20576-4.
- ^ a b Weisser, p.204
- ^ Macias, p.187. "While single men and curious couples alike lined up for roman porno fare, film critics had no hesitations about singing their praises."
- ^ Hirano, Kyoko (1987). "Japan". In William Luhr (ed.). World Cinema Since 1945. New York, NY: The Ungar Publishing Company. p. 412. ISBN 0-8044-3078-0.
at least one or two Roman Pornos have been chosen every year since 1971 as among the ten best films of the year by Japanese critics.
- ^ a b c Weisser, p.495.
- ^ Johnson, William (2003). "A New View of Porn: The Films of Tatsumi Kumashiro" (PDF). Film Quarterly, vol. 57, no.1, Fall 2003. University of California Press. p. 12. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2007-03-04. Retrieved 2007-03-06.
- ^ Weisser, pp.323, 359.
- ^ Thompson, Bill (1985). "Jitsuroko [sic] Abe Sada". In Frank N. Magill (ed.). Magill's Survey of Cinema: Foreign Language Films; Volume 4. Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: Salem Press. pp. 1568–1573. ISBN 0-89356-247-5.
- ^ Konuma, p.22–23.
- ^ Weisser, p.329.
- ^ Hasebe, Yasuharu. (1998). Interviewed by Thomas and Yuko Mihara Weisser in Tokyo, 1999, in Asian Cult Cinema, #25, 4th Quarter, 1999, p.39.
- ^ Schönherr, Johannes (December 29, 2006). "Japanese AV - A Short Introduction". Midnight Eye. Retrieved 2007-07-09.
{{cite web}}
: External link in
(help)|work=
- ^ a b Weisser, p.29.
- ^ Weisser, p.30, 63, 155.
- ^ Weisser, p.231.
- ^ Weisser, p.60
- ^ Weisser, p.229
- ^ Weisser, p.383.
- ^ Weisser, p.183.
- ^ Weisser, p.292.
- ^ Weisser, p.126–127.
- ^ Macias, p.188.
- ^ Zeze, Takahisa quoted in "Takahisa Zeze interview". midnighteye.com. Retrieved 2007-10-04.
Question: "Pink film is often seen as one of the last few reserves of the auteur. It is often said that as long as you deliver so many sex scenes in one hour, the director can fill the rest of the running time with whatever he wants. Is this true?" Zeze: "Yes it is. We believed it was true at the time, so we tried to make what we wanted to make..."
{{cite web}}
: External link in
(help)|work=
- ^ Sharp, Behind the Pink Curtain, p. 311.
- ^ "3. The Appearance of AV, and the Death of Roman Porno: The Pink Film in Crisis (3. AVの登場とロマンポルノの終焉 ピンク映画の危機(1982-1989) - 3. AV no tōjō to roman porno no shūen: pinku eiga no kiki (1982–1989))" (in Japanese). biglobe.ne.jp. Retrieved 2010-07-13.
ピンク映画専門のミニコミ「NEW ZOOM-UP」創刊。第一回ピンク大賞を選出し、授賞式を亀有名画座で行う
{{cite web}}
: External link in
(help)|publisher=
- ^ Sharp, Jasper (2008-12-04). "Pink thrills: Japanese sex movies go global". The Japan Times. Retrieved January 23, 2009.
- ^ Armstrong, Rod (2004). "THE GLAMOROUS LIFE OF SACHIKO HANAI". San Francisco International Film Festival. Archived from the original on 2007-10-02. Retrieved 2007-11-15.
- ^ "2008 핑크영화제 (Pink Film Festival)" (in Korean). www.pinkfilm.co.kr. 2008. Retrieved 2009-01-24.
{{cite web}}
: External link in
(help)|publisher=
- ^ 여성들을 위한 핑크영화 사천왕이 뜬다 (in Korean). news.mk.co.kr. 2008-10-15. Retrieved 2009-03-15.
{{cite web}}
: External link in
(help)|publisher=
- ^ Park, Soo-mee (2008-11-03). "Erotic film fest pushes the envelope in Korea: Pink Film Festival celebrates Japanese erotic satire". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved 2009-06-20. [dead link ]
- ^ Hendrix, Grady (2009-01-14). "Pink Eiga". Variety. Retrieved 2009-01-24.
- ^ How Asami went from porn star to B-horror babe. Dazed Digital. 2014-10-21 [1]
- ^ Weisser, p.331.
- ^ Weisser, p.417–418.
- ^ Weisser, p.204.
- ^ Weisser, p.252.
- ^ Weisser, p.45.
- ^ Weisser, p.507.
- ^ Weisser, p.448.
- ^ Awards for Shusuke Kaneko at IMDB
- ^ "Pink Films History" (in Japanese). www2u.biglobe.ne.jp. Archived from the original on 2008-07-12. Retrieved 2008-12-02.
{{cite web}}
: External link in
(help) "1980: 第一回ズームアップ映画賞開催"|publisher=
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p "PINK FILM CHRONICLE 1962-2012 -午後8時の映画祭" (in Japanese). www2u.biglobe.ne.jp/~p-g. Retrieved 2013-10-28.
{{cite web}}
: External link in
(help)|publisher=
- ^ "Mayuko Hino". X City. Archived from the original on 2008-02-28. Retrieved 2008-12-02.
{{cite web}}
: External link in
(help)|publisher=
- ^ "Naomi Oka". X City. Archived from the original on 2008-02-28. Retrieved 2008-12-02.
{{cite web}}
: External link in
(help)|publisher=
- ^ "ピンク映画の歴史 - 1962~現在 (Pink movie history—1962–present)" (in Japanese). www.uplink.co.jp. Retrieved 2008-12-02.
{{cite web}}
: External link in
(help)|publisher=
- ^ a b "滝田洋二郎監督プロフィール (Director Yojiro Takita profile)" (in Japanese). TIFF. Retrieved 2008-12-02.
{{cite web}}
: External link in
(help)|publisher=
- ^ a b "Yojiro Takita". pinkeiga.com. Retrieved 2010-11-08.
{{cite web}}
: External link in
(help)|publisher=
- ^ a b "6 ピンク ズームアップ映画祭" (in Japanese). 6nozaki.web.fc2.com. Retrieved 2008-12-02.
{{cite web}}
: External link in
(help)|publisher=
- ^ a b "Japanish Erotica <1984>" (in Japanese). www.ygm-web.com. Archived from the original on 2008-04-20. Retrieved 2008-12-02.
{{cite web}}
: External link in
(help)|publisher=
- ^ 2004春号「映画少年、映画少女」編集長 石川均 (in Japanese). www.dgj.or.jp. Retrieved 2008-12-02.
{{cite web}}
: External link in
(help) [dead link ]|publisher=
- ^ "Daisuke Goto". PinkEiga. Retrieved 2008-12-02.
{{cite web}}
: External link in
(help) [dead link ]|publisher=
References
- Domenig, Roland (2002). "Vital flesh: the mysterious world of Pink Eiga". Archived from the original on 2004-11-18. Retrieved 2007-02-19.
- Grossman, Andrew (April 2002). "The Japanese Pink Film: Tandem, the Bedroom, and The Dream of Garuda". www.brightlightsfilm.com/. Retrieved 2007-02-18.
- Harritz, Pia D (2006). "Consuming the Female Body: Pinku Eiga and the case of Sagawa Issei". mediavidenskab. Archived from the original on 2007-07-02. Retrieved 2007-07-07.
{{cite web}}
: External link in
(help)|work=
- Macias, Patrick (2001). TokyoScope: The Japanese Cult Film Companion. San Francisco: Cadence Books. ISBN 1-56931-681-3.
- Richie, Donald (1987) [1972]. "The Japanese Eroduction". A Lateral View: Essays on Culture and Style in Contemporary Japan. Berkeley, California: Stone Bridge Press. pp. 156–169. ISBN 0-9628137-4-5.
- Sharp, Jasper (2008). Behind the Pink Curtain: The Complete History of Japanese Sex Cinema. Guildford: FAB Press. ISBN 978-1-903254-54-7.
- Sharp, Jasper (2004-08-04). "Pink Films special". Midnight Eye. Retrieved 2007-05-29.
{{cite web}}
: External link in
(help)|work=
- Vieillot, Martin (April 2008). "Nikkatsu roman-porno : gloire et décadence" (in French). EigaGoGo!. Retrieved 2010-06-06.
{{cite web}}
: External link in
(help)|publisher=
- Weisser, Thomas; Yuko Mihara Weisser (1998). Japanese Cinema Encyclopedia: The Sex Films. Miami: Vital Books: Asian Cult Cinema Publications. ISBN 1-889288-52-7.
External links
- P*G Web Site (Currently the leading journal on pink film)
- PINKEIGA.COM Definitive resource for all things PINK EIGA outside of Japan
- Connell, Ryann (April 30, 2008). "Famous blue movie theater turns to pink power to attract green youths". Mainichi Shimbun. Archived from the original on 2008-05-01. Retrieved 2008-05-02.
- Extensive list of Pinku Eiga films
- KamuiX. "The World of Pinky Violence: An Intro". infini-tropolis.com. Retrieved 2010-02-22.
{{cite web}}
: External link in
(help)|publisher=
- Fan site/blog/clips
- "Screen: Cinéma érotique Japonais" (in French). www.adultuz.com. Retrieved 2007-10-17. (Pink Film Database)
- "Pink Screen: Cinéma érotique Japonais" (in French). pinku.cho-yaba.com. Retrieved 2007-10-17. (Pink Film Database)
- "일본서브컬처탐방 로망포르노 - 제2회 (Japanese Subcultures: Roman Porno - pt.1)" (in Korean). Hankook Ilbo. February 23, 2007. Retrieved 2009-01-16.
- "일본서브컬처탐방 로망포르노 - 제2회 (Japanese Subcultures: Roman Porno - pt.2)" (in Korean). Hankook Ilbo. March 3, 2007. Retrieved 2009-01-16.
- "로망포르노와 핑크영화 (Roman Porno and Pink films pt.3)" (in Korean). Hankook Ilbo. March 7, 2007. Retrieved 2009-01-16.