Shiro Yumeno Movies
- 1988
This prize-winning pinku-eiga film was cult director Hisayasu Sato's second foray into gay themes, following the previous year's Kamen No Yuwaku, and can be viewed as a somewhat downmarket tribute to Italian filmmaker Pier Paolo Pasolini. The plot concerns the editor of a muscle magazine who falls in love with one of his top models, only to accidentally cut off the young man's arm during a heavy-duty session of sadomasochistic sex play. Horrified at what he has done, the editor is sent to prison and a grim, self-loathing future. The editor worships Pasolini's films, and while he is in jail, the classic Salo: The 120 days of Sodom is released. The opportunity to someday see the film gives the convicted criminal the strength and hope to persevere. Somewhat contrived and slow-moving, the film nevertheless has some evocative moments. But Nuovo Cinema Paradiso it isn't. ~ Robert Firsching, Rovi
- Starring:
- Takeshi Ito, Simonn Kumai, (more)
- 2005
- Add Rampo Noir: Mar's Canal/Mirror Hell/Caterpillar/Crawling Bugs to Queue Add Rampo Noir: Mar's Canal/Mirror Hell/Caterpillar/Crawling Bugs to top of Queue
Directors Suguru Takeuchi, Akio Jissoji, Hisayasu Sato, and Atsushi Kaneko team to adapt four stories by acclaimed early-20th Century Japanese mystery novelist Taro Hirai, who penned his suspenseful tales under the telling pseudonym Edogawa Ranpo. Maverick Japanese indie star Tadanoby Asano stars in all four segments of the macabre omnibus. Takeuchi's "Mars' Canal," sets things into motion as a naked man (Asano) wandering through a desolate alien landscape recounts a sexual encounter that quickly took a violent turn. The second segment, directed by Jissoji and entitled "Mirror Hell," finds detective Kogoro Akechi (Asano) investigating the mysterious deaths of two young women. Upon discovering that mirrors crafted by malevolently handsome stationary shop master Toru Itsuki (Hiroki Narimiya) and that the mirror-maker knew both of the victims intimately, the investigation takes an unsettling turn that leads the detective to believe the occult may be involved. Director Sato's "Caterpillar," which comprises the third segment of the film, follows a quadruple amputee war veteran (Nao Omori) who returns from the battlefield only to face sadistic abuse at the hands of his nubile but resentful wife (Yukiko Okamoto). As a local artist (Ryuhei Matsuda) begins to take a morbid interest in the couple's twisted relationship, Detective Akechi (Asano) does his best to crack the strange case. Kaneko's "Crawling Bugs" rounds out the frightful quartet of tales by detailing the psychotic coupling between a well-known actress (Tamaki Ogawa) and her introverted driver (Asano), who longs to satisfy the sultry starlet in the same manner as her rough-handed lover (again Asano). ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi
- Starring:
- Tadanobu Asano, Mirai Moriyama, (more)
- 1988
An investigative reporter looking to pen a feature exploring the phenomenal popularity of Japanese telephone sex clubs finds that his story may have gotten bigger than he ever anticipated when his contact in the underground becomes involved in a sexually-charged murder. Nakuda has a special knack for breaking the biggest stories around, and when he catches wind of the telephone sex clubs that have been thriving in Japan, his editor puts him into contact with sex club employee Midori in hopes that she may be able to provide the reporter with a headline-grabbing scoop. When a brutal murder is committed and Midori is discovered at the scene of the crime, however, Nakuda slowly begins to uncover a dark world of bondage and sadistic sex. As his investigation continues to lead Nakuda down a frightening path in which the darkest desires of man are frighteningly realized in the flesh, the fearless reporter's soon finds that he may not live long enough to break the sordid story. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi
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