Bishimai nikudorei (1986)

... aka: 美姉妹肉奴隷

... aka: Beautiful Sisters: Flesh Slaves

Directed by:

Katsuhiko Fujii

Was there a Japanese movie from the 70s or 80s that didn't paint sex in nasty, negative light? Now it may be because I watch so many horror and suspense movies, but the vast majority of Japanese erotic films I've seen from this era focus specifically on the darker sides of sex and relationships. Perhaps it's a cultural thing; a primal scream from more open-minded individuals trapped in a somewhat sexually conservative environment. In a way, it's actually refreshing. A lot of sex films tend to be ridiculous and unrealistic; the best way to ruin a fantasy is to introduce some reality into the equation, eh? Female critics have often pointed out that "sexually liberated" women depicted in more "sex positive" erotica are anything but. They aren't liberated so much as they're just not very discerning about who they'll have sex with. That's because men made the vast majority of these films and that's probably how many would prefer it. They'd love for every beautiful young woman to happily give themselves freely to any and every sod who shows them the least bit of interest.

What stands out about many of these darker Japanese movies is the melancholy undercurrent running through them. The characters usually want healthy sex lives, and love, but somehow society seems to always prevent it. The air of shame and repression is often heavy, with characters in such need of release that the men are reduced to sexually ravenous "beasts" who take what they want and the women have to try to avoid them, accept them or even, as is the case with one character here, somehow learn to enjoy it.

Films like this are often written off as sexist fantasies, but it should also be pointed out that the men are consistently portrayed as complete scumbags while the women are usually shown in a much more sympathetic light as victims of the uncontrollable male libido. It should also be noted that the men almost always doom themselves with their terrible behavior while the women are usually able to turn the tables, get revenge, evolve and move into a dominant position by the end. To some viewers, that may not justify watching over an hour of them being roughed up and sexually assaulted to get to that point. Trust me, I completely understand!

Reiko Yumioka (Rei Akasaka) has recently graduated from dentistry school and just moved into a new highrise office space with enough room for both her clinic and a small apartment. She's hired her younger sister Kyôko (Megumi Kiyosato) to work as the receptionist. The two women just finish up with a female client when a man - Ryôhei Taki (Isao Nonaka) - shows up claiming to have a toothache. With just the two ladies and him in the office / apartment, he pulls out a knife and makes the two women lock the door and put a closed sign out front. He then drags them back to a bedroom and demands "Strip!"

When Kyôko refuses and tries to run out, he slices her arm, rips her clothes off and then rubs his blade all over her breasts and crotch, scaring the girl so bad she urinates herself. Big sis offers up her own body in exchange for sparing her sister. Kyôko makes it to the bathroom and locks herself inside as the intruder has her sister strip and lie down on the bed. He feels her up and sticks his finger in her mouth, questioning why she isn't aroused (gee I wonder) and then demands she make him some instant ramen.

Before all is said and done, both of the sisters are raped and beaten multiple times. At first terrified, the more reserved and inexperienced Kyôko starts suffering from Stockholm Syndrome and begins craving sex from her attacker. Like a beaten dog, the shittier he treats her, the more she comes crawling back, craving what he has to offer. She also turns against her sister and becomes jealous whenever he decides to rape her instead! Things are much more complicated for Reiko, however. For starters, she's not into men and has a female lover, Mari Tazaki (Kiriko Shimizu) she regularly sees but hasn't yet committed to.

Making Reiko the centerpiece of the film is what ends up lifting this somewhat above the norm. She's having a hard time getting her business going and one gets the impression that has a lot to do with her being a woman. Her former professor, Yoshiaki Masaki (Kazuyuki Senba), is willing to help her financially stay afloat while she's building her practice, but only if she'll have sex with him once a week to "earn" the money. The fact Reiko is a lesbian is yet another tool used by men to try to keep her in her place. Taki even handpicked her establishment specifically because he found out she was a lesbian; assuming she wouldn't go to the police because he could out her and ruin her business / future. He constantly makes digs at her about her sexuality, claiming "I can't trust a lesbian!" and threatening "I'd enjoy killing a lesbian like you!" and even gets her own sister to start mocking her for being a "pervert" and making ridiculous declarations like "I want to be loved by a man!" to make it clear she isn't anything like her sister.

The sad part of the story is that it doesn't even matter that Reiko is a capable, educated, hard-working career woman who simply wants to make a good life for herself and her sister. She's still forced to debase herself and compromise both her pride and her sexuality to make it in a man's world, as well as deal with the constant threat of being ostracized by society if her secret gets out. That leaves the door wide open for an sleazy opportunist, sex predator and criminal (who's revealed to be on the lam for stealing money from his prior job) to exploit her.

What usually holds movies like this back somewhat is the fact it IS a sex film first and foremost and that's the primary objective. It's almost non-stop sex and rape from beginning to end. Nearly all of the uncomfortable encounters start out forcefully or under coercion, but then the women appear to eventually "get into it" and start acting like they're enjoying it. While that completely fits the Kyôko character, it's somewhat of a betrayal when it comes to Reiko, though the fact she's willing to engage in the first place does make sense. Interestingly, the only sex act with fully consenting partners found in the entire film is the brief girl-girl scene between Reiko and her lover at the very beginning. The resolution to the story is interesting and somewhat amusing.

The people who made this could have been content filming "The Erotic Adventures of a Hot Female Dentist and Her Sexy Sister" and had two "sexually liberated" women happily entertaining clientele and be done with it, but they didn't, and I respect that even if the results are mixed. At least they were shooting for something more.

This is part of a loose "Beautiful Sisters" series, though the entries have nothing to do with one another story-wise. Others are Beautiful Sisters: Seduced! (1982), Beautiful Sisters: Strip! (1985; also featuring Akasaka) and Beautiful Sisters: Panting! (1987; also featuring Kiyosato). The director had a long and prolific pink movie career stretching back to the early 70s and includes over 50 titles, so I'm probably not done with him just yet.

★★1/2

Portrait of a Matador (1958) [short]

Directed by:

(Theodore) Zichy

Just wrapped up the first half of BFI's inaugural "Short Sharp Shocks" collection and, unfortunately, the first disc has proven to be something of a dud. None of the five shorts deserve above a 2 star / average rating, so here's hoping there's a gem or two to be found on disc #2. The first three shorts are simple storytelling vehicles, with one person addressing the camera to speak directly to the audience. Lock Your Door and The Reformation of St. Jules (1949) feature writer Algernon Blackwood reciting his own stories. THE TELL-TALE HEART (1953) has Stanley Baker giving a dramatic, word-for-word reading of Edgar Allan Poe's titular story, which at least features a little cinematic quality in the set design and photography.

After those is the 18-minute-long Death Was a Passenger (1958) from director Theodore Zichy. Set in WWII-era France, this mild suspense piece features a unnamed British man (Terence Alexander) boarding a train from France to Spain. He unsuccessfully attempts to pass himself off as French with a beret and bad accent, but it's obvious to all of those traveling in the same car that he's not who he claims to be. The man is actually a British pilot who was shot down, but survived, and is now attempting to flee Nazi-occupied France for Spain. Among those on his car are a Mother Superior (Harriette Johns) and a beautiful and shy-acting novice nun (Marigold Russell), who both figure into a twist at the end. While this was OK and perhaps the best this first disc has to offer, it's also not even remotely in the horror genre, so I won't be reviewing it here.

The fifth and final short - Portrait of a Matador - is from the same director and team of filmmakers as Passenger, and actually does qualify for a review. Sadly, it also sucks bull testicles and I'd probably prefer writing a bit more about Passenger than this, but that's how it goes sometimes.

In London, painter David Crane (Anthony Tancred) has been chain smoking and staring at the same unwrapped portrait for three straight days, almost as if it has somehow hypnotized him. David's concerned friend, Ian Butler (Dermot Palmer), calls a doctor (Ralph Tovey) over to help, and then recounts the history of the portrait.

A year earlier in Seville, Spain, David and Ian became acquainted with beautiful blonde Carmencita Manrique (Sandra Dorne) and handsome bullfighter Manuel Suarez (David Ritch). While they're both nice to look at, the pair otherwise leave a lot to be desired. She's descended from aristocracy, attracted only to winners and uses her feminine charms to always get her way. She also has something of a cruel streak: Once you're no longer on top, she's no longer interested. The extremely arrogant Manuel is one big ball of seething anger who self-identifies as "the greatest bullfighter of them all" and claims that he wouldn't hesitate to kill a human enemy if only he could get away with it. David manages to ruffle his already fragile feathers by openly discussing his dislike for the sport ("Slaughter doesn't appeal to me as a spectacle... I have a morbid distaste for violent death!").

Carmencita somehow manages to talk Manuel into letting David move into his family's villa, where he meets and becomes fond of Manuel's sister, Maria (Yvonne "Warren" / Romain), who is kind, polite and nothing at all like her sibling. Carmencita then suggests David paint a portrait of Manuel; one showing who he truly is on the inside, which obviously turns out to be a big mistake since Manuel's a dickhead. The resulting portrait greatly offends the bullfighter to the point where he almost stabs David through the neck with his sword. Later that day, Manuel is critically injured in a bullfight. On his deathbed, he places a curse on the artist. A year later, David (who has since returned to London) receives a surprise package in the mail. It's the portrait of the now-deceased matador, which seems to have placed a strange, possibly supernatural, hold over him...

The only thing shocking about this bland 23-minute short is the atrocious (though admittedly pretty funny) overacting from much of the cast. It's no wonder most of these folks didn't move on to much else of note, with the two females being exceptions. Dorne was already established prior to appearing in this (hence why she was given above the title billing) and would go on to a number of other roles, notably (at least per the contents of this blog) ALIAS JOHN PRESTON (1955), The House in Marsh Road (1960) and Devil Doll (1964), which featured Romain as well. Romain can also be seen in CORRIDORS OF BLOOD (1958), CIRCUS OF HORRORS (1960) and the Hammer films The Curse of the Werewolf (1961) and NIGHT CREATURES aka Captain Clegg (1962).

The director was the son of a wealthy Hungarian count and, at one point, had his own namesake production company. He also worked as a race car driver, ferry pilot and foot fetish photographer (!) but failed at igniting either an acting or a filmmaking career, despite attempts at both. The two shorts in this collection certainly give us a good indicator as to why.

Disc 2 opens with Twenty-Nine (1969), a non-horror title, and THE SEX VICTIMS (1973), a mild, cheap and poorly-made ghost / revenge story with lots of nudity.

★1/2