The Naked Seven 40 Years On

I wasn't quite old enough to see Sengoku Rokku Nayate no Onnatachi (aka The Naked Seven) when it first came out towards the end of 1972.  They weren't much on checking IDs back in those days but it wouldn't have mattered because the film didn't make it to arthouse theaters in the US until later.

Sengoku Rokku Nayate no Onnatachi, Nikkatsu, 1972

I can't remember the year I saw it but I think I read somewhere that it arrived on US shores maybe around 1974 (don't quote me on that). I know where I was living at the time but I don't remember the name of the theater. I just know that I saw the ad in the paper and figured that, since this was a Japanese adult flick, it just might have some bondage in it.

I was right, but just barely.

Wakamatsu Koji, RIP

Pink film producer and director, Wakamatsu Koji, died in a Tokyo hospital on Wednesday, Oct. 17 after having been struck by a taxi five days before. He was 76.

Wakamatsu began his work in film in 1963 with Nikkatsu but later went independent, producing and directing his own low-budget films that often mixed sex, violence and politics.

Wakamatsu's filmography is a long one; he directed over 100 films, among them such titles as 100 Years of Torture, A History (1975), Japanese Torture (1978) and Women's Torture Violence (1978).

Women's Torture Violence, 1978, Shintoho

Filming 100 Years of Torture

Wakamatsu had just received the Filmmaker of the Year award at the Busan International Film Festival. The Hollywood Reporter recently conducted an interview with Wakamatsu, possibly his last interview prior to his death.

Wakamatsu Koji: 1936-2012.

Natsuki Yoko Is a Beautiful Target

 I first came across Natsuki Yoko in the 1995 Toei/V-Cinema film XX Beautiful Target (Utsukushiki Hyoteki), one of the best non-SM SM films I think I have ever seen.

Natsuki plays a coroner or a forensic pathologist (or whatever it's called) who is out to capture a deranged, sadistic murderer since the fellow seems to have taken a personal interest in her and the police haven't been successful in rounding him up.

A Man Walks into a Bar, Two Legends Emerge

There's a neat little interview with director Suzuki Norifumi (who apparently has also been credited as Noribumi) on YouTube and it has English subtitles.

Norifumi, according to Wikipedia, is either 78 or 79 years old at the time of this writing. He spent most of his career at Toei and directed a series of popular sukeban (delinquent girl/girl boss) films which starred such actresses as Ike Reiko and Sugimoto Miki.

Takigawa Yumi's Punishment and Punch-Up Flicks

Takigawa Yumi made her motion picture debut in February 1974 with the release of the shocking nun-sploitation film School of the Holy Beast (aka Seiju Gakuen/Convent of the Sacred Beast).

Does the US Gov't Believe in Free Speech?

Man, I hate doing this. I really do.

But in this business, the subject of free speech is a sore one. And I don't want to bury my head in the sand.

Google (owner of YouTube) is a US corporation and presumably influenced predominately by American values. If the situation were different, if Google were a Saudi corporation, based in Saudi Arabia, I would expect it to be influenced by Saudi values. And, I suspect, we'd see quite a different YouTube. Agreed?

In the US, the first amendment to the constitution reads thusly:

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.

If everyone agreed with everything everyone else said, there would be no need for a first amendment. So it stands to reason that this exists to protect, wait for it ... unpopular speech; speech you disagree with; speech you find objectionable; speech you hate.

That speech must be protected or the whole idea of freedom of speech rests on shaky ground indeed.

So, I clicked over to "the video" on YouTube, a video I would not have had any interest in in a million years, if not for the current uproar. I let it play for about 10 seconds. It looks like shit. But hopefully my click will be added to the total number of views. That's all I wanted to accomplish.

The straw that broke the camel's back was the US government's attempt to pressure Google  into removing the video.

Dear Mr. President:

Sorry to bother you. I guess you're kind of busy right now, putting the screws to Google and all. But while we're on the subject, there's this video on YouTube I really, really hate! It makes fun of left-handed people. It really hurts my feelings and makes me feel all uncomfortable and bad inside. I can't sleep. Could you please ask Google to remove that one, too?

What's that? No! No! No! I'm not going to get violent or anything. Not going to shoot anyone, throw any bombs.

Huh? Nothing you can do about it? Well, uh, all right then. Thanks for your time.

Un-freaking-believable.

Stand strong, Google. Give them the big, fat middle finger.

Here's the video. Do as you see fit.

Update: I just realized that article I linked to says in the headline that the White House's ham-handed move drew the ire of "civil libertarians". That's stupid. Aren't we all in favor of civil liberties? Was the wuss who wrote the headline trying to exempt himself?

Will the First SM Pink Film Please Stand Up?

I don't wish to cause any confusion, but I was doing a little research into director Mukai Kan (aka Mukai Hiroshi and even Patrick Kan) and apparently it has been alleged that Mukai's 1967 film, Sexy Partners, was the first pink film to have SM as "its primary theme".

This was found on Wikipedia and the article was quoting the book published by Thomas and Yuko Weisser, Japanese Cinema Encyclopedia: The Sex Films.