Ero-Nites
Onna jigoku uta: Shakuhachi benten
Dir. Watanabe Mamoru
Japan 1970, 76’
Subtitles: Polish & English
The roaming outlaw Okayo, also known as Benten due to the prominent tattoo of the Buddhist Goddess of Love emblazoned across her back. On the run from her persecutors, who seek to claim the tattoo and its skin canvas as a bounty, Okayo finds a safe haven in the arms of the mysterious shakuhachi (bamboo flute) playing Seigaku, himself tattooed with the image of Kisshoten, the Goddess of Prosperity.
Watanabe Mamoru
Born in Tokyo on 13 March 1931, Watanabe Mamoru belongs to the first wave of directors, alongside Wakamatsu Kōji, Yamamoto Shinya and Mukai Kan, to make their names as auteurs in the early pink genre. The son of a neighbourhood cinema owner, his love of cinema was nurtured at an early stage. After dropping out of Waseda University, he started working as an actor, screenwriter, and assistant director for television before making his pink film debut with Hussy (1965). Of the over 200 pink films he directed, the earliest surviving title is Slave Widow (1967), which was released in North America in the late-60s and provided an early role for the future star of Nikkatsu’s erotic Roman Porno line Tani Naomi. While he did make a small handful of more mainstream commercial features, including Crimson Lotus Blossom (1993), featuring Kōji Yakusho , Watanabe never really achieved much notice outside of his work in erotic cinema. He made his final pink film, Parting Present, in 2008, and passed away of cancer, aged 82, on 24 December 2013, during pre-production for Treasure Ship: Latitudes of Lust (2014). This final film was completed by Ikawa Kōichirō, the director of the exhaustive 10-part documentary on his life and work, Watanabe Mamoru: An Autobiographical Documentary (Watanabe Mamoru: Jidenteki dokyumentarii).
Filmography
1965 Abazure
1969 Tsubo arasoi
1972 Shoya nikki
2004 Tokyo Desire
Cast & Crew
Director: Watanabe Mamoru
Screenplay: Yamatoya Atsushi
Cinematography: Ikeda Seiji
Editing: Miyata Fumio
Music: Hayashi Ikutarō
Cast: Katori Tamaki, Tatsumi Noriko, Aoyama Rima, Kokubu Jirō, Hino Shinji, Nogami Masayoshi, Mutō Shūsaku, Yoshida Jun
Production: Kanto Eihai
Language: Japanese
Colouration: Black and White
