Pinku Eiga

[Roland Domenig]

Jonathan asked:
 
>And now for another question.  What exactly is the difference between Pinku
>eiga and Nikku Roman Porno? Is it merely a difference in explicitness or is
>there something more?  Are there any good books on the subject?

Aaron answered:

> There are several ways of looking at this, but strictly speaking, "pinku
> eiga" has become the generic term for adult films (though the term
> originated around 1963 long after Eirin created its "adult film"
> designation, but just at the time when pink film production boomed),
> while Nikkatsu Roman Poruno is a brand name for a production series put
> out by the Nikkatsu studio starting in 1971.  Roman Poruno can be
> considered a sub-genre of pink cinema, though I always remind people to
> make clear distinctions between Nikkatsu's production and those of other
> producers before and after it.  Nothing not produced by Nikkatsu should
> properly be called Roman Poruno.
> 
As Aaron correctly pointed out is Roman Poruno a brand name of Nikkatsu
and should be applied only to particular films of Nikkatsu. 
However,I do not agree with Aaron that pink eiga is just a generic term
for adult films, because in Japan the concept of adult film (seijin
eiga) is a much broader one and doesn't include only pink eiga. Seijin
eiga (adult film) is a term the Eirin Commission uses to classify films
which must not be shown to minors under 18 years of age. Although pink
eiga fall into this category, but so do other films as well that the
Eirin Commission - for whatever reason - consider unsuited for minors.
Some of them have no connection with Sex at all.

For me there are several criteria to identify pink eiga and to
distinguish them from Roman Porno. 
(1) Concerning the content of the films I see no big difference between
pink eiga and Roman Porno - in both cases Sex play a dominant role. Not
in all cases, however, is Sex the only important theme. Especially in
the early years of pink eiga there was a wide variety of themes - in
some, e.g. the films of Yamatoya Atsushi, Sex plays a rather minor role.
By the early 70's when Nikkatsu started its Roman Porno production the
depiction of sexuality in cinema was more accepted and despite the Roman
Porno process less a problem than in the early 60's when the first pink
eiga were produced.
(2) pink eiga were produced by small independent production companies
and not by the big studios that at the time still dominated the Japanese
cinema. In the early 60's independent production companies mushroomed
and the sexploitation film production soon outgrew the number of the
feature films of the major studios. Nikkatsu on the other hand was one
of these major studios - it was in fact the oldest studio in Japan. Due
to financial difficulties Nikkatsu was forced to switch its
production-line to Roman Porno. 
(3) The production costs were nevertheless lower than the costs for
other films. Compared to pink eiga, however, the budgets for Roman
Pornos was still quite high. An average pink eiga costed (and still
costs) about 3 Million Yen and they were also called "sanbyakuman eiga"
(3 Million films). The budget of a Roman Porno was 2-3 times higher than
that of a pink eiga. 
(4) Since pink eiga were made by small and independent
production-companies on a very low budget the technical standard was
rather low as was the number of the production staff that often lacked
experience in film-making. They couldn't afford to use expensive
equipement or sets. Nikkatsu on the other hand still had their studios
and a trained and highly professional personal that could be utilized.
The technical standard of Roman Pornos was therefore generally higher
than that of pink eiga.  
(5) Nikkatsu also owned cinemas all over Japan and had a distribution
network at its disposal which enabled a nation-wide distribution. The
distribution of pink eiga was more complicated. In the late 60's two
distribution sytems were created that are still in operation today. Pink
eiga were and are shown mainly in small cinemas?on a contact base. 
(6) Finally Roman Porno and pink eiga differ in their formats. While
pink eiga since the 1970's usually have a length of 60 minutes, the
lenghth of a Roman Porno is something between 75 and 90 minutes. 

As Stephen pointed out today the term pink eiga also implies a short
shooting period of only a few days. I remember how surprised I was when
I was once invited to a preview screening of a film by Sato Toshiki just
one week after he started shooting the film. I think that today the
films distributed by Shintoho, Okura or ENK are most likely to be
associated with the term pink eiga, while others that are distributed by
other companies like Kerkhof's Shabondama Elegy (I haven't seen it yet)
are not, although there may be no big difference. 

Sorry for getting this lenghthy,

Roland Domenig