"The Glamorous Life of Sachiko Hanai" at Pole Pole

Mark Mays tetsuwan
Sun Dec 4 14:03:14 EST 2005


----- Original Message ----- 
From: "M Arnold" <ma_iku at hotmail.com>
To: <KineJapan at lists.acs.ohio-state.edu>
Sent: Sunday, December 04, 2005 11:39 AM
Subject: "The Glamorous Life of Sachiko Hanai" at Pole Pole


> Tonight I caught a screening of Meike's "The Glamorous Life of Sachiko
> Hanai" at Pole Pole in Higashi Nakano. It was certainly one of the more
> interesting pink films I've seen recently. I loved all the special effects
> and dumb political jokes (I never realized that the G in G-spot stands for
> George). All in all it was worth the ticket.
>
> I did think the movie lost its rhythm when it struggled through a few
> needless sex scenes and overlong sequences in the second half though.

would it be pink without needless sex scenes?

>
> While watching the movie, I thought back to a question I was asked at the
> party following last week's "Shinjuku Fest 2005" Wakamatsu Koji event
(more
> on that later). In the middle of a conversation that stretched from the
> "koroshiya" movie boom surrounding Suzuki's masterpiece in the late 60s to
> the etymology of different local Japanese slang words for the female
> anatomy, Japan's self-proclaimed biggest movie otaku (yes, that one) asked
> me why foreign film fans and researchers (don't worry, I won't name names)
> are always so interested in the Japanese pink movie genre. Most are trash,
> he said. Only a small minority are politically or artistically engaging.
Of
> course he was right, but I wasn't sure how to answer, and I ended up
> stalling until the next round arrived and the subject changed. Next time I
> meet him, what should I say?

It's a question I"ve often asked, though to no one in particular . . . or at
least the related question of why are foreign film/critics fans interested
in the genre films or "grindhouse" cinema. I don't think we have to think
too hard to answer the otaku's question. Is there any reason to deny the
obvious? It may be tougher to answer why "we" are so interested in the genre
 films and directors (meaning the very violent/sexualized pulp entertainment
of recent years and the directors of those films who have developed cult
followings here), and if your desire is to not make us look like complete
clods, maybe you want to steer him in the direction of this discussion.


>
> FYI, I missed opening night but here's a report on "Sachiko" from Cinema
> Topics Online (see the George Bush dummy in the second photo):
>
> http://www.cinematopics.com/cinema/c_report/index3.php?number=1710
>
> Here are the addresses for the reviews that were mentioned last week:
>
> Aaron Gerow:
http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/dy/features/arts/20051201TDY17004.htm
> Mark Schilling:
> http://www.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/getarticle.pl5?ff20051202a2.htm
> Rob Schwartz: http://metropolis.japantoday.com/tokyo/recent/movies.asp (in
a
> column on the lower left side of the page)
> Jasper Sharp:
> http://www.midnighteye.com/reviews/round-up_006.shtml#horny-home-tutor
>
> Michael Arnold





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