Pink Films Vol 1 & 2

Directed by MASAO ADACHI ATSUSHI YAMATOYA

Starring AKI SASAKI MIKI WATARI MAKIKO KIM

1967, 1978

Released 16 MARCH

Blu-ray

This Blu-ray twofer set contains a pair of mid-century features from Japan: by Masao Adachi; and 1967’s by Atsushi Yamatoya. Were you to imagine the content of these films based on their titles alone, you’d possibly only be half correct. Yes, they do each contain a surfeit of female nudity, and both depict sexual situations which would be tough to describe as conventional. Yet they are in no way erotic or comedic or kitsch or anything else you might associate with so-called “softcore” exploitation movies from the West. Both films harbour pointed, serious concerns about the world, and feel that the best way to go about delivering their message is through punishing sequences of bleak, often forced intercourse backed with clanging, atonal noise on the soundtrack. is like the ultimate downer, proto-goth teen movie, in which two guys and two gals, kitted out in skinny jumpers and bell-bottoms, ward off a state of nihilistic despair by forcing one of their party to sell her body. Because of their advanced feelings of political alienation, they are entirely numbed to the possibilities of pleasure and, of course, yearn for the sweet release of death. Fun times.