The National Film Theatre is currently running a series labelled 'Wild Japan: Outlaw Masters of Japanese Film' featuring a range of cult items from the 60s and 70s that prior to DVD have remained virtually unknown on these shores and which have never previously received theatrical showings. I have booked for four of the series (I could easily have opted for more if I could have faced traipsing to and from the South Bank with more frequency) and the above film is the first of those that I will be covering over the coming weeks.
This one is in fact the second of four movies in the Female Convict Scorpion series based on an adult 'women in prison' manga of the time. While I have not seen the first, this entry stands on its own feet and was spectacularly true to its comic book roots. Our heroine, who was originally innocent when sent down, has been abused by the guards and warden of the prison where she has been kept in isolation underground. Her quest is revenge and after a gang bang rape scene staged by the wicked warden, she escapes with six other prisoners. The balance of the movie follows them as they plough through the surreal countryside, revealing their various crimes (all of which were engendered by men) and their attempt to stay free, without any inter-prisoner loyalty, against impossible odds. The movie is exceptionally violent as men are made to suffer for their sins or indeed for just being men, but it is filmed with an impossible beauty and dreamy quality which is at times at odds with the sordid subject matter. Our heroine Matsu, also called Scorpion, was played by Meiko Kaji in all four films; she is forceful and determined, but hard to read, and in the entire movie she had but two short lines of dialogue.
If the remaining three films succeed in sharing this one's energy and passion, I am in for a very rare treat.
1 comment:
I will have to write this one down and see if i can find it...Hope you have a great day! TerryAnn
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