The Pornographers

Bomb Rating: 

I guess it just goes to show that the more a society represses its primal urges, the more screwed up it is in its private moments.

This 1966 Japanese film is just downright freaky. I know I've taken it to the British on numerous occasions, but if this film in any way mirrors any sort of reality in Japan, then that is one place I'm just never going. Apparently, the whole country is like those strange neighbors you have who seem quiet and proper and then one day the police bust down their front door and discover body pieces everywhere.

Let me see if I can explain any of this. The movie follows this guy named Subu who makes pornographic movies (and don't get all excited because not only is there no nudity, save for a brief scene unrelated to the porn, but virtually everything having to do with the porn is related second-hand). It's not really the porn films that are whacked -- it's Subu's living situation.

Subu uses the money he makes to help out his landlady. Sometimes they sleep together. However, his landlady seems really disturbed by this carp that she keeps because she says it contains the soul of her dead husband. This doesn't stop her from giving her own son hand jobs or from practically selling her 15-year-old daughter to Subu. For his part, Subu appears more than happy to take the daughter since he's got an incredible, sick amount of pent up lust for her. As far as I can tell, whatever sick stuff you may have heard about the Japanese is chronicled in this film. Foot fetishes, panty sniffing -- you name it and it's probably in "The Pornographers." I guess it just goes to show that the more a society represses its primal urges, the more screwed up it is in its private moments.

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