Theatrical Poster
Do you love interesting storylines that are basically set-ups for a bunch of steamy (if softcore…) sex and S&M scenes? Do you miss the “golden-age” of Japanese pinku-eiga and wish the newer wave of pinku-styled films were more like the “classics”? Do you dig creative shibari rope-bondage action but also dig a narrative plot? Are you a red-blooded American (or other nationality) guy (or girl) who just likes lookin’ at boobs-bushes-‘n’-butts?
If you answered yes to any of these questions, then Flower and Snake should be right up your alley.
Infamous and prolific pinku and J-horror director Takashi Ishii, best known to genre-fans as the writer/director of such semi-underground pleasers like Freeze Me, the Angel Guts films (though he did not direct all of them), and writer of the original Evil Dead Trap (and others), takes the director’s chair again for this latest update of the film. Flower and Snake (or Hana to Hebi as it’s known in it’s native language) has been made and re-made several times in Japan, though I have to be honest and say that I haven’t seen any of the older versions…yet. What I will say, is that if any of them are as gleefully trashy yet stunningly well-made as this one, I’ll be a happy guy. Based on yet another tale from proficient novelist/screenwriter Oniroku Dan, who has written a veritable library of screenplays for the most notable pinku films, Flower and Snake is one of the best of it’s kind.
Takayoshi Toyama (Hironobu Nomura) is a well-to-do businessman who gets into some serious shit with the local Yakuza clan. As gangsters are prone to do, they jack up his payments to unmanageable heights, and force Takayoshi to sell his wife (played by the super-sexy Aya Sugimoto) and her equally-sexy female manager/bodyguard (Misaki Mori) to them to settle the debt. But Takayoshi’s wife, Shizuko ain’t the average arm-candy – she’s also a famous tango-dancer who has caught the eye of the ancient and decrepit Yakuza boss (Renji Ishibashi) who will only be appeased by witnessing his new acquisition’s suffering.
Once sold into the Yakuza’s “employ”, the women are immediately put through some vigorous (and extremely hot) sexual-torture paces for the enjoyment of an audience of secretive and elite high-rollers, whose tastes range from sexual-perversion to snuff. These torture-bits include a ton of inventive rope-bondage scenes, simulated dildo-face-mask DP rape, forced-water-ingestion (and expulsion), and other fetish-play that is sure to get the blood pumping – that is…uh…if you’re into that sort of thing…
Shizuko proves to be a major draw to both the audience and the other performers, as she is kept on as a member of the “cast” for quite a long time, and is not killed as most of the others are. Eventually, Shizuko’s husband is able to raise the money that could potentially free his wife, but by this point, she is so used and broken, that all she can reply with when her husband comes to pay her a visit, is “Do Me” (which, of course, he does). But the original debt is not paid so easily, and after watching Shizuko through numerous “performances”, the old bastard Yakuza boss eventually decides that he’s finally ready for a little piece himself, if he doesn’t die from a stroke first. All of Shizuko’s trials and tribulations culminate in a final escape attempt that will either free her from the bonds that have held her captive for so long, or will result in her being freed in death…
The very unassumingly titled Flower and Snake (believe me, if based on title alone, I would have let this one pass if it hadn’t have been for Ishii’s involvement, and some good recs from some trustworthy scumbags…) is chock-full of the type of material that fans of sleazy but well-made sexploit cinema won’t wanna miss. Unfortunately, there’s not much in the way of equally erotic, interesting, bizarre, and competently realized works out there currently for those of us who are fans of the more “classic” sexploit films – especially the ones from Japan. Now, I like plotless porn as much as the next guy, but I really do miss the days when there was a bit of a storyline mixed in with the sleaze, and can only hope that we’ll see a return to this sort of material. Several that I’ve spoken to in regards to this film have rightly compare it to Kubrick’s more mainstream vision of voyeurism and perversion, Eyes Wide Shut – personally I found Ishii’s tale more fulfilling on every level. Crisply shot, believably acted, and both insanely arousing and brazenly brutal, Flower and Snake is a sexual-epic that not only pays respects to similar films that came before, it also transcends them with a singularly artful style that can’t be denied, despite the heavily misogynous themes.
The Tokyo Shock release is a well-rounded disc that includes several trailers, a photo gallery, as well as a short but decent interview with Shizuko herself – Aya Sugimoto. Of particular interest to hardcore pinku fans will be a segment of the special-features that shows a screening of the film where several of the cast members are introduced (again, including Ms. Sugimoto), as well as director Takashi Ishii and writer Oniroku Dan. The cast members each gives a short speech that should prove to be a bit of a bonus for nerds like me that like to get all the background information available. Not a huge amount of features, but for a relatively unknown Japanese fetish-film, I was pleasantly surprised.
Though all the sex-action is soft-core (surprisingly, there is a fair amount of full-frontal-nudity being that this is a Japanese production), Flower and Snake is still only recommended to the more “adventurous” viewers. It’s the type of thing that you either dig or you don’t – not a lot of middle-ground with this one. If you’re a fan of somewhat artsy yet thoroughly trashy films, then I believe you’ll be suitably impressed. Others will probably be offended by the rape-fueled plot and overall misogynistic tone. As a huge fan of Japanese exploit/sexploit cinema, I consider Flower and Snake one not to be missed, especially since it can be found relatively easily, which is s blessing, considering many of the more noteworthy films in the genre are either extremely elusive or downright impossible to find. A definite must-see of primo Asian sleaze, and here’s hoping that Ishii’s follow-up, Flower and Snake 2, is nearly as good, I’ll be watching that one tonight – review to cum shortly…
