If you're ever teetering on the brink... If you've come to what seems like a dead end and suicide is looking sweet... If you truly believe that you have nothing to live for... at least live for this...
This amazing Japanese poster for Newlywed Hell (Nizuma jigoku; '75) is truly one of the most beautiful I have ever seen.
It evokes a world, a feeling, a milieu, that fills me with wonder and optimism.
The Japanese maiden is a true beauty, of course, so there's no mystery as to why she plays a major role in the transporting process of this image... but it is the graphic addition of her in the boat that sends my senses into hyperdrive..
Why? I'm not so sure. But I do love lakes and rivers and islands and small, human-powered watercraft.
Place a partially bound beauty in one of these and you have erotic nirvana.
Released in 1975 by Nikkatsu (of course!), the film, which is a little too protracted for my tastes, stars Naomi Tani as a young wife who leaves her husband and travels to the town where she was born. There, she is educated in the ways of the rope by an eager miscreant (several actually), and begins a relationship with a gentleman who is already spoken for. Despite the off-kilter pacing, it's a rich erotic treat. And...there is a river, and a boat, and the film is very nicely shot.
Based on a story by Oniroku Dan, whose work is always S/M-oriented but not (usually) story-focused, it is a step up on previous works based on his novels. Director Akira Kato built a substantial filmography with Nikkatsu and demonstrates a deft hand with the erotics.
Unfortunately, the Geneon disk does not use this artwork and has no English subtitles, but the quality of the film transfer is above par.
