Sion Sono’s adventure re-visits the world of the Roman (softcore) Porno yielding a film that’s anything but sexually gratifying: Is Kyoko a viciously cruel, artistic, sexual force . . . or a defeated pawn in the strict hierarchy of cultural norms and masochism that surrounds her? Kyoko’s oscillating meta-identities pointedly critique the genre and leave the viewer with plenty of questions about the nature of sexuality in and on film in Japan. Adult. In Japanese with English subtitles.
Appears in: Japanese Currents
Genres: Drama
Other Films by Sion Sono
Love & Peace
Sono, always pushing boundaries and constantly surprising even his most frothy fans, finished and released five (!) feature films in 2015—and certainly the zaniest and most maximal is the nerd-turned-rock-superstar, cult-of-celebrity skewering tale of Love & Peace. Hiroki Hasegawa (Shin Godzilla) plays Kyo, an endearingly meek pencil-pusher at a faceless corporate job, constantly bullied by …
The Whispering Star
While there have been a number of films produced in Japan as a response the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster of March 2011, few are as beguiling, mysterious, and radiantly shimmering as The Whispering Star. Taking a unique approach to the sci-fi space-travel genre, the film follows Yoko (regular collaborator Megumi Kagurazaka), a package-delivery android whose …