Ecstasy & Desire – In the Realm of Roman Porno
In 1971, the Japanese film company Nikkatsu launched its Roman Porno series. Until 1988, the studio released over a thousand such high-gloss sexploitation flicks. What set Roman Porno apart from the typical pink film was that the films had the resources of a major studio behind them. Bigger budgets and a staff of trained technicians brought a slicker stylistic sheen to the screen, the films shot in full widescreen and sensuous color. Nikkatsu also cherry-picked the best-looking starlets from its lower-budget rivals, and brought a new wave of younger directors such as Tatsumi KUMASHIRO and Noboru TANAKA to the frontline, whose films would be lauded by critics for their visual inventiveness and narrative complexity. (Jasper Sharp)
NIPPON RETRO presents nine films by those two directors. On May 26, at 3 p.m., Jasper Sharp will give a lecture on “Nikkatsu Roman Porno and Japanese Erotic Cinema”.
In cooperation with the Japan Foundation Tokyo and Japanisches Kulturinstitut Köln