As part of a limited revival marking its 45th anniversary, Nikkatsu commissioned five movies to be made as part of the Roman Porno Reboot Project, following the same traditional concept as the 70s/80s series.
These include (ranked from best to worst):
Anti-Porno (2016) Aroused by Gymnopedies (2016) Wet Woman in the Wind (2016) White Lily (2016) Dawn of the Felines (2017)
Director Sion Sono has crafted a wonderfully artistic, colourful, and fourth-wall-breaking movie. On the surface, there is a lot of sex, nudity, and lush colours on display. But Anti-Porno is so much more than that (and no, it's not even remotely porn-ish).
If you dive a bit deeper, there's a great deal of symbolism and social commentaries to unravel. And I'll admit to not understanding everything, as I suspect much of it is directly related to Japanese culture and society. Is it about feminism, women emancipating themselves from men, questioning the derogative terms "dog" or "whore", empowering themselves in a male-dominated society, or something else? Kyoko's monologue at the beginning, for example, comes so thick and fast that you barely have time to process it all.
Anti-Porno is so crazy and bizarre that it's excited by itself. And that's a good thing. Sion Sono has a unique voice and the movie is visually eye-popping. It may be far too off-kilter for many, but the niche art-house crowd will lap it up.
These include (ranked from best to worst):
Anti-Porno (2016) Aroused by Gymnopedies (2016) Wet Woman in the Wind (2016) White Lily (2016) Dawn of the Felines (2017)
Director Sion Sono has crafted a wonderfully artistic, colourful, and fourth-wall-breaking movie. On the surface, there is a lot of sex, nudity, and lush colours on display. But Anti-Porno is so much more than that (and no, it's not even remotely porn-ish).
If you dive a bit deeper, there's a great deal of symbolism and social commentaries to unravel. And I'll admit to not understanding everything, as I suspect much of it is directly related to Japanese culture and society. Is it about feminism, women emancipating themselves from men, questioning the derogative terms "dog" or "whore", empowering themselves in a male-dominated society, or something else? Kyoko's monologue at the beginning, for example, comes so thick and fast that you barely have time to process it all.
Anti-Porno is so crazy and bizarre that it's excited by itself. And that's a good thing. Sion Sono has a unique voice and the movie is visually eye-popping. It may be far too off-kilter for many, but the niche art-house crowd will lap it up.