Erogotoshi-tachi yori: Jinruigaku nyûmon (1966)

User Rating:

7.7/10   

Director:

Shohei Imamura

Writers:

Shohei Imamura (writer)
Akiyuki Nosaka (novel)

Release Date:

August 1966 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy | Drama

Plot:

Mr. Ogata lives a complicated life: he's is a pornographer making two skin flicks per day and trying...

Plot Keywords:

Barbershop | Carp | 1960s | 8mm | Fishbowl

Awards:

3 wins

Cast

Shoichi Ozawa	...	Yoshimoto 'Sub' Ogata
Sumiko Sakamoto	...	Haru Masuda
Masaomi Kondo	...	Koichi
Keiko Sagawa	...	Keiko
Ganjiro Nakamura	...	Elderly Client
Chocho Miyako
Haruo Tanaka
Shinichi Nakano
Kô Nishimura
Ichirô Sugai

Also Known As:

The Amorists (USA)
The Pornographer (UK)
The Pornographers (USA) (reissue title)
The Pornographers: Introduction to Anthropology (USA) (complete title)

Runtime:

128 min | USA:120 min

Country:

Japan

Language:

Japanese

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Canada:G (Québec)

Company:

Imamura Productions

Trivia:

An English-subtitled print included among the opening credits the phrase, approximately, "presented by Phyllis and Eberhardt Kronhausen"--the well-known sexologists.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in The Killing Floor (2007)

Completely innovative

Saw this film in a wonderful class on Japanese new wave cinema (thanks, Jyotsna). Along with Imamura's "Ballad of Narayama," some of the finest Japanese work I've seen. This film is brilliant in its portrayal of modern voyeurism and its psychological implications. Beyond that though, it stands out as a film preparing us for things to come in the cinema of the 90's. It took pt Anderson's "magnolia" to finally bring full circle some of the innovative qualities of this truly amazing film. Note the merging of the wonderful score and the main character's consciousness at the end of the film. Shocking, sad, and beautiful.