Sasayaki (1999) Gekkô no sasayaki (original title)

Director:

Akihiko Shiota

Writers:

Masahiko Kikuni (comic)
Yôichi Nishiyama (writer)
(more)

Release Date:

23 December 2000 (Hong Kong)

Genre:

Drama | Romance

Tagline:

Takuya wants to be Satsuki's dog. Satsuki likes to see Takuya cry. Love hurts.

Plot:

Two seemingly innocent school kids are obsessed in fetishistic s&m games.

Plot Keywords:

Love | School | S&M | Revenge | Sex

Awards:

6 wins & 1 nomination

Cast

Kenji Mizuhashi	...	Takuya Hidaka
Tsugumi	...	Satsuki Kitahara
Kouta Kusano	...	Tadashi Uematsu
Harumi Inoue	...	Shizuka Kitahara
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Shino Aizawa
Chika Fujimura	...	Satsuki's Friend
Ako Kawakami
Kei Marimura
Yoshiki Sekino	...	Maruken
Kiriko Shimizu
Sachiko Shinozaki
Hideaki Yamaura

Directed by
Akihiko Shiota

Writing credits (in alphabetical order)
Masahiko Kikuni		comic
Yôichi Nishiyama		writer
Akihiko Shiota		writer

Produced by
Masaya Nakamura	....	executive producer
Hiroyuki Negishi	....	producer
Nobutsugu Tsubomi	....	executive producer
Toshihiro Ôsato	....	line producer

Original Music by
Shinsuke Honda

Cinematography by
Shigeru Komatsubara

Film Editing by
Yoshio Sugano

Production Design by
Norifumi Ataka

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Tomohiro Kubo	....	assistant director

Sound Department
Kenji Sakagami	....	sound engineer

Camera and Electrical Department
Ryuichi Ishimaru	....	lighting technician

Production Companies

• Nikkatsu

Distributors

• Bitters End (1999) (Japan) (theatrical)
• Tidepoint Pictures (2000) (USA) (theatrical)
• Viz Films (2000) (USA) (theatrical)
• Kino Video (2003) (USA) (DVD)

Also Known As:

"Gekkô no sasayaki" - Japan (original title)
"Moonlight Whispers" - Canada (English title)

MPAA:

Rated R for aberrant sexual behavior

Runtime:

100 min

Country:

Japan

Language:

Japanese

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Certification:

South Korea:18 | Hong Kong:III | Japan:R-15 | Singapore:R(A) | USA:R

Company:

Nikkatsu

Wonderful Coming of Age story

Well, I just saw my first Japanese film [Sasayaki (2000) USA] that showed Japan just as I viewed it last year - the landscape, the city, country, rice patties, trains, canned soda dispeners and the natural hot spa. In essence, a motion visual that in one or more of the 1200 digital images that I captured, had an equivalent that my eye saw as meaningful to my CY2000 trip. I even went to a local high school and took pictures of a martial arts training of local youth in southern Japan.

The only thing missing from my trip was the basic content of this film - its story.

This is a coming of age story with a tinge of Japanese politeness and tradition in social introduction, just skewed by a few years in time backwards to the American experience - perhaps into the 60's when sex during high school was the daring thing to do and then talk or brag about.

As a coming of age story, the script and acting maintains a balance of innocence and exploration as the theme dances around sadomasochism in an increasing eddy that entraps the next experience.

The beauty of this film is its innocence and its honesty in portraying the boundaries of sexual experience and an obsession that can bind innocence into something more permanent outside of those first sexual experiences and beginnings.

It is not a fearful film to watch, but simply a difficult film to describe without creating fear in its next, potential viewer. As the film ends, there is still an essence of innocence and beauty and love between the boy and girl.