The Pornographers (1966)

While avoiding the mob and local authorities, a world-weary pornographer finds being a family man the most difficult as he wrestles with his own desires and afflictions.

Director:

Shôhei Imamura

Writers:

Akiyuki Nosaka (novel), Shôhei Imamura (screenplay)

Stars:

Shôichi Ozawa, Sumiko Sakamoto, Keiko Sagawa

3 wins.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Shôichi Ozawa	...	Ogata(Subu) / Husband
Sumiko Sakamoto	...	Haru / wife
Keiko Sagawa	...	Keiko / Ogata's stepdaughter
Masaomi Kondô	...	Koichi / Ogata's stepson
Haruo Tanaka	...	Banteki / Ogata's assistant
Ganjirô Nakamura	...	Elderly Executive
Chôchô Miyako	...	Brothel Madame
Kô Nishimura	...	Sanada / Detective
Ichirô Sugai	...	Shinun / Ogata's Father
Shinichi Nakano	...	Kabo / Ogata's workmate
Kazuo Kitamura	...	Doctor
Asao Uchida
Taiji Tonoyama
Jun Hamamura
Kin Sugai

Storyline

Mr. Ogata lives a complicated life: he is a pornographer making two skin flicks per day and trying to stay beneath the radar screen of the local mob; he deeply loves his ailing wife Haru who's cursed by the restless spirit of her dead first husband; he also has a mistress, a step-son who wants to go to university, and a step-daughter entering adolescence. He lusts after his step-daughter, and when Haru finds out about those sexual advances, she asks him to marry the girl. Haru even signs over her business to him, and a crisis ensues when Ogata uses her nest egg to buy equipment so he and his pals can set up their own film processing lab. Surreal images and events weave their way into Ogata's life.

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Plot Keywords:

female barber | cuckolded wife | stepfather stepdaughter incest | sex with stepdaughter | stepdaughter seduces stepfather | 

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Genres:

Comedy | Drama

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Certificate:

Not Rated

Details

Country:

Japan

Language:

Japanese

Release Date:

12 August 1966 (USA)

Also Known As:

The Pornographers: Introduction to Anthropology

Company Credits

Production Co:

Imamura Productions, Nikkatsu

Technical Specs

Runtime:

128 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

This film is part of the Criterion Collection, spine #207.

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Connections

Featured in Cinéma, de notre temps: Shohei Imamura - Le libre penseur (1995)

User Reviews

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.