Released
1966
Runtime
127
Category
Language
Director
Actors
The Pornographers
Watch it Later
Watch it On
What's it About
When he's not trying to evade the law and local yakuza who want a share of his profits, amateur smut purveyor Subu Ogata (Ozawa) cares for his former landlady, Haru (Sakamoto), an addled invalid who believes her dead husband has been reincarnated as a carp, and her family. As with his clients, Subu is attentive and doting, but privately lusts after Haru's teenage daughter, Keiko (Sagawa), an alluring, brassy flirt who knows how to manipulate men sexually.
Why we love it
Imamura's sharp Oedipal satire was risqué and far ahead of its time in 1966, tackling themes of incest and sexual perversion in a contemporary Japanese family. Ever fascinated with the lower quarters of society and the human body, Imamura delights in registering the bizarre ways in which affection can be placed and misplaced, or simply twisted in knots, as with Haru and her too-affectionate son, Koichi. Mr. Ogata, meanwhile, looks at his blue movies as a kind of public service, and one could say the same for the director, who uses dark humor in his stylish depiction of such lurid but fondly human subject matter. Made with consummate skill by a Japanese master, "The Pornographers" is a seductive look at the kinks of love and longing. Still, decidedly not for all tastes.