24 of 24 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Brilliant...amazing...see this movie!, October 27, 2005
This review is from: Sex and Fury (DVD)
For once the liner notes are accurate; this was the best movie I had never heard of. In the first ten minutes of the film, I knew I was in for a treat when the female lead killed twenty or so thugs with her samurai sword, while completely butt-naked. What's not to love?
But this film has a lot more going for it than just graphic violence and kinky sex. The director's style of filmaking, the cinematography, the hypnotic imagery, and the soundtrack are just amazing. If you're like me, you'll find yourself humming the theme song.
Is it an erotic art-house flick or an exploitation film? You decide. This film is, in my opinion, a true cinematic masterpiece. I don't want to give away too many details because I don't want to spoil it for anyone. All I can say is, BUY THIS FILM. Once you've seen it, you'll be begging for more. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!!!
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29 of 30 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Of Boar, Deer, and Butterfly, January 21, 2006
This review is from: Sex and Fury (DVD)
Walking underneath a series of torii gates with her father, a young Kyoko witnesses the death of her father when unknown culprits stab him to death. However, before he dies he picks up three cards depicting the images of a boar, a deer, and a butterfly. With only this scant information to aid her in identifying her father's killers, Kyoko changes her name to Inoshika Ocho and lives the next 20 years of her life honing skills in gambling and pick pocketing.
One day at a gambling house owned by a seedy man named Imamura, a dealer is accused of cheating and is killed by its patrons. However, before he dies he tells Ocho that Imamura was the one who told him to cheat and he asks her to take 500 yen, this movie takes place in 1905, to purchase his sister back from a prostitution house in Asakusa. That night, while bathing, Ocho is attacked by Imamura and his goons, so the viewer is treated with the image of a totally nude Ocho, the actress Ike Reiko was 19 or 20 at the time this film was made and was quite nubile and bouncy at the time, slicing apart Imamura and his men in a montage of blood, naked flesh, severed limbs, and snow with early 1970s psychedelic rock playing in the background.
Ocho eventually arrives in Asakusa and, along with communicating with her foster mom and her "sisters", eventually finds Yuki, the dead man's sister, but her purchaser, a business man named Iwakura is unwilling to let go of his new virgin, deflowering virgins is his hobby after all. However, he is willing to give up Yuki if Ocho can defeat a foreign gambler, Swedish model Christina Lindberg, but if she loses Iwakura will get both Yuki and Ocho. Christina does well at first, but after the party is attacked by her former lover Shunosuke, who bears a grudge against Iwakura and the politician Kurokawa, her mind is filled with images of their love-making and she loses the match. However, during this time Iwakura has intercourse with Yuki and later the heartbroken girl informs Ocho that the old pervert has a tattoo of a deer on his back. Finding one of her father's murderers, Ocho embarks on a quest for revenge during which she will have to face all sorts of adversaries, including switchblade-wielding nuns and gangsters.
During the 1950s cinema was king in Japan. Millions of film viewers flocked to thousands upon thousands of theaters. However, during the 1960s television and its all encompassing grasp took hold of the country and film studios began to close and many film directors such as Kobayashi Masaaki and Kurosawa Akira had difficulty funding their films. Instead films filled with sex and violence, Roman Porn or Pink Films, became the standard. Once respected film studios such as Nikkatsu started to churn out one skin flick after the other. With limited budgets and limited filming schedules, these films were quickly produced, consumed by the audience, and completely forgotten. However, some of these films, such as this film, Zero Woman: Red Handcuffs, the Female Prisoner Scorpion series, have made more of a lasting impact that can be seen in the films in such directors as Miike Takashi.
Sex and Fury is of course filled with violence. Severed limbs fly about and blood sprays all over the walls. Ocho must endure being chained up and whipped by Christina, bondage and S&M scenes are quite common in these films, while her tormentors look on. There is of course a lot of sex also, including a lesbian sex scene between Christina and a servant of Kurokawa's named Shinobu. Add to this mixture of sex and violence a soundtrack of rock music that would please The Lemon Pipers and Strawberry Alarm Clock, Sex and Fury is an enjoyable, quick watch. I mean with switchblade-wielding nuns how could you go wrong?
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28 of 30 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Classic J-Girl Action, September 26, 2005
This review is from: Sex and Fury (DVD)
Revenge, violence, and, of course, sex run gleefully rampant through this long-overlooked action flick. The film follows Ocho (Reiko Ike) as a chance encounter puts her in the middle of a bloody war being warring crime families.
The film is a classic entry of the 1970's Japanese sexploitation film, where movies had more going on than naked women and samurai swords. Sure this film has plenty of both, but there is an real elegance to the film, particularly the action sequences.
As Ocho kills every other person listed in the closing credits, she moves with a grace that belies the blood spilling across the scene. Action movies are often described as "kinetic," but this particular film would more accurately be called "fluid." It is a gory but beautiful masterpiece.
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