Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
40 yen for beef or a woman?, August 25, 2005
After World War II came to an end, a great number of Japan's major cities were left in shambles. However, the Japanese began to rebuild almost immediately after the war came to the end. The earliest post-war settlements were shantytowns and the remains of scorched buildings. Because of the chronic lack of food, most individuals were forced to purchase food at the black market. Although illegal, the black market was the only source of essential foodstuffs. Also, during this time period, a number of women, whose fathers, brothers, and sons were killed during the war, were forced into prostitution to support themselves. With tens of thousands former Japanese soldiers and American soldiers swarming into the country, there were definitely enough men to garner money from.
Seijun Suzuki's 1964 film takes place in one of these shantytowns and it follows the lives of five such prostitutes: The refined Machiko; the tattooed Sen; the chubby Roku; the boisterous Mino; and the youngest of the group Maya. The film begins with Maya fleeing from a man who had tried to pimp her to an American soldier, however, luckily for her Sen intervenes. Struggling to survive, Maya follows Sen back to the latter's home and soon joins Sen and her fellow prostitutes in peddling flesh. However, unlike other prostitutes, the women are able to keep their money because they do not work for a pimp. Although they seem to be close, the women can be quite vicious. Their sole rule is that no member may sleep with a man without receiving payment. If one breaks the rule, one is stripped naked, tied up, and beaten. Although far from ideal, the women seem to get along decently well until a man Ibuki Shintaro, Shishido Joe, comes into their ranks. Heavily muscled and of a demanding nature, each one of the prostitutes fall for the ex-soldier and this of course endangers this little circle of "friends."
Like many of his other films, Suzuki's Gate of Flesh is quite violent. While not nearly as vicious as Miike films, Gate of Flesh caused quite a stir when it was released in 1964. While the beating scenes are moderately tame, there is a graphic scene in which a cow is slaughtered.
In my opinion, the most striking aspect of this film is the use of color. Each prostitute wears a specific color and this makes for some quite striking scenes. Sen, Kasai Satoko, is quite striking in red. This is an interesting film that might interest those who would like to see a cinematic version of Japan's early postwar years.
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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
The High-Definition transfer of this DVD makes all the visuals so much more appealing, August 7, 2006
Back in 1964, as it is still to this day, Japan has always rated their movies for two specific audiences only. In America, we rate movies, R, PG, PG-13, and even G (although, I don't think anything qualifies as G anymore). In Japan, it's either Adult or General Audience. This movie "Gate of Flesh" is definitely a Japanese Adult film. We get nudity, sex, fowl language, and even violent beatings and torture.
I love the raw, filthy extent of decadence that Seijun Sazuki has created for this film. Out of all the film's he's created, for some reason, he seems to be mildly ashamed of this one. He and production designer Takeo Kimura has created a cult classic of fabulous artistic visual achievement.
As you are aware, this film is about the life of prostitutes living within the war ravished ruins of the streets of Tokyo, just after the end of World War II. The main focus is on 5 Japanese girls. Prostitutes that work for themselves (no pimps), and share a burned out abandoned building, and live by certain set rules. They sell themselves on the streets and keep their money for themselves, however, if any of the girls give away sex for free, the other girls will tie her up and beat her senseless. All the girls are beautiful and yet their sweaty, filthy appearance actually contributes to what makes this film look so good.
What makes this film so beautiful to watch is how each of the girls wear a specific color of dress, which adds to the way the girls differ from each other, and although it was never initially intended, the Japanese audience actually created a personality perception based on colors, of the girls identified by the specific colors of how they were dressed. Here's the interpretations of how the girls are perceived:
Roko (Tamiko Ishaii) dressed in Yellow, is said to represent kindness and compromise.
Sen (Satoko Kasai) dressed in Red, is said to represent belonging or fear.
Maya (Yumiko Nogawa) dressed in Green, is said to represent peace and tranquility.
Mino, (Kayo Matsuo) dressed in Purple, is said to represent loneliness and anxiety.
Machiko (Misako Tominaga) dressed in White, isn't given a description of her persona, which is why they probably just had her dressed in white and used her as the fallen one who has broken their most enforced rule: giving it away for free. Machiko was married to a man who died in the war, so she, more or less, is just trying to find a new love. She sees a man on a regular basis and never takes any money. So eventually, she getsa caught by one of the other girls so they wait for her when she returns to them. She then gets stripped, tied-up, then beatened by the other girls just within inches of her life. To Japan, this must be acceptable behavior for prostitutes in Japan, and therefore, entertainment as well for the adult audience.
But, alas, a new obstacle enters the girl's domain. A runaway fugitive named Shin Ibuki (Jo Shishido), enters into the girls homestead and then begins to order the girls around. He's injured so he doesn't plan on leaving anytime soon and his aggressively mean demeanor is actually somewhat appealing to the girls.
The girls suddenly begin to have yearnings to be with Shin although they all know they must not break their most brutally enforced rule. Shin will not stay much longer, so Maya takes a chance at giving herself to Shin and hopes that he will take her with him when he leaves. She seduces him when he is drunk, and Sen catches her. Now, it's Maya's turn to be punished.
In the making of this film, you will see that Americans have set up a base right outside the city and they are always hitting on the prostitutes of Tokyo. You can tell, and Seijun Sazuki even admits, that he still had some bitterness and some hostility against Americans back then and so trying to work with some American actors, he had to fight with some of his own prejudices.
And here's something else that you don't see very often on film. No special effects done here. A cow is brought into the girls domain, struck on the head with an axe, killed, and gutted right there on the floor, in front of the girls, captured on film. Some people might be sensitive to seeing something like that.
So, to end this review, I will say that this film looks really good. The girls are beautiful and you can tell that this is a fabulous High-Definition transfer. Satoko Kasai (Sen) dressed in Red really looks very sharp and appealing to the eye, as all the girls do in their colors. If RED looks good on film, you know the rest of the film will look beautiful, too.
For as old as this film is, you would think they could always make films look better than they do. This film looks better than many newer films that come out on DVD today. Why is that? Do they save the better mastered copy so they can re-sell it again later? I think that's what's happening. I've bought many films on DVD, that I've re-purchased when they claim to have a "new digitally re-mastered" version. That's American commercialism for you. Give as little as you can, sell it, then beef it up, and resell it again.
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5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Brilliantly Symbolic Cinema Reaching Far Beyond the Tangible Realm..., September 28, 2005
For the second time since the vanishing of the samurai in the later half of the 1800s, the Japanese society lost its highly militaristic society, but this time to ultimate defeat and chaos. The Japanese military was on the retreat when the Americans delivered the final punch through their dropping of Little Boy and Fat Man - the atomic bombs. Tokyo was in a sense more fortunate than Hiroshima and Nagasaki, as they only had to deal with definitive destruction of firebombs dropped on the city. Nonetheless, in a heap of ashes and debris Tokyo reemerged through a chaotic mess where food, shelter, and clothing were something of a luxury. Within the bedlam of Tokyo, some people discovered that they had to find a way to survive despite the hardships. There were also those who found opportunity to make financial gains within the social confusion, as their dubious intentions sought profit of those less fortunate. Gate of Flesh by Seijun Suzuki provides a dark and dismal perspective of post-war Tokyo through a small number of characters portraying a large part of the Japanese society.
Suzuki opens with a shot of Maya (Yumiko Nogawa), a young homeless woman shocked by the sudden fall of the Japanese Empire, who aimlessly drifts with the constant flow of people. Her lost presence together with the raspy lyrics of a record symbolically presents the societal confusion of everything that has been lost to the devastating fire. The wandering eyes of Maya hunt for food, safety, and possibly belonging while dodging the dangers that lurk in the background. The law has no compassion for humanity, as it seeks the desperate survivors that have no other choice than to pursue illegal alternatives to survive. On the tiny mud-stomped streets cutting between endless rows of provisional huts, Maya witnesses the law enforcement forcefully apprehending some of the destitute women, but with little resolve, as arrest is to be preferred over starvation. Life has fallen, and the Japanese lifestyle has struck the very bottom, which Suzuki illustrates with the countless hordes of drifting homeless and starving inhabitants of Tokyo.
Eventually Maya's hunger catches up with her, as her morality can no longer control her fingers reaching for a meager meal. Inexperience in theft gets her caught, but a man extends his kindness by allowing her to eat her fill. However, it is a cruelly exploitive world, as she soon learns the true intentions of the man who plans to sell her body to lustful American soldiers. It is a rough and publicly humiliating initiation for Maya to the lower depths of the society where her redemption comes forward through the crimson red wearing Sen (Satoko Kasai). The first appearance of Sen provides a false description of her, as she looks like a blossoming flower among weeds. Her bright crimson dress is a strong contrast to the environment while her arrogance would fit a rich nobleman amidst filthy farmers. In essence, Sen attempts to put on a strong front, as she is also the self-proclaimed leader for a small gang of prostitutes to which Maya is introduced.
All the women, in Sen's posse of prostitutes, offer an analogous presentation of different emotional reactions of the Japanese society to the aftermath of the war. Sen, dressed in crimson, allows the mind to think of the fear and impulsiveness that many experienced. On the other side of the spectrum, the outsider Machiko (Misako Tominaga) steps forward in customary kimono and wooden sandals. Machiko's attire suggestively represents the disciplined and meditative past before the war, but she also permits the audience to think of the errors of the past. In between Sen and Machiko, the purple dressed Mino (Kayo Matsuo) represents self-loathing, maybe in regards to defeat, or perhaps of the current state of the nation, while the understanding and compromising Roku (Tamiko Ishii) is clad in yellow. The newcomer Maya easily adjusts to this devious group of la femme fatale, as she later symbolically emerges in the color green. Green evokes the notion of a corrupt soul and envy while May's desire for carnal passion intensifies.
These self-made women live under a strict dogma, which offers them protection and a steady income that provides the basic needs and group belonging. They have broken the chains of the patriarchal society and gotten rid of the middleman - the pimp. Sen educates Maya in their business while enlightening her in the principal rule, which they all must obey. It states, "Never give it to a guy for free. This is a business, and our bodies are our merchandise.", and later the audience will learn about the severe punishment for breaking their governing rule. Everything seems to run smoothly within the little carnal empire run by the women until the injured Ibuki (Jo Shishido) stumbles into their lives. Ibuki possesses a similar power over the women that the devil possesses over witches, as he commands the feminine creatures in their homely ruins. His presence stirs up the atmosphere with grave sexual tension, as most of the time Obuki seems to wander the screen clad in sweat and briefs while the desiring women observe his every move.
Historically, a tendency of territorial behavior has emerged through human existence, as it also provides an opportunity to secure the basic needs. This craving to extend the borders of the territory often leads to war, as Japan tried to expand its control of Asia. The expansionism often finds its foundation within greed, as gains trigger a desire for additional gains while also being able to control these gains. Suzuki brings this notion into Gate of Flesh where the women and Ibuki struggle for control while trying to extend their own influence over one another with dogmatic rules and sexual manipulation. Ibuki's presence creates a symbolic notion of the American presence in post-war Japan, as he exercises his domination over the women who metaphorically symbolize Japan. Thus, in this micro society Suzuki delivers a cerebral perspective of the carnal sins that govern these women's existence, which extends far beyond the realm of what is tangible.
Through the existence of Ibuki and the women, the cyclical concept of destruction and rebirth surfaces, as they are reaching the lowest point in their lives where the only logical direction for advancement is up. Applying this concept in a retrospective perspective to the release year of Gate of Flesh, the viewer will recognize that it coincides with the year of the Olympic Games in Tokyo in 1964. It offered the world a new glance of a once beaten, but now remerging nation, which learned from its consequences of defeat and ultimate destruction. Now some 50 years after the dropping of Little Boy and Fat Man, the Japanese society has risen out of its ashes to become an economical power nation. Nonetheless, Suzuki touches humanity as it reaches its nadir where compassion vanishes into an oblivious vortex of greed and selfishness in a time of anarchy. This artistically cerebral tale will undoubtedly generate contemplation, even though it takes the form of an exploitative B-film that seems to nourish from its heavy use of nudity.
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