Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
George W. Bush and Sachiko Hanai - A Love Story, July 14, 2008
I am a big fan of the Japanese Pink Film genre. Quite different from straight porn, they were a hugely successful category of film mainly in the 70's, where they played to packed theaters, but now mainly exist on straight-to-video releases and still manage to thrive. Most of the time they are just cheesy as hell; some hot naked girls and only a stitch of plot, like the Ninja Vixens series. Sometimes they are dark and plumb psychological depths, like the infamous Flower & Snake. And sometimes they are just plain weird.
"The Glamorous Life of Sachiko Hanai" is clearly in the last category. Although it started out as a straight Pink Film, with the more explicit title of "Horny Home Tutor: Teacher's Love Juice", director Meike Mitsuru decided to re-cut and re-shoot it as a flick that has all the nudity and sex required, with a bizarre plot that could play at an Indie film festival. In fact, this is the first Pink Film ever to get distribution in US theaters, mainly on the festival circuit.
The story revolves around Sachiko Hanai, a prostitute who works at an Image Club doing a "seduce the teacher" routine that is a common fantasy of Japanese guys. One eventful night leaves her with a bullet in her head and in possession of the cloned finger of George W. Bush. The bullet has logged against her brain, giving her a genius-level intellect and various mental abilities. Bush's finger has a mind of its own, being able to move and communicate to Sachiko via television screens, as well as some more subtle manipulations.
While the political message is hazy at best, with the cloned finger being hunted by North Korean agents in order to gain access to Bush's fingerprints and thus America's nuclear arsenal, it is mainly just decoration and a bit of a McGuffin. The real fun is just in following Sachiko Hanai's glamorous life, and her lust for knowledge and other things. Along with her genius IQ, the bullet also delays all of her body's responses, so that she experiences things after the fact, such as when she makes a super-spicy curry but thinks it is too bland until and hour later when her mouth is one fire. Given that this is a Pink Film, several of her other body responses also happen to delayed and hilarious effects.
The lead actress, Kuroda Emi, makes a very hot school teacher and isn't ashamed at all in showing off her talents. This was her only flick, and she soon gave up the Pink Film genre for a new career as a fighter in the Mixed Martial Arts circuit. Most of the other actors are veterans of Japan's various underground genres, like Hotaru Yukijiro who appeared in the strange zombie flick Stacy. The sex in the film isn't explicit, but is definitely good enough and it is great to see Emi do her stuff.
The DVD for "The Glamorous Life of Sachiko Hanai" is a winner, with some cool extras thrown in. The original incarnation, "Horny Home Tutor: Teacher's Love Juice" is included, as well as a funny little short featuring the Sachiko Hanai character and a George Bush puppet doing a Smack Down style fight against another girl in a ICBM missile costume. That is actually where the cover image comes from, and Emi does not appear in that outfit during the main movie. The only disappointment is that the 2006 documentary "The Making of 'Sachiko Hanai'" isn't included, but otherwise this is good stuff through and through.
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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Japanese arthouse takes a shot at bush, April 10, 2009
Got pink?
A long lost friend of mine called this a surrealistic Japanese art film laced with softcore erotica. She was totally correct. Although she's not as susceptible to being brainwashed by an abundance of female nudity, I still think she short-changed the greatness of this odd little sexy gem.
Quick plot synopsis:
Super-sexy Sachiko gets shot in the head by a North Korean spy. The bullet gets lodged in her brain, ironically making her super-smart. Not to mention super-horny. To top it all off, she has some sort of psychic control of George Bush's cloned finger. Ahh yes, time to push some buttons.
The political backdrop is interesting but not especially significant or well-developed. It seemed this film was on the brink of something truly special, but it never quite materialized. Then again, maybe I was just too focused on the fact that Sachiko looks great naked. All in all, this is excellent as a sleaze film but nearly becomes something so much more. 3.5 stars.
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3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
[2.5]--Sachiko Hanai probably wishes she lived a glamorous life, April 30, 2007
This is something you don't see everyday. I never had seen pink films till I've seen "The Glamorous Life OF Sachiko Hanai." This is not under any circumstances a jewel but a bizarre Pink film. This is a campy, surrealistic Japanese art film laced with softcore erotica. Sachiko Hanai is probably an accomplished "pink film"; but probably not as classier as the rest.
It mainly starts when Sachiko, played by Emi Kuroda , dining in a café who is then shot in the head by a North Korean spy. The bullet lodges in her brain turns her into an nymphomatic intellectual superwoman with hallucinogenic seizures, and psychic control of George W. Bush's cloned finger. As weird as that sound that's what this film consist of. Sachiko voracious appetite for sex, although it is unclear whether the bullet caused that, begins a tryst with a police officer, local professor (after discussing Susan Sontag and Noam Chomski) then moves on to his son, and eventually to the North Korean spy who shot her. In a particularly odd scene she also has relations with George W. Bush's finger. Even though this film is loaded with sex the director is simply saying to have Sex than war, which leads to George W. Bush middle finger that possesses a dual function within the film. It makes itself on the one hand independent, in order to procure it to Sachiko Hanai, on the other hand one it is the key to a secret weapon. The reproach, it does not leave itself clearer concerns a drive-steered policy to any more to formulate. If one does not agree with George W. Bush I guess can greatly appeal to this production.
Mitsuru Meike is no Takashi Miike, to which he can probably be capable of if he had a bigger budget. While the crude basic atmosphere has its charm, it never attempts to bring its its characters (or the viewer) closer to anything of comparable significance--through its physical indulgences, and what remains often feels like nothing more than intellectual foreplay with deliberately controversial political button-pushing thrown in for a sense of artistic legitimacy. Is this stuff trailblazing or merely forced sensationalism meant to get our rocks off in a way that we needn't feel guilty about? That the film itself can't seem to make up its own mind seems as indicative of its own confliction as anything else. I say a little bit more of consistency throughout this entire film could of gain some momentum and probably a higher rating on my end.
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