Tuesday, November 24, 2009

Synapse Films unleashes 27 Nikkatsu roman porno titles in 2010

by Chris MaGee

The boom in attention for pinku eiga and Nikkatsu roman porno seems to just keep going. La-based company Pink Eiga has made these softcore erotic films their bread and butter while distributors such as Mondo Macarbro, Cinema Epoch, Easter Star, and Exploitation Digital have all jumped on the bandwagon and have been picking up titles for their catalogues. Now Synapse Filsm has joined thge group in a big way with the announcement that they will be releasing 27 Nikkatsu roman prono films in 2010 including "Pearl Diver: Tight Shellfish", "Rape!", "The Nurse Diary Series", "She Cat, Zoom Up: Beaver Book Girl", "Lovers Are Wet", and "Fairy In A Cage".

While it's great to finally get a look at a genre of film that accounts for a huge percentage of the films annually produced in Japan, and one that has spawned such talent as Kiysohi Kurosawa, Yojiro Takita, Masayuki Suo, Ryuichi Kiroki, and Masahiro Kobayashi I have been wondering lately if this mining of pink film and roman porno vaults might not be the same kind of bubble interest that we saw in J-Horror films earlier this decade, a bubble that burst spectacularly just a couple of years after it began.

Thanks to the ever watchful Wildgrounds for this piece of news.

3 comments:

Nicholas Rucka said...

There has indeed been a flood of these soft-core titles to western markets, but you should be careful not to lump Roman Porno and Pinku Eiga in the same camp. (It's a common mistake.) One was backed by a major studio with larger budgets, while the others are independently produced (low budget), and distro'd films.

Additionally, Nikkatsu's Roman Porno were produced over 15 or so years and stopped in the early 1980s. Pinku Eiga have been produced continuously for the past 50 years.

Chris MaGee said...

I'm aware of the difference for sure, Nic, but thanks for clarifying. I'm not sure how many other folks out there are aware of the distinction, though. Could have stressed it a bit more; but I'm just worried that people are latching onto the "Oh, those wacky Japanese" factor with these films. We'll have to see where things are a couple years from now.

keeperdesign said...

I think Jasper's largely responsible for the pinku craze. I know I blame him for the outrageous flow of cash out of my pocket and into the coffers at pinku eiga distributors.

It's worth noting that the Japanese filmmaking community has earned the adjective "wacky" with decades of wonderful creativity and derangement. Their film industry may not be as large as others but to my eye they have a greater range of content than any. And of course no one does weird like they do, and they did it long before western distributors came a-callin'. It's amazing: They produce the best human dramas and the best tentacle porn. And sometimes at the same time!