rape! hold the revenge

Thoughts on "Rape!" (1976) and the honesty of sexual violence in Nikkatsu Roman Porno

In Western films, rape victims are often either vengeful or vegetative.

Savage Streets paralyzes Linnea Quigley’s character to make way for Linda Blair’s righteous kills. I Spit On Your Grave elevates its central survivor’s agony to mythical proportions, an approach taken by later films such as Revenge. Don’t Breathe and Barbarian use sexual violence as both plot device and gross-out shock effect that incapacitates or transforms victims; Saint Maud and Promising Young Woman both lay out two very different but ultimately self-destructive ends of the act itself. Varda also indulges in this misery with Vagabond, as it’s part of a larger tragedy that culminates in her heroine’s demise, even if the director manages to instill a larger sense of resilience and grit in her.

colonized bodies, living and dead

 

thoughts on ‘Nun in Rope Hell’ (1984), Korean annexation at the hands of Imperial Japan, and the political apparatus of erotic grotesque nonsense. 

After an opening scene of S&M that sees a rose stem refashioned as a whip, Nun In Rope Hell (1984) brings viewers to the Kadowaki Suspension Bridge. I recognized it as a climactic set piece in horror sequel Sadako 3D 2 (2013), but it’s also been featured in Koji Shiraishi’s Occult (2009.) Located in the Shizuoka prefecture, the bridge is suspended right above the Jogasaki Coast. Both from the side and on the bridge itself, the view is astonishing – albeit somewhat terrifying.

This is an appropriate setpiece for director Katsuhiko Fujii and cinematographer Teio Noda to open on. Nun In Rope Hell is as mystifying as it is scary – and twice as erotic by any measure. Fujii pushes major boundaries for not only what a theatrical pink film could show by 1984, but the limits of contemporary rope play. Through artful shot composition and imaginative mise en scene, the film elevates the human body to a work of art in sublime form. Like the Kadowaki Bridge, the weight of this picture rests on the suspended backs of the actresses.