User Reviews

Well I am not sure I got that right - sex explored? May be closer to what the movie is actually about (no pun intended). Also be very aware that this is quite explicit. A lot of nudity in this, but also quite a bit of penetration. Not sure if it is a stylistic choice or if they pay "homage" to japanese porn, when they obscure some of the actual sex act itself ... but I'm giving you the information, so you won't be surprised/appalled or whatever else you may come up with (sorry for the pun).

I don't think you will come to many or new conclusions watching this. But I do think the filmmaker tried to make us aware of stuff ... I just couldn't tell you what that would be exactly apart from certain cliches. The whole robot/android thing trying to figure out love (or rather sex or intimacy I reckon) ... well again, not sure what to make of it.

I also don't think there is much enticement or excitement - there are probably other/better places to look for that. Also there are glimpses of homo-erotic going on here ... even if most is heterosexual. Again just a heads up to anyone who needs to know.

This film got a bit of attention in the press when it was the first porn to ever be screened at Sundance. It was hyped as "erotic entertainment of the future"; an adult film made with a geek sensibility. Ultimately, it comes across as being pretentious, boring, and most importantly, completely devoid of sexual heat. There's supposedly a plot involving the evil operator of a virtual reality habitat that provides sex for anyone that "jacks in" (pun intended). But, you have to read the supplemental material on the DVD to get a sense of it. It's an embarrassingly cheap looking future, littered with BLADE RUNNER references and knock-off Wendy Carlos music ( cued when sub-par dance music from the mid-90's isn't being played). The sex scenes involving penis to vagina contact are all blurred; understandable for a Japanese release, completely unacceptable for a U.S. DVD. Don't even bother renting this movie.

If you look at the box art and read the description this movie sounds like a Japanese "Barbarella" with sex scenes. Instead what you get is a silly porn masquerading as art. The problem is it is not good enough to be great porn or great art. The sex scenes are lifeless and forced, even for porn standards. And the qualities that should make it rise above porn status are lacking. The "high tech" graphics are cheesy, desktop animated, three- dimensional renders over live action video. Even in 2000 the look of these graphics is outdated and poor. The anything that would give it a story is non-existent, meaning you get an hour and a half of lame sex scenes, but nothing to connect them to some plot or story like the box suggests. In the end you are left wondering why watched it when there are many other actual science fiction movies, or actual porn movies for that matter, that actually achieve their intended goal. This just falls short of both!

This film had a great deal of potential to merge hardcore pornography with art in the same fashion as the last days of American 35mm adult cinema. Instead of getting a cross between a Rinse Dream film and Blade Runner, we are left with a cyber punk piece of censored frustration. Shots are not held long enough for the raincoat crowd, and the Japanese fogging makes everything that much cheesier. There is some very creative and beautiful camera work going on and the women are pretty hot, but who really cares.

IKU isn't even worth being called porn, because simply it lacks anything resembling erotic. There isn't anything here for anyone other than young teens who are unable to purchase porn from the local adult store. Like another movie called BAISE MOI, IKU was made for people who thinks getting plain brown packages in the mail is still too indiscreet for their tastes.

In other words, no one with any obvious taste would watch IKU. Even for porn, it's not well done and doesn't offer up enough porn material to make it worthwhile.

Stay away.

2 out of 10

(go to www.nixflix.com for a more detailed review of the movie and reviews of other foreign films)

Japanese sci-fi porn about sex robots going out and collecting sexual data by having sex. There really isn't a plot (There's an idea but it doesn't amount to much of anything),just flashy visuals and erotic imagery.

As a collection of images its great but there is little beyond it. Its a variety of couplings with text over them explaining the company that makes the robots and what the background for it all is. A chunk of it is pixelated and a few shots are graphic, but after about ten minutes, when you realize its not going anywhere, it begins to fall down. While I like the idea of the flashy visuals mixing with sex and a semi clever idea, I hate that it just doesn't go anywhere (and does so really fast).

Better to rent an Japanese porn video.

Directed by a woman, this film is a mix of styles that reminds me of Blade Runner, Tron, Yellow Submarine, Matrix, (nearly) hard-core porno, bio-sex-technology, and a lot more. This is an extremely original work that you either love or hate. I loved it.

The initial concept of I.K.U. is rather interesting and promising. The GENOM Corporation sends female replicants around Tokyo to collect data from their different sexual encounters to then download this information on I.K.U. chips to be sold in vending machines. But the film somehow fails to go any deeper than that: a concept. First it relies too much on a technology that helps business to take over personal pleasure, this being the film's main critique (modern techno-crazed society loss of feelings as one replicant says: "It's sex, not love"). The director claims that the story develops like doing net surfing. This also means that as when you surf the net you also get overloaded with information which it mostly useless. For example the sex scenes lasts for ages but you are unable to skip them just as pop-up banners. The reason for their length is unclear (well, maybe if you consider it as a cyber-porno film(or cyber-pinku-eiga film) and their meaning is rather confused as sometimes they appeared to be titillating (sex scene in the limo or in the fish tank) and others being made fun of (as the scene in the homeless' tent with dolls). Also the overrated "Pussy point of view shots" which viewed after a couple of times become repetitive and tiresome. The film's production team itself indulges in the film's hype by creating, in the film's website, some sort of mythology backing the film's story and adding some more information to explain in words what it could not be achieved in images even though the world of the future, and to some extent the present world, is a world of images. Nevertheless the film's visual style deserves special mention. Shot on DV camera it achieves amazing light and colour effects worthy of film cinematography. Again this is a good example, for filmmakers lacking in money but with plenty of ideas, of the use of digital equipment.

The film's dealing with sexual issues is quite challenging due, maybe, to the fact that is directed by a woman. Sex is shown quite explicitly. This includes homosexual sex to the disgust of the male audience who sat uncomfortably in their seats as they were watching on the screen two guys performing oral sex. And the amazing scene where one of the replicants is having sex with her boss who turns out to be a female transsexual. The films also has its funny moments coming from the unintelligible dialogue from the Japanese cast and scenes such as the one in which a replicant and her sex partner appeared to be having sex inside a fish tank where koi (carps) seem to be floating around them.

I know its possible to have a serious movie that has explicit sex in it. I encounter these enough to know that they should exist and I am glad of it.

Its a bit different when the intent of a film is to serve a prurient need outside of the context of what we consider "real" movies. Porn is usually discriminated from other films by existing outside of the need for story. This isn't quite right because there's always story, its just with porn the stories the viewer brings are so strong and deep that they only have to be referenced in the briefest of shorthands. These stories and shorthands interest me because the implied stories are (I think) complex and the shorthands are clean, universally understood and succinct in their visual form.

So I spend time with films that purport to mix porn and real storytelling. Michael Ninn impressed. Max Candy maybe. Some single projects from the 70s.

Now this. Its unapologetically porn, but on the softish side. What's interesting is that if you take it as porn it seems to deliberately cancel itself because (like "Sex Psycho") it covers so many types of sexual encounter that it is bound to offend whatever story a porn-inclined viewer will bring.

The story thread of this is clever enough to warrant description. Its designed as if it were a chapter in a "Bladerunner" world: replicants designed for (or at least adapted for) sex. The story is pretty complex, not in what you see but in what is explained. A replicant takes on seven bodily forms, so as to collect a variety of intense orgasms (apparently the Japanese term for orgasm is iku). The purpose of this is to transfer them to a pill so an evil corporation can make money and gain power. By transferring the orgasmic knowledge to the company, the replicant will buy her freedom.

The "Bladerunner" allusions are scant except for one critical piece in the very beginning where we (and it seems the replicant's control) encounter an origami crane from "Bladerunner." If you know that movie, you'll know that the crane plays a key role in switching the whole focus of the story from that of the theatrical release to a radically different and more exciting one in the "director's cut." I won't detail the shift here, but it had to do with shifting into the realm of directed dreams. And that's big when it comes to stylish porn. Worth looking into.

Speaking of "into," for some reason the filmmaker chose to have a repeated effect of a woman's (and one a man's) "insides" as penis/hand/probe thrusts. Its a puzzling choice.

Ted's Evaluation -- 2 of 3: Has some interesting elements.

This experimental sex movie is kind of a sequel to Blade runner. It's book-ended by scenes that are a cheesy homage to the film and the sex robots are supposedly replicants. It's very funny at times and is certainly diverting with it's relentless intercutting of neo-psychedelic special effects with wild camera angles, but this soon all wears a bit thin. Mercifully the version I saw was only 73 minutes long. I enjoyed it and found it exciting but soon started looking at my watch when it was apparent that nothing was really going to happen beyond sex scene after sex scene.

when I saw this movie the man introducing it said "this is one of

those koyanisquasti movies that goes directly to someplace in

your brain" which was a quite astute comment you have to leave

"moviemovie" concerns behind for this film. aside from wondering

how incredible such a film would be with a story hung on it as well,

I would otherwise totally urge you to see this movie it's exciting

beautiful, original and worth about 15 of the run of the mill movies

you might otherwise take the time to see. . . I'd give it a high high

rating it certainly was more compelling to me than a lot of famous

experimental films, incidentally. and by the way I hated

koyanisquattsi

Lo-fi Sci-fi, I.K.U is the second feature from 'installations artist' and 'Floating digital agent' Shu Lea Cheang and is one of the first films to go toe to toe with the so called 'DV revolution' by rejecting cinematic convention, crashing moral boundaries and heading off across the prairie for uncharted territory. The digital revolution, as exemplified by movements such as the Dogme 95 manifesto, has largely been Cassavetes-lite/Nouvelle Vague domestic docu-dramas that would be more at home as television soaps. For whatever it tells us about the human condition, circa century 21, edgy, dangerous film-making is increasingly the stuff of science fiction and pornography.

In terms of linear story telling I.K.U is strictly anti-plot; but then for western audiences, (and I include myself here), much Japanese cinema could just as well be from outer space in terms of cultural incomprehensibility. I.K.U picks up from where Bladerunner left off; the Genom Corporation has created androids, all called Reiko, who collect sex data during intercourse with humans and then converts the data to chips which can be brought from vending machines or downloaded online. The whole experience has an 'in yer face' scattergun barrage of sound and vision that we would normally associate with advertising - MTV on PCP if you will.

As sure as the internet is the new Wild West - a brave new world where the law is always two steps behind – I.K.U is one of the pioneers of tomorrow's cinema. Francis Ford Coppola was once quoted as saying that the next cinematic revolution is just as likely to come from 'a little fat girl from Ohio' as any of the world's film academies. Or in this case – a lesbian visionary from Taiwan who's I.K.U could be a cipher to just where this revolution could go.

IKU: This film, titled I.K.U., which simply translates from Japanese to English as "orgasm" as in "I'm Coming!", is quite the mixed bag of feelings for me. First off, it's tag line of "This Is Not Love, This Is Sex. A Japanese Sci-Fi Porn Feature" already hands us the delightful notion that this is going to be chock full of Oriental nudity and hopefully plenty of great looking Japanese gals engaging in softcore sex. But not only that, these glorious scenes of gratuitous nudity will be splapped into a snazzy science fiction, computer animation enhanced cyber-punk action flick. Right? Nope! I was wrong. It's EXACTLY what female Taiwanese director SHU LEA CHEANG claimed it would be... PORN, pure and simple. Not so much as in straight hardcore "stick it in and pull it out" triple X adult video store porn but more like an attempt to be an "avant garde" experimental sex film. I mean it's loaded with niffty camera angles, neon lighting, quirky CGI effects, futuristic set pieces, and a techno/industrial soundtrack performed by the SABOTEN Band. Oh, and not to mention, the most appealing aspect of all, lots and lots of sex. Story, as if we need one, goes something like this... the Genom Corporation (no relation to the classic Anime series BUBBLEGUM CRISIS) makes beautiful female replicants, or better put, "sex-droids" who venture out into the public and engage in "love making" acts with various lucky fellas of a future Tokyo. They record the orgasmic pleasures (both his and hers) and return to the home office where this "sex info" is uploaded into Genom's main computer databank. This information will later be used to make some sort of ultimate virtual reality sex program, or game, or a better "love-bot", or hell, I don't really remember anyway. I lost track of the so-called story after the first naked Japanese babe showed up on screen. And there's a-plenty of them to go around too. The featured "robo-chick" is named Reiko of the XXX Generation (played by the elf-like actress TSOUSIE, who could be the closest thing to an Oriental TANK GIRL) and she can assume numerous different appearances throughout her multiple sex encounters. Whatever her sexual partner desires, I suppose. This also gives us, the audience, the chance to catch lots of other gorgeous "real life" pornstar Asian hotties in some down and dirty sweat sessions. Casting credits go to actresses AYUMU TOKITHO as Reiko #1, MARIA YUMENO as Reiko #2, YUMEKA SASAKI as Reiko #3, MIHO ARIGA (!) as Reiko #4, MYU ASOU as Reiko #5, and ETSUYO TUCHIDA as Reiko #6. And well, believe it or not, that's pretty much it for the film. There's actually some other stuff happening now and then but nothing really important since you're here for the exact same reason I was, to see those good looking Japanese sweeties in their birthday suits. However, let me warn the guys out there though, please fast forward past the "underground parking lot" chapter if you're easily offended by homosexual activity. There's a scene where two dudes get way too "friendly" with each other that was so sickeningly foul to watch, it nearly ruined the whole movie for me. Steer clear of it, trust me on this. But other than that, IKU certainly wasn't bad at all if you know what you're getting into from the start. Don't let yourself be surprised like I was by expecting a regular movie-type movie here. This isn't one, but hey, if you think about it, Japanese porn is ALWAYS a great thing to see no matter what.

This movie was truly frightening. It was very hardcore. There were many scary sex scenes. If you want to see a sci-fi porn, then this one is for you.

Watch out for some scenes that might offend you. Get your remote ready because you'll need to forward some scenes. All I can say is that this movie is graphic and if you can handle a crazy movie like this than go right ahead.

I will recommend this movie to some, but not to all. I could handle it, can you?