Director: Shinji Imaoka. Review: Adam Wing. Just when you thought the Japanese film industry had run out of ideas, along comes Shinji Imaoka’s Underwater Love, a soft porn symphony complete with jaunty tunes, naked flesh and whimsical flights of fancy. If that’s not strange enough, what do you say to a quirky account of love between a woman and a sea creature? Directed by the pink-film veteran behind tasty treats like Lunch Box and Frog Song, shot by famed cinematographer Christopher Doyle (Hero, In the Mood for Love), with original music by German duo Stereo Total, Underwater Love is a musical stampede of the likes you have never seen before. With added fleshy bits. Asuka (Sawa Masaki) works in a lakeside fish factory and life seems to be going swimmingly. In fact, she’s just about to marry her doting boss (Mutsuo Yoshioka). One day, she encounters a Kappa,...
- 11/17/2011
- 24framespersecond.net
Love, sex and a sea creature!? Yes Underwater Love - a Pinky Musical - is the latest Japanese is the latest Japanese oddity being brought to us by the good folks at UK distro house Third Window Films. “Directed by pink-film veteran Shinji Imaoka (Lunch Box, Frog Song), shot by Christopher Doyle – the famed cinematographer behind Hero and countless films by Wong Kar Wai – and with music by Germany’s Stereo Total, Underwater Love – A Pink Musical promises to be unlike anything you’ve ever seen.” And we can safely say they’re right on that one! Underwater Love goes on sale in the UK November 21st. Synopsis: Asuka works in a lakeside fish factory. She is just about to be married to her boss. One day, she encounters a Kappa, a water creature living in the lake and learns that it is the reincarnation of Aoki, her first love.
- 11/3/2011
- 24framespersecond.net
[Our very sincere thanks to Screen International contributor, film translator and all purpose man of Japanese film Jason Gray for the following report from the set of Shinji Imaoka's Underwater Love.]
Just over a month ago I had the opportunity to visit the set of Shinji Imaoka's latest pink film production, Underwater Love (Onna no Kappa, 『おんなの河童』), shot by legendary cinematographer Christopher Doyle (see previous Twitch post). Underwater Love marks Japanese production company Kokuei's 50th year in the pinku eiga business as well as their first foreign co-production, in partnership with Germany's Rapid Eye Movies.
I was picked up in front of famed indie cinema Theater Pole-Pole Higashi-Nakano by the film's publicity company staff and we were off to Lake Kasumigaura in Ibaraki Prefecture. I was joined on the 90km ride by Japanese cinema expert and former Tokyo animeOnline editor Bryan Hartzheim, who also happened to translate the shooting draft of the Underwater Love screenplay.
We turned off the highway, navigating local roads and rural routes until we finally arrived at the waterfront set. Lake Kasumigaura was much larger than I expected.
Just over a month ago I had the opportunity to visit the set of Shinji Imaoka's latest pink film production, Underwater Love (Onna no Kappa, 『おんなの河童』), shot by legendary cinematographer Christopher Doyle (see previous Twitch post). Underwater Love marks Japanese production company Kokuei's 50th year in the pinku eiga business as well as their first foreign co-production, in partnership with Germany's Rapid Eye Movies.
I was picked up in front of famed indie cinema Theater Pole-Pole Higashi-Nakano by the film's publicity company staff and we were off to Lake Kasumigaura in Ibaraki Prefecture. I was joined on the 90km ride by Japanese cinema expert and former Tokyo animeOnline editor Bryan Hartzheim, who also happened to translate the shooting draft of the Underwater Love screenplay.
We turned off the highway, navigating local roads and rural routes until we finally arrived at the waterfront set. Lake Kasumigaura was much larger than I expected.
- 8/8/2010
- Screen Anarchy
You'll be forgiven if you found it fantastically strange when word came out that acclaimed cinematographer Christopher Doyle - the man behind the camera for all of Wong Kar Wai's key films - was currently at work in Tokyo as the cinematographer on Japanese pinku picture Underwater Love. Pinku, for the uninitiated, is essentially a form of Japanese soft-porn and the idea of Doyle moving into skin flicks was already weird enough to catch the attention even before we heard that the film was also a musical. Yes, a Japanese sex musical. And now it gets even weirder with the first official plot details:
From Japan's Kokuei Company and Germany's Rapid Eye Movies comes a whimsical pink film (softcore ) musical about a woman and a sea creature. The story involves Asuka, a woman in her thirties who works in a lakeside fish factory. She's about to be married to her boss,...
From Japan's Kokuei Company and Germany's Rapid Eye Movies comes a whimsical pink film (softcore ) musical about a woman and a sea creature. The story involves Asuka, a woman in her thirties who works in a lakeside fish factory. She's about to be married to her boss,...
- 6/28/2010
- Screen Anarchy
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