Film
Underwater Love - A Pink Musical
Shinji Imaoka • JP/DE 2011 • 87' • 35mm-Projektion
Onna no kappa Ö • japan OmdU
01.04.2022, 19:45 Leokino Innsbruck Einführung: Julian Stockinger (Til Midnight Movies Wien)
An erotic movie shot by Wong Kar wai’s regular cameraman, Christopher Doyle; a musical with dance numbers by the French-German, multi-genre duo Stereo Total; and a glaringly cheap piece of burlesque involving a Japanese water sprite – all this is the mischievous German-Japanese coproduction drawn from the tradition of pink film. This time around, the Japanese erotic film world, which provided a creative platform for truly original filmmakers turning out movies intended for the domestic market, has set its sights on the international festival public. The result is a phantasmagoric, generic mishmash brimming over with exotic attractions, salacious sensations, bizarre plot twists, and absurd humor. The central character is the Japanese version of a water sprite, or kappa, who just adores cucumbers and sumo wrestling. But it loves playing dirty tricks on humans even more, specifically on Asuka, a 30-something fish factory worker who lives in a seaside village. As she tries to plan her wedding, the legendary creature turns her life (and her panties) inside out. (Karlovy Vary)
In cooperation with KinoZeitreisen
Director Shinji Imaoka • Writer Shinji Imaoka, Fumio Moriya • Cinematography Christopher Doyle • Edit Olivier Fontenay • Cast Sawa Masaki, Yoshirô Umezawa, Ai Narita, Mutsuo Yoshioka • Producer Stephan Holl • Music Stereo Total • Sound Geri Rauscher, Tjandra Warsosumarto, Philipp Zoufal • Prod. Company Inter Film, Kokuei Company, Rapid Eye Movies
Born in Osaka in 1965, Shinji IMAOKA attended Yokohama City University, but dropped out and entered Pink Film company Shishi Production in 1990. There he assisted directors like Takahisa ZEZE and Hisayasu SATO. In 1995, he realized his first feature film WAITING FOR THE COMET. IMAOKA belongs to the famous collective of pink film directors known as the “Seven Lucky Gods of Pink”. (nipponconnection.com)
