| Modern Pulp | Feb 2 2022 |
It was just her imagination running away with her.
This bondage themed poster for Tetsuji Takechi's Hakujitsumu 2, aka Daydream 2, promotes the third iteration of a film he first made in 1967, then remade in 1981. It's labeled “2” because the first movie was a drama, while the second was x-rated. This version is x-rated too, so it's the second porn outing for the title, hence number 2, though it's really number 3. Hope that makes sense. However you number it, it's similar wine in a different bottle, as director Takechi keeps his remake of a remake highly erotic, while going more hallucinatory. Kyōko Aizome, star of the previous version, is joined by the lithe and beautiful Chizu Kirinami, and she gets the central role as a woman who spirals into a citywide erotic hallucination. We won't bother to detail the plot, because you can get that info at our previous write-ups here and here.
It's clear that Takechi, with a hit on his hands in version two, decided to simply swap Aizome out of the starring role and pass the torch to Kirinami. And why not? She's really lovely. She spends almost the entire movie without a stitch on, even when rappelling over a balcony or wandering the streets of the quasi-reality she's stuck inside. As for you Aizome fans, don't worry—though relegated to a supporting role, she's plenty visible, performs some very carnal scenes, and even wears the assless bondage outfit you see on the poster. Below, because we figured you'd enjoy it, she wears nothing. Kirinami's film career consisted of two movies, which means there isn't much promo imagery out there on her. The monochrome shot will have to do until we turn up something better. Hakujitsumu 2 premiered in Japan today in 1987.
JapanDaisan ProductionsHakujitsumu 2Daydream 2Tetsuji TakechiKyōko AizomeChizu Kirinamiposter artcinemapinkunuditybdsmmovie reviewxxx
| Vintage Pulp | Jun 21 2020 |
If you're going to have a fantasy make it a doozy.
We have two exceptionally beautiful Japanese posters today. These were made for Hakujitsumu, known in English as Daydream. That's an unusually concise Japanese title, but this won't be a concise post. The movie is loosely based on a 1926 novel by Junichir Tanizaki, and was one of the first films classified as pinku eiga, as well as one of the first erotic productions to have a big budget and a run in mainstream cinemas. It also played outside Japan, with a screening at the 1964 Venice Festival and a release in Stateside cinemas. And because of its success, director Tetsuji Takechi remade the film in hardcore style, not once, but twice, in 1981 and 1987, both times starring Kyōko Aizome, who we've talked about before.
The premise of this is fascinating. Akira Ishihama meets Kanako Michi in their dentist's waiting room. Later, as both of them are receiving anesthesia, Ishihama looks over and sees—because apparently Japanese dentistry meant placing two patients into the same room—the dentist and a nurse strip Michi, then seemingly suck her blood like vampires. Was it an anesthetic dream, or a real occurrence? Ishihama needs to uncover the truth. He goes to a nightclub where Michi sings, sees the dentist approach her and demand that she leave with him. Ishihama follows—or actually sort of teleports after them—and later sees Michi submit to various forms of kinky bondage. But is any of what he's seeing real? The title of the film gives that away, doesn't it?
We wonder if Hakujitsumu used the plot device of fantasy because it softened the idea of the bondage and weirdness Michi goes through. Well, all that would soon become routine in Japanese cinema. In addition this was the first Japanese film to show an actress fully naked—which happens for extended periods. Most write-ups say there's even pubic hair shown, but we'll admit we blinked and missed it if that was the case. What we didn't miss was what a clear precursor to the pinku genre of roman porno Hakujitsumu is. Here those elements seem novel; by the 1970s, they wouldn't be, and as a result filmmakers were by then pushing the envelope with violence, water sports, and enemas. That envelope could have stayed flat, as far as we're concerned. Hakujitsumu premiered in Japan today in 1964.
JapanItalyVenice Film FestivalDaisan ProductionsHakujitsumuDaydreamTetsuji TakechiJunichir TanizakiAkira IshihamaKanako MichiKyōko Aizomeposter artcinemasexploitationpinkumovie review
