Ryôjoku mesu ichiba - Kankin

Having seen loads of seventies genre movies from all over the world it is hard for me to find Female Market a must. There is no inspired storyline to lift it above the middle of the road 'women in prison' exploitation fare that has been made over and over again ad nauseum. What is compelling in this film is not the story but the cool delivery of its shocking scenes of ultra violence; most often of a sexual nature. The randomness of the gruesome acts bludgeons you to utter apathy until you beg for it all to end. It simply is too much. The scene in which one of the female victims begs her warden to kill her is one of the more understandable. What makes this watchable is the superb photography and deft direction. Also the lead character's unwillingness to surrender her will to her captors makes for some interesting scenes but nothing much comes from it. No high flyer then, but a well crafted genre movie that harks back to Love Camp 7 and Ilsa She Wolf of the SS. For the fans.

A woman is kidnapped and brought to a warehouse. She wakes to find, she as well as several other women are being held to become sex slaves with the intention to be sold overseas. Of course she thinks of escape.

This story is similar to a number of women in prison B movies from the 1970's & 1980's. This is a Pink Eiga film which means there is (often) nudity and several sex scenes. Nothing too explicit. In addition are scenes of rape and other violence. So again, similar to old B movies although not at a prison. Including some non-sex action.

One difference here is a lot less dialogue and a shorter film length. The other is the bad guys, play bad guys. They treat the slaves as slaves directly. The movies from the 1970's always seemed to first have to explain why this was happening to the slaves. No explanation was needed or given which I preferred. All the slaves are women. All the bad are men.

The acting was very good. The ending was unpredictable and intelligent.

If you are a fan of old B movies or Pink Eigas you will probably like or love this movie. Everyone else will probably hate it. As a fan of both I thought this film was excellent. So this is an 8 out of 10 for me.

This is one of those typical women in prison flicks you just can't feel comfortable watching it. Even with a lack of an actual story it still is watchable but you will have to sit through torture in sexual ways and humiliation of the captured woman.

If you aren't into those kind of flicks especially coming from Japan than you will hate this. I've seen a few of them and this one comes out of the hand of Guts of a Virgin/Beauty" director Kazuo "Gaira" Komizu then you should know enough. I surely can say that while watching it I can say that this is only for the strong horror buffs and surely not for women to watch.

It all starts with the capturing of a girl. Next shot you are already at the slavery room where some guys are having diner while a girl is hanging upside down naked begging for mercy. She gets it if she give head to one on the guys which she does. The close up of spitting out the semen gives you an idea of what to come. Oh yes, we do have on rebellion inside the group of girls but her punishment involves rape while being inserted with needles (see also Imprint (2005)). What makes it complete is the sad ending...

Only made for the lovers of (s)exploitation.

Gore 0/5 Nudity 3/5 Effects 0/5 Story 2/5 Comedy 0/5

The Japanese have a way of showing violence in a gritty manner. Not necessarily only because they show the violence in full view, but also because they manage to represent the evil that lurks within the human mind. The slave traders in this movie have no respect for human life. They are aware of it, and they love it. Nihilism has become a trademark in Japanese cinema. This movie has very little blood, but a lot of nudity, sexual violence, rape and torture. We follow some average women as they are going through a world of pain and misery, where twisted evil soul seek the ultimate rush of power and supremacy by the suffering and unhappiness of other individuals. This movies running time is not long, but that's exactly enough to deliver the punch in your face. Not a great movie, but good. It does what it can well, and deliver the message.

A lady has some dinner, plays some tennis, gets into her car to go home. She won't make it home though, not until she's been through hell. Female Market has accrued something of a reputation among the later echelons of pink films, and it is somewhat deserved. The aspect that will attract (or repulse) is that the first half has a half hour or so chunk of constant mean spirited sexual violence visited upon multiple luckless ladies, all imprisoned in a warehouse in preparation for being later sold into slavery. Character development is minimal and point even smaller, this is just a sordid stare at humanities nadir, well shot with gloomy atmosphere its actually pretty compelling. There's rape, beating, whipping, a brief but hella grisly moment after an escape attempt, all served cold and as hostile as can be. Unfortunately, the film switches gears in the second half and ditches the nihilism, it wouldn't be a bad thing but since the film has laid no groundwork in terms of plotting or character in the first, the second half just comes across as a substantial slowdown. Sure, the acting is decent, even touching, and it's a handy breather for a while, but the film comes across a little lacking when it loses its despicable fire. Classy final shot though. Not much more to say about this one, its pretty thin stuff when it comes right down to it, but for all its flaws worth a watch for serious filth-hounds, as the sadistic, inhuman edge is pretty chilling. Performances are all sound, the women convincingly and harrowingly distressed, the captors suitably vile in an uncomfortable, matter of fact way. Stylish direction from Yasuaki Uegaki keeps things bleakly interesting, but not terribly dynamic, so as mentioned the final half hour really sags. Only worth watching for the serious fans and not that great a film, I still had an OK time with Female Market. A happy 6/10 then.