Antiporno

Anti-Porno is another mind-bender by prolific Japanese cult cinema director Sion Sono. The North American premiere had a sold out seating of intrigued moviegoers. Some liked it including myself and my Japanese-Canadian friend who speaks fluent Japanese and other utterly disliked this bizarre piece of cinema. Understandably, this is not for everybody and is definitely in the sexually charged vein of Strange Circus (2005) and Guilty Romance (2011) realm rather than palatable post-apocalyptic dramas like Himizu (2011) or Land of Hope (2012).

Sono is an artist and has one the most disparate notions of time for his movies with his two best, Cold Fish (2010) and Noriko's Dinner Table (2005), clocking around 150-160 mins, but Love Exposure (2008) rambling on at 240 mins, while Tag (2015) ticked by in 85 mins. The Whispering Star (2015) is only 100 mins but feels like years with sparse dialogue and landscapes, long slow takes and black & white interplanetary postal robot mood. Anti- Porno is his shortest here at 78 mins but packs a lot of tricks in a tight vision of lust and lost.

The movie starts with cute clichés and colourful art direction concerning sex and seduction in an S&M and bisexual tension kind of way. Add a toilet, a toy, other girls as audience / participants, a taunt and a twist!

Ami Tomite who also started in Sono's Tag (2015) and The Virgin Psychics (2015) plays the lead and seductress self-proclaimed whore. She is a superstar and has her assistant prepare her packed daily schedule, including a photo-shoot, but verbal abuse, nudity, submission, sex, slicing of wrists and depravity ensue. Take a photo-shoot and video of all this…

Then comes the role reversal and question of identity. Who is shooting who and playing who? Who is directing? Who is writing? Who is shooting a sex scene in the woods or in a room? Who is a whore and a virgin? How to emancipate ourselves? What is sex and what does it say about society and individuals?

This film raises many questions, is a welcome criticism of sex as a taboo and explores Japanese sexual repression and oppression specifically, but touches on worldly and beautiful themes with a mature, daring tone. The conversation of teenage girls and their parents at dinner table is priceless and unheard of. A necessary discussion of equals that makes you think while shocking your preconceived ideas about sex and parenting, even if you are a liberal!

Thank you Sono for again pushing the boundaries.

Lots of beauty and thoughts in this seemingly absurd and self- absorbed subtle sexual and mental exploration.

Japan 2016| 78 min | Festival du Nouveau Cinema | Japanese (English subtitles)

In 2016's "Antiporno" we are introduced to Kyoko who is a renowned artist and her assistant Noriko. You immediately get a sense of what kind of person Kyoko is and how she behaves towards others. She is a psychotic lunatic and she loves to humiliate others for fun. There are lots of weird scenes and the movie mostly takes place in a colorful room with some paintings and a poorly decorated interior. The movie also contains lots of nudity and sexual content which is one of the main traits the movie deals with. Then there is a sudden turn of events which completely turns the movie upside down and gives you a new perspective to look at. After some time you also get a glimpse in to the mind of Kyoko and what events had lead her to the current situation. The movie is certainly equipped with a deeper meaning and a message but that alone doesn't make a good movie. To be honest, most of the time I was looking at the screen not knowing what the movie is trying to tell me. There are lots of weird scenes with lots of screaming and sexual talk involved and in the end the movie did not succeed as is source of entertainment and that is what I'm looking for when I watch a movie. [3,8/10]

First off, this is one crazy film. Not altogether surprising as the Japanese films we get to see in the UK have a tendency to be pretty crazy and this being a film by Sion Sono, we should not be surprised if it is double crazy. Ami Tomite is beautiful and scary, skimpily dressed and nude but always shouting. Unless she is on the receiving end that is because things do change around a bit here. Lest we get too comfortable with her ordering others to strip and perform as a whore or a dog, it is being done to her. For fun or for the cameras, because there is also a film crew within the film. They also seem pretty crazy and in case we should get the impression that this is lots of sex and violence just for the sake of it, there is a devastating message hear that basically concludes that Japanese men will never allow Japanese women to be anything other than a dog or a whore. Nice!

If like me, you're not as aware to the medium or rather genre this is a love letter to (no pun intended), you may miss certain things this nods to. Having said that, most things are apparent or at least as crazy as you'd expect them in a Sion Sono movie. Hard to grasp entirely and apprently just one of about 8 things he worked on in that year ... this is almost mind blowing.

Color and framing, the set up, everything that is put in here (or rather out there), works quite nicely. While overall I felt the title works like when you call a movie an Anti War movie - you still get war and scenes of mayhem and fighting, but they are supposed not to excite you. I would argue the same is true for this. Lots of nudity, lots of craziness. If you can deal with that and the fact there is a lot of breaking the fourth wall ... and intimidation and punishment and ... not so much arousment - you're going to be fine. Just fine

Well, let's say... it's not simple at all. You need to know some works of Japanese cinematography and paths they leads, 'cause otherwise Anchiporuno will be a big pile of trash with screaming naked girls and messed storyline. Actually it is. But digging deeper expose another level - a brilliant poetic style and very sensual emotion, just like dissonance sonates in early XX's. It's a searching, passion, movement and goal of what's happens in the movie.

Plus naked screaming girls. Don't forget, this is important.

Or just I think so.

I don't think that it has some message, pointing to sexual problems of Japanese society (but if you find it, that's okay, I'm not judging), rather uncertain sense of madness binding by personal disorder. Sexual ego jumping upside down, but in some kind of wild baroque dance.

Awesome.

When you're watching works by Sion Sono you can't just rate it in half-ten stars or seven, or any other way, you either catch his wave or spit on the screen in agony. This one is a perfect Sono- catching.

P.S. Mariko Tsutsui acting is 10/10.