Kurutta Butokai

Like Sato's best-known and probably most widely seen pink film, THE BEDROOM aka AN ARIA ON GAZES, this movie deals with obsessions, both sexual and otherwise (but mostly sexual), only now from a gay point of view and relatively straightforward and accessible unlike the convoluted BEDROOM. The male editor and photographer of a muscle magazine (which his boss readily admits is 'a good excuse for looking at hard bodies') falls in love with a beautiful young man who performs in a fascinating experimental play. Their relationship starts off tenderly but soon turns sour when the younger man reveals sadistic tendencies his partner cannot contend with. Following a particularly grueling sex session involving involuntary bloodletting, the photographer lops off his boyfriend's arm with a samurai sword ! After a year in prison, he's still obsessing over his lost love (whose arm he's still keeping in a jar by his bed !) and tries to track him down. Considering he's a one-armed hustler, this is not as easy as you might think. The final masked ball sequence where the lovers are reunited is both incredibly shocking and bizarrely touching in a very Japanese way. You'll understand once you see the film, and indeed you should as this is a true masterpiece of warped cinema, consistently diverting audience expectations, stunningly shot in hauntingly beautiful widescreen compositions. Whether you're gay or not (though, granted, it'll work better for you if you are) the sex scenes are incredibly hot stuff, even though they're a lot less explicit than they seem at first glance. Sato's a true master of suggestion in this respect. References to the work of Pier Paolo Passolini (TEOREMA and SALO especially) could've made the film end up looking pretentious and awkward yet it's anything but. Get hold of your copy today ! This is a must-own modern classic.

This is another of Hisayasu Satõ's gay themed pink films. It has several gay sex scenes that are better left to others to say whether they are erotic or not. It also has one straight, man and woman sex scene but they don't even get naked.

The story and characters are interesting. Especially that the main one keeps the other man's arm he cut off preserved in a jar. But the last 20 minutes of the film gets very avant-garde. It just lost me completely. I also didn't like the main character so didn't really care of his quest.

The cast was good so can't complain about the acting. Was a bit surprised that other than a few bodybuilders flexing during the opening credits, there was no muscles after that. You'd think based on the movie title there should be.

Maybe I'm just not the target audience. Unfortunately, I just can't recommend this movie.