Joshû 701-gô: Sasori

The "Women in prison" film is a subgenre with a nasty reputation and a devoted fanbase. Usually it's nudity and cruelty galore with a plot barely thin enough to veil the only reason to watch the film is to see the sadist and lesbian (or possibly the lesbian sadist) scenes. Whereas it's true that there are a few good prison films, most of them are only in it for the exploitation. Which is not necessarily a bad point: after all, most blockbusters are only in it for the explosions.

My first Female Convict movie was "Female Convict Scorpion: Jailhouse 41". Purchased as it was released in a series of cult films, most of them were excellent enough to convince you to buy the ones you'd never heard of. To my disappointment the movie turned out to be a sequel, the second film in a series of four starring the ravishing Meiko Kaji as Prisoner 701. One year later Kaji would star as Lady Snowblood in the eponymous films that 'influenced' Tarantino quite a lot whilst shooting "Kill Bill". The Female Prisoner tune "Urami Bushi", written by the director and sung by Kaji, was used in both Kill Bill volumes.

Shunya Ito, director of Female Prisoner 701, directed only 8 movies in 26 years, surprisingly few if compared to the output of other Japanese directors such as Koji Wakamatsu and Seijun Suzuki or if you look at the visual flair displayed in Ito's films. Three out of the eight movies were Female Convict films.

If you haven't seen a W.I.P. (women in prison) film before or don't like the edgier films, "Female Convict Scorpion: Jailhouse 41" (the second one) is the one to go for. It's the most regular film of the series: most of the sequel takes place out of the prison and follows a group of escaped convicts who try to stay away from the guards who're chasing them. It may still be an exploitation film, but it's not really a W.I.P. film. But never mind your difficulty to find a label for the film: just file it under 'good'.

"Female Prisoner 701: Scorpion", the first film, is definitely exploitation, though it must be said it's a classy exploitation film. Sure, the film may start with an escape attempt by Matsu (Kaji) and another prisoner, but one doesn't have to look further than the titles to see this is exploitation cinema: naked women running up and down stairs whilst being watched by guards. But whereas there are a few traditional exploitation scenes (and some of those are pretty nasty), the film never gets tacky.

Visually a masterpiece (impressive visuals and sets), a strong lead, an excellent director, beautiful settings... this is one of the best exploitation films you'll get to see. If you are too afraid to venture into the dark waters of exploitation cinema, watch the sequel first. You won't know why Matsu is seen as such a threat to the prison or why she's imprisoned, but apart from these details you won't be deprived from an enjoyable ride and find yourself hungry to see the other three films. And if you dare, go straight to "Female Prisoner 701: Scorpion".

A beautiful young woman is double-crossed by her corrupt cop boyfriend, raped by his Yakuza thug associates, and then--to add insult to injury--unjustly sentenced to a brutal women's prison. She becomes increasingly stoical, however, biding her time until she can have her revenge on all her enemies both in and out of prison.

This is an enjoyable movie which manages to be both a WIP film and a rape-revenge film. It's also probably the best of the "Female Scorpion" series because it focuses more on the WIP elements while the later films are mostly rape-revenge (or eventually just revenge)movies. To be honest, I've never quite gotten the appeal of these female action movies. While some of their fans are female, the vast majority are men, and it's beyond me the masochistic thrill these guys get out of the "butt-kickin' babe"(personally I prefer women that do NOT beat me up, shoot me, or run me through with a samurai sword). Meiko Kaji's Female Scorpion character is in a class by herself though in that her strength comes not so much from her ability to dish out extreme punishment as to quietly endure it until she has a chance to turn the tables. The epitome of this is when she is she is strung up by the other prisoners (quite naked of course) and tortured with hot lamp bulb--Ouch!

This is also the only film in the series where Meiko has nude scenes. They're pretty tame by WIP standards, but there are plenty of other naked Japanese girls (if you're into that sort of thing)including in one hilarious scene where the female prisoner "rape" a couple of male prison guards during a riot (poor bastards!). It's a matter of taste I guess, but I liked this better than the more famous "Lady Snowblood" (also with Kaji) and definitely better than "Kill Bill".

The woman in prison exploitation sub-genre doesn't exactly have the best reputation for example Bare behind bars and SS experiment love camp comes to mind but this is something different. Firstly It feels more like an art film by the way its shot. It uses interesting compositions and at lighting. The nudity in the film doesn't feel like its sexual well to me anyway maybe a sadist would see it differently. The initial rape scene in the film is done so it's not too graphic and hard to watch similar to the one seen in Lady Snowblood. On top of all that the writing is terrific, the motivation of the Sasori isn't revenge for the rape. It's revenge for the double crossing which drives her to put up with the struggles of prison life so that she might get out. What i love about the main character is that she hardly talks throughout the film and does all the communicating with her eyes. Which leaves you guessing what she will do next. The music is great and the movie is action packed with a satisfying ending the only part that didn't seem right was the random Lesbian scene which felt out of place but they justify it later. so give it a watch you won't be disappointed.

Shunya Ito's "Joshuu 701-gô: Sasori" aka "Female Prisoner #701: Scorpion" of 1972 is an absolutely brilliant masterpiece of Japanese Exploitation cinema that is not quite comparable to anything else. The WIP (Women In Prison) sub-genre may have brought a bunch of highly entertaining flicks, but each of the four "Sasori" films (all of which were released between 1972 and 1973) outshines any other movie of the kind by a million times. Not only does "Joshuu 701-gô: Sasori", or "Sasori: Scorpion" as it is entitled here, outshine any other kind of WIP flick, this is one of the films that reign supreme in Exploitation cinema generally. More than any other movie, this film combines Exploitation and Art-house cinema, sleaze and artistic beauty in a most unique way. The absolutely divine Meiko Kaji is the star of this unforgettable film and nobody else could have played the leading role of Nami Matsushima aka. Sasori with such brilliance. Not only does she play the lead, Meiko Kaji also sings the beautiful theme song to this film, one of the greatest and most memorable pieces of Japanese film score ever, "Urami-Bushi", which became known to a wider Western audience when Tarantino used it for the soundtrack of "Kill Bill 2".

Raped, imprisoned tortured and abused, female prisoner #701, Nami Matsushima lives only for two things, escape from the hellhole of a woman's prison she is incarcerated in, and revenge on her former lover, who used her for his benefit and is responsible for all her misery. Due to her toughness and power of endurance, Nami, who is constantly tortured by sadistic guards in order to break her will, is referred to as "Sasori" ("Scorpion") by her fellow female prisoners...

The stunningly beautiful Meiko Kaji, one of my personal favorite actresses of all-time, plays her role with sheer brilliance. Sasori, who hardly says a word has an incomparably vengeful determination in her eyes, and Kaji's performance seems to become greater each time I see this movie. The rest of the performances are also outstanding, above all Riye Yokoyama, who is excellently sadistic as Katagiri, another female prisoner who hates Sasori, and Fumio Watanbe as the sadistic prison warden Goda. "Sasori" truly is an absolute exploitation highlight, and probably THE movie in which exploitation and art-house elements complement each other the most. The opening sequence, in which hundreds of naked women have to walk down a narrow hallway in a humiliating exercise (to the song "Urami-Bushi") alone is the best example for that, and furthermore one of the most memorable sequences ever in exploitation cinema. This movie is sleazy and often extremely brutal, with nasty scenes of rape, murder and sadistic torture, and yet so incomparably beautiful and often symbolic in its extreme violence and sleaze. The entire "Sasori" series with Meiko Kaji reigns supreme in the WIP sub-genre, and is a truly brilliant highlight of Japanese Exploitation cinema. Every fan of Exploitation and every lover of film in general MUST SEE this first "Sasori" film and personal favorite of mine, which easily deserves the highest rating of 10/10!

Some films, while not entirely believable are still able to pull you into them and make you invest your interest and full attention in them nonetheless. This is such a film. While it's not entirely believable, to me it's a film that is still extremely interesting and enjoyable. Of it's subject matter, this may truly be the best film of it's kind. Even with it's age and fairly low budget, somehow it still comes across to me as very poetic. Violent poetry no less, but there's certainly much more to it than just violence. This film inspired at least 6 sequels I believe, and it has been an inspiration for many remakes and imitators too. The Kill Bill films are two of them at least to some degree, they certainly draw inspiration from it at least. This is overall quite an amazing little film. It's brutal, yet still somehow it is also quite beautiful. These are not easy things to balance in the art of filmmaking, but here it is on wonderful display.

8.5/10.