Tokio em Decadência

Most films dealing with prostitution that I've seen have been very straight forward. In other words, the characters have been very loud, and to the point about what's going on in their heads. However, the lead character in Tokyo Decadence comes out differently than you might expect . In most films that portray prostitution as a hard and unsettling life, ( Whore, Leaving Las Vegas...) the main character is trying real hard to act like they enjoy what they're doing. But in Tokyo Decadence, it's quite the contrary, the lead character hardly says a word through the whole film. But you still learn so much from her expressions and way of dealing with the many different wack-job clients she has. (These include dominatrix, sadists, and necrophiles to name a few.) This is the first film like this where I've actually felt sympathy for the main character. She obviously has big dreams, presses forward to improve her situation in life constantly, only to be brought down by the degrating clientel she encounters every night. Overall, the acting is superb! As far as story is concerned, there is a serious lack of information given toward the middle of the movie. She keeps carrying around a picture of her with this guy, even going as far as buying expensive jewelry as good luck charms to get him back, ....but we don't know who he is, how she knows him, ..nothing. But despite, minor holes in the plot, the film never loses sight of the point it's trying to make. And as I said, subtlety is what makes this film powerful. It's what the characters aren't saying and showing that brings you closer to the film. One last note, the film DOES live up to it's NC-17 rating. But then again, most asian films do.

A shimmering brightness infuses "Tokyo Decadence". The neon-blasted streets, the eerie, artificial glow of offices and hotel rooms, even the translucent glow of daylight insinuates under the skin of the film.

The antiheroine of the film passes through a sexual Seven-Circles-of-Hell in Tokyo, used and battered by clients, gangsters and even friends who ply her with drugs and subversive sex. None of the sexuality is erotic, but it's also not presented as obscene or tragic. The spare, minimal approach to the dialogue heightens the tension and sense of dislocation. The film presents sex as a matter-of-fact commodity, flesh as spiritual bargaining tool in return for a temporary escape from alienation and fear.

It's an intriguing film, difficult to watch but rich in visual beauty and its subtextual dimensions are quite rewarding. The film fetishizes everything to the point of abstraction. The city of Tokyo becomes a gleaming morass of lights, skyscrapers and soullessness.

A brutal and delicate work of art.

In Tokyo, the hooker Ai (Miho Nikaido) works in an escort agency specialized in perversions and kinky sex. Ai is submissive to her clients and accepts to be humiliated, to perform sadomasochism and bondage and threesome. However she is unhappy with her life for some reason.

The Brazilian VHS of "Topâzu", a.k.a. "Tokyo Decadence" is a soft-porn labeled Erotic-Thriller. There are many scenes of Miho Nikaido performing kinky sex with her clients and basically that is all. Her unrequited love was edited from this 92 minutes version where the fortuneteller instructions are senseless. It is hard to understand why the producers allow this procedure. My vote is three.

Title (Brazil): "Tokio em Decadência" ("Tokyo in Decadence")

A call girl who works for the S&M service went through 6 sessions of bizarre sexual adventure. She was abused physically and mentally by the clients. I think this movie is great because it gives you a view of Japanese sexual culture in the 90's. Overworked men seek excitment in perverted sexual endeavors. Women's status in a society can be seen through the degrading sexual practice. A great film for adults. However, if you are looking for sex go watch "In the realm of senses".

Very erotic and sick at the same time. This movie leads you down the dark allies of human sexuality. But it touches more than the loins. This is mostly because of the innocence of the Ai, the main character. Her quest for true love and happiness stands in a deep contrast with the dark nighttime of Tokyo, ridden with perverse sex and cocaine.

This movie is a must for people interested in culture, sexuality and gender roles. It gives perfect examples of how power play somehow gets us excited, but mainly rests upon images of gender and sex we have invented inside our culture. It's a little Foucault, it's a little de Sade, it's just very interesting.