Onna no kappa

Just watched this at the Fantastic Fest 2011 in Austin and was blown away. It defies genres. The director is know as a pink movie director, basically a kind of Japanese soft porn, but the film truly transcends this label. It's very very funny at times, has a cuteness to the characters, is sexually quite explicit, yet at the same time very romantic.

Fundamentally, though, it is fundamentally a film about the existentially condition of life, about living in the now, enjoying life and love to the full and as such is very successful. Humor and sexuality are both used with good effect to demonstrate the temporal and immediate nature of human existence. You laugh, you cry, you get horny, you listen to the strange songs and you think about the nature of our short lives on this earth.

The cinematography is very good, the pale and low contrast images capture the landscape, particularly the water, very well.

All in all, a true pearl of a movie!

This is a mildly pleasant and entertaining film, but also a very pedestrian effort at several areas as direction, acting, choreography... etc. I came to this film by virtue of being a Stereo Total fan; and though I can't say I'm disappointed with their effort, I'm left wondering how they were persuaded to do this. Sure, their approach to music and fame is comparable to a B-movie, but I still think that their talent was largely wasted. The movie's strong points are its warm heartedness, an interesting display of nature - the leaves of the aquatic plants surely leave an impression, the fact that we can develop sympathy for its main characters, and its purposeful embrace of a kitsch aesthetic. But sometimes the purposeful kitsch isn't enough to compensate the lack of production values. I think that the sketchy characterizations of the mythical creatures "kappa" are enjoyable, the sexual interaction with kappa and humans is very funny, but the movie suffers from the lack of crew talent and the apparent non-budget. For instance, the switches from regular acting to the musical numbers seem forced, as there isn't much change from camera angle, scenario, whatever... The actors often seem like they don't know how to diversify their dancing act, and, as they are not singing the songs but only dancing, they are often caught with a somewhat stupid expression, like "i'm sorry i can't dance very well". Also, I have never seen an erotic film (even one that is only vaguely erotic) with such an unattractive lead female character (well, and the same could be said about the male...). Sawa Masaki really isn't a beautiful woman and you don't want to see her naked, at best you can tolerate it. She's not a great actress, either. There is another sex scene with the main kappa and a prostitute that seems to be thrown in for the sake of giving the viewers some diversity and a better looking actress. I enjoyed the scene (it is sexy and funny), but it looks like an ad-hoc plot arrangement. That said, it surely is a curious movie, reasonably entertaining, and worth watching if you're a fan of Stereo Total, weird movies in general or Japanese weirdity in particular (not so much if you're looking for Asian erotica).

Unlike most here, who i'm sure mostly have relative-to-other pinku / erotica films comparatives, experiences to share, and film-criticisms/film-praise of it's multiple blended genres,

the first thing i thought of ( guilty-puppy look ) that i should make a point about in a review here, was from perhaps the under-developed porn directer in me,

That in the first sex-scene with the Kappa, he seems perfectly fine, with being shown the front door, instead of insisting on the rear,

which, although i believe not-explicitly always-consistent? In the myth/lore? I.e. Sometimes shirikodama are not a part of the myth at all, and it might only be a partial occurrence? / was only sometimes present, presumably in the more monstrous portrayals?

... would nevertheless,.. mm... make sense, to be of primary-interest / natural-instinct, would it not?

Considering the normal location of the also-mythical shirikodama?

I.e. If they're normally getting in there for sourcing their mystical power... surely the front door's of little interest?

Is our contributing to society hero-of-a-Kappa, meant to be an exception to the rule?

He is also quite passive / not very proactive,

so perhaps he was meant to be cast that way?

:) OK then, but it does detract from the original creative-CONCEPT a bit, for the ever/always 'with-a-bald-spot' (hint) creatures, to be OK with risking ending up with more mouths to feed, or whatever else, transitionally.

Using metaphoric transitions is always fiddly, i just wondered if it might've been a production oversight / deliberate. If there's further movies like this / any sequels, you might want to ... 'stick to what's consistent between us all'.

Hrrrrmph. Never invite a history-student to a musical.

Didn't-know-how-to rate / probably shouldn't've rated this, so i gave it a 5/6.

I suppose it depends on what you are used to - but the combination of genres in this is fascinating, IMHO. Definitely the first musical / pink / swamp creature / reincarnation film that I've seen - and it was very funny as well.

I found the main actress to be very engaging and - particularly during the song and dance numbers - convincingly looking like she was having a great time. Having Christopher Doyle on board is always a plus in my view and, sure enough, this looks great despite the limited budget. Even the story makes some kind of sense if you just go with the flow and accept the internal logic.

Great fun.

The tagline for this movie is "A Pink Musical" and it is a kooky musical comedy.

Unlike a lot of pinku movies, this one is well acted and the story line is actually well thought and mapped out. In other words there is both acting and a plot line instead of filler for the nudity.

The movie is well shot and the main actress plays her role very well. The musical and dance number are where she shines. There is an uninhibitedness about her in those scenes and those scenes IMO make the movie.

Being a pinku movie there is of course nudity and sex, even human - mythical creature sex.

A good movie that makes you laugh and smile. Something i would definitely watch again.