Maruhi: jorô ichiba

This film may appeal to the Asian culture rather than Westerners. I enjoyed it to a point. Maybe I missed a lot in the translation. With the exaggerated acting, it comes over as a Japanese manga (erotic illustrated story), the characters broadly drawn and the situations verging on the impossible. In comic cartoons the artist can create and fantasise on anything - defying laws of gravity, excessive violence, physical attributes, whatever takes his fancy.

So it is here. Sold into prostitution by her so-called "uncle" a young girl is so innocent so naive she doesn't know what she has to do. Hence situations arise where clients hungry for sex chase her about her room. She thinks it is a game to be enjoyed. She manages to slip out of their clutches every time. Repetition can bore one to tears. There is a scene where three blind men clutching at entertwined bodies end up in each other's arms . In another scene a hefty sumo wrestler falls through an upper floor on to a copulating couple with such force that they can't disengage themselves. A glass or two of sake might help in appreciating these unbelievable situations.

On a more serious side the film does indeed show the plight of women 200 years ago when they were enslaved to men's desires having no say in their lives or in their futures. Having no means of support many were forced into prostitution. This is a strange note on which to finish this review, but the film itself ends on a strange note too. Many viewers may find the last scenes objectionable certainly not comical. Does it mean she has at last learnt her profession? or does it mean she is saying thank you to her "uncle" in his effort to help her.

This film is about as politically incorrect as is possible. Good grief, where to start .......?

It's the early 19th century, and the brothel business is booming. So much so that whorebrokers must travel to every village. An old hand spots a mildly retarded young woman, whom everyone else thinks is totally useless. But he has a "special method" to determine how good she'll be as a working girl. He buys the girl, who knows nothing at all about sex, and sells her to a brothel.

The girl IS a disaster. When asked to entertain a trio of blind loan sharks, she hides behind a screen and watches them mistakenly paw each other. Through her complete lack of understanding about her duties, she manages to remain a virgin after her first three clients, and to nearly wreck the building more than once.

The madam asks an elder worker to instruct the girl. The elder finds that, indeed, the whorebroker was correct. The elder has to take a week off work to recover. A co-worker comments "the room is under repair, and so is the elder".

In total frustration, the madam demands the whorebroker refund the money. To confirm his reputation, the whorebroker shows that the girl is, indeed, as good as he judged. He takes her through all the positions of the kama sutra, with tragic consequences.....

The story is very raunchy, though with no more than discreet nudity (topless at most), and is played for extreme silliness. Though a comedy, the ending is very sad, bordering on pathetic. Overall - worth a look, but you have been warned !

WARNING: This review reveals some plot points!

I saw this film on late-night British TV (where it was retitled 'The Virgin Courtesan') and can honestly say I haven't laughed so much in years! It plays like a raucous soft-porn parody of 'My Fair Lady' or 'Born Yesterday.' A wide-eyed innocent ventures into a corrupt, alien world - and reduces it to a shambles with her own brand of goofy integrity. Any plot summary makes it sound gross, gratuitous and offensive. How can we laugh at a film where a 'mentally challenged' girl gets sold into prostitution? Especially one that includes a long and drawn-out 'comic' rape scene akin to Almodovar's 'Kika'?

Incredibly enough, laugh we can and laugh we do. The humour is raunchy and outrageous - and often very black. Yet director Chusei Sone has an elegance and lightness of touch that ensures it's never vulgar and (more important, perhaps) never cruel. Not even a closing act of necrophilia can shatter the film's overall good spirits, or our liking for its 'dumb but honest' heroine - whose naivete about sex and her own body makes her an unlikely feminist figure in patriarchal 19th century Japan. This film is a gem! Don't miss it!