If you have read much of my blog you probably know I am a huge fan of Suzuki Seijun, and have collected every film of his that has been released in the US to date, luckily someone at Criterion is obviously a huge fan as well. Not yet at his completely off the wall insanity stage, but another film with quite a social message about the state of Japan after World War II. Pleasantly this film is in color so we get some of Suzuki’s wild color’s and we also see a scene where the character Sen is lit with a sharp spotlight that moves with her as she moves, and some nice double exposures to show characters inner thoughts. Certainly worth checking out, though not one of the first Suzuki films you should see.

REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILERS…

Nogawa Yumiko plays Maya and 18 year old Japanese woman in the slums of Tokyo, who was raped by American GI’s and only helped by a kind black Catholic Priest (Chico Rolando), but who when she needs work runs into the touch and cruel Sen (Kasai Satoko) dressed in her red dress, who takes Maya into her gang of prostitutes who live in an abandoned and bombed out building, and ply their trade only with Japanese and never with American GI’s. These include the bovine Roku ( Ishii Tomiko) dressed in yellow, and Mino (Matsuo Kayo) dressed in purple, as well as the much different Machiko (Tominaga Misako) who dresses in a Kimono and dreams of marriage again (she was once married to a teacher but he died in the war), and treats her regulars like a husband. The gang treats sex as business and anyone who gives sex away for free is beaten and tortured within an inch of their lives and then cast out on the streets to fend for themselves. Things get rocky when an ex soldier who can’t get over the war shows up, Ibuki Shintaro (Shishido Joe of the chipmunk cheeks) and takes over their home after stabbing a GI who was in on a raid with him. The girls all fall for him, but then Machiko is caught giving sex for free to the client she loves, and they beat her in front of Shin, who comments on how beautiful she is, causing more tension. When Shin gets money for supposed Penicillin he has stolen he takes Machiko out and sleeps with her, after she has been proposed to by her man, but they know they are not right for each other, so Machiko goes to her man, and Shin returns to the whores. Maya tries to become more evil so Shin will like her, and actually rapes the priest who had helped her, causing him to commit suicide, she has degraded herself as far as she can go. Shin steals a cow and brutally butchers it in front of them, then they go and get wood alcohol and have a feast and get wasted. Maya sees Shin like her brother who died in Borneo, but Sen tries to act lady like and seduce Shin, but fails, but Maya drags him to an abandoned boat outside and attacks him and they make love, but Sen sees it. Shin goes to sell the extra beef, and tells Maya he will meet her at a bridge if she wants to go off with him someplace where no one will know them. She agrees, but Sen and the girls torture her brutally naked (you do see her breasts, the only other nudity being Joe Shishido’s ass as he showers and the girls watch), and when she escapes it is 10 AM, and Sen has told the Yakuza where to find Shin at the bridge, where he is killed, and it is learned he has no Penicillin but the personal effects of a war buddy of his instead. Maya doesn’t find him, but finds his flag floating in the water and knows he is dead, so she wanders off, while the 3 remaining whores return to their normal life selling themselves for the same cost as a pound of meat.

A disturbing, but enjoyable film, showing how subjugated Japan was by the US, and how the old ways were pretty much run over by the new ways, seen as Democracy, but really not helping the people. Just like M.P.’s won’t help a raped Japanese girl. And how the soldiers could not even deal with their daily lives on the return and were forced to the fringes.