|
Storyline:
In PORNO PERIOD DRAMA, Tetsuro Tanba plays a nihilistic
ronin who faces down the "Clan of the Forgotten Eight",
who got their name because they lost all their basic
emotions like conscience, gratitude, loyalty, shame etc.
With his sword Onibouchou (literally: Ogre''s Kitchen
Knife!) Tanba''s character hacks into their ranks in ways
that has limbs and severed heads fly everywhere and the
blood flows in rivers! On his way, he only stops to take
every woman he meets, forcefully if need be!
Special Features:
- Trailer
- Image Gallery
Review:
Teruo Ishii''s outrageously lascivious, grotesquely
violent Bohachi Bushido: Code of the Forgotten Eight is,
without a doubt, an exploitation film. Happily, not only
is it, with its beguiling sleaze and exciting action
sequences, a consistently entertaining work, but it is
also well realized and often beautiful. The director has
enlivened his film with some genuinely gorgeous moments
that give the lurid content of his spectacle a subtle
loveliness.
There is hardly a moment during the whole of the movie
that is not exquisitely realized. Whether Ishii is
showing rows of naked women attending a banquet,
elaborately coiffured prostitutes sitting behind lattice
windows to attract clients, the silhouettes of nude
women fighting a lone man before an indigo sky, or some
other captivating image, the director reveals an
aesthetic sensitivity that elevates his work above most
exploitation films.
Bohachi Bushido might be vicious and leering, but, with
its sumptuous sets and costumes, its often weird
lighting, its skilled cinematography, and its focus on
both the charms of the human form and the cruel nature
of the human condition, it is imbued with such beauty
that even the ferocious violence and the brutal
sexuality with which it is filled are given a sort of
ethereal grace. Scenes of murder and torture, though
disturbing, are, at the same time, elegant and pleasing.
Oddly, their very beauty makes them even more disturbing
that they would otherwise have been.
I might now add that when I say that the film is
violent and leering, I do mean it. In scene after scene
after scene, Ishii revels in exposing the jiggling
breasts and bouncing buttocks of virtually every woman
who appears in his movie. Whether these women are
prostitutes servicing their clients, sword-armed killers
attacking or doing battle with some man or another,
apparently innocent victims being assaulted by
libidinous gangsters, or simply female lackeys sitting
about, they are almost invariably naked (I suppose that
it is more comfortable to eat or lounge around in the
nude and more effective to fight in the nude than it is
to do such things dressed). What is more, the director
does not just keep his actresses uncovered, he makes
sure that the cameras filming them linger on their
breasts and buttocks as much as is possible.
Bohachi Bushido''s violence is just as intense as is its
sexuality. The protagonist engages in one confrontation
after another. Sometimes, he kills defenseless men or
women. At other times, he duels some single opponent or
another, and, frequently, he takes on whole armies of
foes. Whatever the fight Shiro finds himself in, he
inevitably severs heads and limbs, after which geysers
of blood spray from these wounds. The movie''s fights are
extreme. They are also invariably well choreographed and
exciting to watch.
I will hardly claim that Bohachi Bushido is not an
exploitation film. I will, however, say that it is a
well made and engaging one. It is certainly well worth
watching.
MovieRapture
|
