Flower & Snake (2004)

The first of director Takashi Ishii's own versions of this tale of BDSM and honour, following the very first in 1974. Here we have a much more sexy tale, a lot of the edge has been smoothed away. We still have an enema scene of sorts here but it is by no means as central to the lead character's degradation as it was in the first films. So, whilst this film will appear totally unacceptable to the average film-goer, it is much easier and less uncomfortable to fans of extreme Japanese cinema. In some ways this may be a more transgressive movie because we do come extremely close here to an acceptance, possibly an enjoyment and even an empowerment as a result of the pain, suffering and ultimate 'showing of the real face'. Having said all that for those partial to the sight of female bodies in exquisite bondage, this is the movie for you. Pubic hair is also, unusually, on view and this is certainly the greatest film ever made featuring extreme bondage and ballroom dancing. The men come off very badly, as usual, spending all their time in power games whilst they hand the power straight to the ladies.

Takashi Ishii is my best movie 'find' of the last year (along with Park Chan Wook). When I finished watching BLACK ANGEL #1 I said to myself (silently since the film had left me utterly speechless) I have seen the face of grand opera for the 21st century. FLOWER & SNAKE takes its place on that same lofty summit. But whereas BLACK ANGEL fits neatly into the groove of Verdi and Wagner, FLOWER & SNAKE is more attuned to the hothouse orchid atmosphere of Strauss' SALOME, but dressed up (and down) in very contemporary style. I can imagine that Strauss would have loved for his SALOME to look like this! It is all about unrequited 'forbidden' love/lust. Westerners tend to be very uneasy with this area of human experience: witness S. Kubrick's last gasp of a dying breath EYES WIDE SHUT. Not so the Japanese. They grab Priapus by the horns and do their damnedest to wrestle him to the ground. More often than not leaving a trail of their own blood and guts strewn along the wayside. AND making ART of it all the while.While all S&M is ritualized to one degree or another, in a culture like Japan where RITUAL is fundamental to all cultural experience, the ritualization of the 'forbidden' is raised to the level of the sublime. This is most especially true in its artistic expressions. Erotic art is a very well established genre in Japan. And S&M erotic art is a very well established sub-genre there as well. One need not be an 'S&Mer' to appreciate it's artistic merits. But you can not deny it's artistic merits. I have seen rather a lot of (gay) Japanese erotic art on the web and a lot of it belonged to this sub-genre. If this is not Ishii's bag, then he did his homework very well. The traditional male loin cloth plays a very big role in Japanese homoerotic art, so I was rather surprised to see this fetish lavished so lovingly on the woman in the film. And the whole bondage business!!! The ritualistic binding with rope and knot tying is astonishing!!! And nearly verbatim from the many Japanese prints I have seen. (To see for your self google 'Gengoroh Tagame') This is erotic art of the highest order, albeit of a very specialized order. I can not recommend it too highly. On the other hand, if your sexual tastes are firmly entrenched in the vanilla flavors of Hollywood 'tweenky' sexploitation movies, then you might want to knock back a few before watching this. On the other hand if you enjoy sex while riding a roller coaster thru the funhouse and the chamber of horrors, you will die over this. It gives a whole new meaning to 'two thumbs up'!!!!

Superb, brutal, erotic, handsomely produced sado-masochistic masterpiece from director Takeshi Ishii. It could have been titled "Wife To Be Sacrificed" because Shizuko (Aya Sugimoto), the wife of a wealthy businessman, is sacrificed in order to pay off her husband's debts.Everything "Eyes Wide Shut" pretended to be this is. It does not cower from its powerful subject matter or merely titillate. It is the work of an incendiary artist with a firm grip on the material and the material's ability to emotionally resonate.Sugimto, who is one of the strongest, most stunning, most beautiful creatures ever to ignite the cinema screen, is totally convincing as a woman plunged into a cruel, nihilistic, carnal hell referred to only as The Coliseum. It is a stadium-like space where the rich and powerful get their kicks watching beautiful women raped, beaten, bound and, in some cases, murdered, in a pretentious, circus-style setting.This is a big budget extravaganza of ravishing perversion and beauty mixed with a violent white collar crime plot. Ishii's direction of both the violent confrontations and sado-masochistic set pieces is stunning. His camera dives, swirls, caresses and illuminates the provocative tableaux.Goro Yasukawa's score is beautiful, and artfully enriches every aspect of this sensational production. It took three cinematographers to fully realize the striking visual style that brings Ishii's original vision to life.The Oniroku Dan novel, 'Flower and Snake', has been filmed before, but this is the definitive version and the most sincere, a hardcore smack to the chops of conservative culture.

Remind me of Nicholas Cage's 8mm about smurf films and Stanley Kubrik's wild and last Eyes Wide Shut(mind my spelling if some are wrong). Other than that, too complicated and obsessed for sex, nude, violence, to comprehend what it's trying to say, like many other Japanese flicks. Maybe it's not about understanding what the movie is trying to say, but just movie as it is. Well, at least the actress is pretty, seems a little old for all that bold numerous nude shots. I wonder how much she, the character, suffered 'and' enjoyed the whole ordeal. She DID enjoyed it, I think!!! I probably will not watch it again nor buy a DVD. But, it was good strange flick. I enjoy change of scenery time to time. Ciao^^