Nun's Diary: Confession (1979)

A lovely young lady goes from marriage to cliff jump suicides edge after thugs break into her home and rape her on her wedding night. Unable to deal with the shame her husband kicks her out (an honour thing I guess though it seems like a straightforward dick move to me), and just as all seems lost a friendly abbot recruits her to a convent. Here she settles in to a quiet life of worship and contemplation, the rest of the film playing out as a restrained and respectful treatment of convent life and the religious way. I'm yanking your chain of course, as one might expect from the title this is pinku territory. What one might not expect is how fun the film is and not just fun in a "laugh at all the degradation and weirdness" way, but intentionally amusing. Director Koyu Ohara adopts an approach to this nunsploitation film that owes more to Bunuel (albeit a rather perverse Bunuel) than it does the likes of Flavia the Heretic, he is critical, but more concerned with oddball comedy than he is grim shock tactics. The convent our heroine finds herself in is something of a hotbed for lust and corruption, it has made a pretty poor job of withdrawing from secular concerns and perversions. We get cruciform poses during sex, bread masturbation alongside prayer, money woes and a gangster in hiding and much of it is in a spirit of good fun. The women are beautiful (leading lady Yuki Nohira is a particular delight) and there's a fair amount of nudity, a little abuse but nothing too elaborate, and the film zips along nicely. Tensions do build though, as various higher ups prove to be pretty slimy customers and everything builds to a completely bonkers and pretty darned funny climax. As with the other pinkus that I've seen so far, this one didn't completely hold my attention, it is never boring but my mind did wander and I expect it wasn't supposed to, I don't whether its a problem with the film or just me but it is worth saying. On the other hand, this is probably the most fun that I've had with the genre so far and even the most accomplished I've seen. Ohara directs with real vision, vision that goes beyond twisted characters and crackpot sleaze. Memorable images are well spread throughout, and he gives the convent a clean, reverent look that contrasts very well with the shenanigans within. There's a great sense of hustle bustle where needed as well, he has a good handle on action when it gets more kinetic. The proof of his skill comes I think at a point where the dreaded Japanese beaver blockers appear and are irritating more for ruining the symmetry of the shot than the eroticism. Nothing more to say really, but if you dig this kind of cinema give this one a look pronto, its quite a winner.

Spirited nunsploitation from Koyu Ohara, the director of "White Rose Campus: Then, Everybody Gets Raped!" Well, here's more rape-themed pink. After a blushing bride is raped on her wedding night by a bunch of thugs, her husband rejects her (in the grand Japanese tradition) and she contemplates suicide. She is saved at the last minute by a priest who invites her to join a convent on the edge of town. This convent is not your ordinary convent, it is a haven for hot lesbians in habits. These women spend their nights fondling each other and their days (yes, days!) visiting Tokyo discos and getting picked up by horny boys who don't take no for an answer. Into this scenario comes a man searching for his lost sister and a bizarre religious ritual involving rich men who pay to have sex/rape with a woman dressed as a sheep. The plot is typically bizarre for a Nikkatsu production and the performances are strong. Some of the sex scenes are mighty erotic, especially the lesbian trysts, which are numerous. Ohara has a shameless, perky film-making style that elevates sleaze to a gentle, perverse art. Although this film is inferior to Suzuki's masterful "Convent of the Holy Beast", it is still a must-see for fans of lesbians, nuns, and vaginas.

8/10 for pure sleaze.I'm not sure why it's called Wet & Rope, it should be called Nuns Need Lovin' Too. Or Disco Nuns. Maybe the sleaziest nunsplotation flick I've seen yet. I loved it! It's only 70 minutes long, and it has so much sleaze packed into it. Spoilers (lol) ahead. Where to begin… --the main character gets raped on her wedding night in front of her new husband. The rapist leaves, and the husband throws her out. So she becomes a nun.--Japanese nuns wear very large knickers.--nuns like going to the discotheque, picking up two guys and doing them at the same time.--the subtitle translator went to the Ralph Wiggum school of English. They actually had "unpossible" as a word.--nuns seem to enjoy bread for other purposes then to eat.--if a guy rapes a nun in front of another nun, it seems to be allowed in Japan.--two nuns dry hump and diddle each other while a priest watches them and polishes his silverware. And I actually mean polishing silverware. Not a euphemism.--The nuns throw a party for something called St. Animals Celebration (I know my Catholicism is a little rusty, but St. Animal?), where business men come and pay to see who gets to rape a nun dressed as a sheep on the alter. Meanwhile all the other business men orgy out with the other nuns.--our main character sees her rapist (the first one that is, from her wedding night), but doesn't get any form of revenge.--at no point is the Devil or a demon part of the movie.Now it's possible that not all nuns everywhere are into this type of behavior, but if I learned one thing from this movie, it's that Japanese nuns like getting raped.

Nunsploitation would seem to be more of a European thing, but the Japanese decided to have a go too, and Wet and Rope is one of the results. Asian cinema is often remarked upon for its bizarreness, and after having seen this film; I've got to say that isn't surprising...in the least! Quite what the hell the point of this film is, is anyone's guess, as all the sleazy elements on display don't mean a thing to one another, thus making the film merely a collection of oddities, united one very thin plot line. The story (if you can even call it that) follows a young woman who tries to commit suicide after being thrown out by her husband. After being saved by a priest, she is recruited into his convent...where all the nuns are more pervy than your average whore! The film features a lot of sex, some of it featuring things like masks, bread rolls and (wait for it) sheep costumes! I actually can't believe there was a time when I found lesbian sex out of the ordinary...it's the norm in films like these! It really is hard to take this film seriously, but it's not a complete dead loss as watching the events unfold is often very funny, and fans of wayward cinema are likely to get a kick out of it. Overall, I can't say that this is a favourite of mine...but it's just about worth seeing.