DEBAUCHED DESIRES: Four Erotic Masterpieces by Masaru Konuma

PRESS RELEASE

Kino International and KimStim are proud to release the four-DVD set Debauched Desires: Four Erotic Masterpieces by Masaru Konuma.

Directed by the master of Japanese erotic cinema Masaru Konuma, CLOISTERED NUN: RUNA'S CONFESSION (1976), TATTOOED FLOWER VASE (1976), EROTIC DIARY OF AN OFFICE LADY (1977) and a re-mastered version of WIFE TO BE SACRIFICED (1975) are now available in one four-DVD set at the reduced price of $49.95. Previously, each of these films was available at $29.95.

The street date for Debauched Desires: Four Erotic Masterpieces by Masaru Konuma is May 19, 2009.

"Stylishly directed and singularly harrowing" (Japanese Cinema Encyclopedia), these four films are classic examples of pink cinema, a style of Japanese, softcore theatrical films which was common in the early 1960s.

Typically produced on bare-bones budgets and clocking in at an economical seventy minutes, quite a few of these films – like Masaru Konuma's controversial S&M flick A Wife to Be Sacrificed (1974) – became box-office smashes.

But more importantly, these films were some of the first works to merge cinema aesthetics with daring representations of sexuality and S&M relationships. Therefore, the works of pink-film directors like Konuma and Ryuichi Hiroki (Kino and KimStim's Vibrator) have been recently restored, re-considered and revived – not only due to their intrinsic qualities, but also due to their yet-misunderstood role in shaping Japan's current film production and distribution.

Always frankly erotic and sometimes, deeply transgressive, these films brought an unprecedented combination of high production values, sophisticated aesthetic and adult material to the screen. But due to strict postwar censorship laws, these films were forbidden to show genitalia, pubic hair or "hardcore" sexual intercourse. Therefore, filmmakers had to be creative in their depiction of sexual acts through the use of extreme close-ups, inventive compositions, as well as the intentional use of black marks over potentially incriminating areas.

Having started working for the famed Nikkatsu Studio in the early 60s, immediately after graduating in film studies from the Nihon University, Masaru Konuma joined his company's effort to produce pink films after the novelty of television programming began to erode theatrical attendance in Japan. While many Nikkatsu staff members left the company, Masaru Konuma stayed on board and started directing his own feature films in the early 70s. "The pleasure of becoming a director was greater than anything else at that moment …" said Masaru Konuma. "I was just happy to be making movies."

The disc for Wife to be Sacrificed presents as a special feature, the little seen doc Sadistic and Masochistic (2000, 91 min.), from director Hideo Nakata, the man behind Dreamworks' Ring Two and the original Japanese franchise The Ring.

With a focus on the pink films directed by Masaru Konuma, Sadistic and Masochistic is a meditation on the man whom Hideo Nakata considered to be his mentor.

WIFE TO BE SACRIFICED
a film by Masaru Konuma

"Intimate and artfully extreme, Miss Tani is Japan's most exciting actress."
– Asian Cult Movies Magazine

In Wife to Be Sacrificed, Queen of Japanese erotica Naomi Tani plays Akiko, a wife who charges her husband with sexual battery. But he escapes from the police and goes into hiding.

As three years pass, Akiko divorces him and tries to put the pieces of her life back in order. Suddenly, he returns. Full of rage and hatred, he kidnaps her and takes her to a house in a remote wooded area. There he disciplines Akiko Vehemently, subjecting her to increasingly shocking forms of sexual torture,
tetherings, and humiliations.

Astonishingly, through the anger and lust, the pair develop a relationship that pushes the boundary of lurid passion and perverse obsession.

Kimstim presents Wife to Be Sacrificed on DVD from a digitally restored 16×9 master.

Special Features:
· Original Theatrical Trailer
· Konuma Bio / Filmography
· "Sadistic and Masochistic"
(2000, 91 min., color, in Japanese w/ English subtitles)

From director Hideo Nakata, Sadistic and Masochistic is a documentary about Masaru Konuma. Nakata served as assistant director to Konuma on many films and considers him to be his artistic mentor.

Japan / 1975 / 80 min. / color / in Japanese with English subtitles / unrated

EROTIC DIARY OF AN OFFICE LADY
a film by Masaru Konuma

In Erotic Diary of an Office Lady (aka OL Kanno nikki: Ah! Watashi no naka de), the fearless Asami Ogawa (Beautiful Girl Hunter) stars in her debut performance as a strait-laced office worker with an extremely kinky private life. Not only is Asami having an affair with her boss, she is also arranging trysts for her aging and widowed father.

Made as part of the Nikkatsu Studio's "Roman Pink" collection of films, Erotic Diary of an Office Lady is the final and most infamous installment of the notorious "OL (Office Lady)" series.

Kimstim presents Erotic Diary of an Office Lady on DVD from a digitally restored 16×9 master.

Special Features:
· Original Theatrical Trailer
· Konuma Bio / Filmography

Japan / 1977 / 72 min. / color / in Japanese with English subtitles / unrated

CLOISTERED NUN: RUNA'S CONFESSION
a film by Masaru Konuma

Classic Japanese nunsploitation! In this "Roman Pink" feature, pretty Runa joins a convent when her stepsister steals her boyfriend. But to her surprise, Runa's life of devout religious observance doesn't exactly turn out the way she expects. Inside her cloistered domain, she discovers more perversity than anything she ever knew outside the convent walls.

A few years pass, and Runa is ready for revenge against her stepsister and ex-boyfriend. She gets them involved in a bogus Vatican scheme to promote Catholicism in Japan, a plot development that makes Cloistered Nun: Runa's Confession far more politically pointed than the numerous European "sexy nun" films it resembles. Cult "pinku eiga" director Masaru Konuma (Wife to Be Sacrificed) shows that he does not pull punches for the sake of lightweight erotic fluff!

Kimstim presents Cloistered Nun: Runa's Confession on DVD from a digitally restored 16×9 master.

Special Features:
· Original Theatrical Trailer
· Konuma Bio / Filmography

Japan / 1976 / 72 min. / color / in Japanese with English subtitles / unrated

TATTOOED FLOWER VASE
a film by Masaru Konuma

Mrs. Yoshino (played by Naomi Tani, the queen of Japanese erotica) is a beautifully elegant, maturing widow who lives a quiet existence with Takako, her teenaged daughter. But when Takako begins a relationship with the handsome Hideo, the simple mom suddenly discovers mysterious feelings of ecstasy and guilt.

In Tattooed Flower Vase, these events are just the beginning of another "Roman Pink" tale of sexual intrigue. Hideo, we learn, has an uncanny similarity to the man that stole Mrs. Yoshino's virginity years before. As the story escalates, a severe and perverse rivalry develops between mother and daughter.

Kimstim presents Tattooed Flower Vase on DVD from a digitally restored 16×9 master.

Special Features:
· Original Theatrical Trailer
· Konuma Bio / Filmography

Japan / 1976 / 74 min. / color / in Japanese with English subtitles / unrated