By Shikha Sreenivas

The trailer for Anti-Porno, a Japanese film directed by Sion Sono, has been released by Nikkatsu Corporation. The film marks the relaunch of the iconic Nikkatsu label for Roman Porno (short for romantic-pornography). It was screened last year in France at the L’Etrange Festival where it was praised for its feminist take on sexuality.

Judging by just the trailer, the film seems to be an exaggerated rendition of a pornographic film — featuring artificial sets and bombastic colours. It seems like a promising critique of what Laura Mulvey called the male gaze, or the male fantasy of the ‘woman’ that always dictates the narrative and visuals of the pornographic film.

The trailer begins with Kyoko in her bed, sans underwear. Soon, her assistant arrives, on whom she slowly unleashes increased sexual sadism by dragging her on a leash and whipping her violently. Just when it seems to be too much, the director yells “cut!”. The film then continues to create successive levels of reality, manipulating perception and the audience’s position with respect to the film constantly. Anti-Porno, according to many of its viewers, lives up to its title.

Roman Porno was a theatrical series of Japanese soft pornographic films made in the seventies and eighties by Nikkatsu. They fell under the Japanese genre of the ‘Pink Film’. Nikkatsu gave their directors artistic freedom, as long as they met the quota of ‘four nude or sex scenes per hour’, so many of the films produced would go on to be considered cinematic masterpieces, in a class apart from the pornography we usually see around the internet.

Here is a list curated by Taste of Cinema of 30 Great Japanese Pink Films You Shouldn’t Miss.