Inferno of Torture (Japan, 1969)

High demand for tattooed geisha generates an entire industry for their "production". Europeans pay more for tattooed beauties. Against this background, and considering the gorgeous tattooed women develop the history of confrontation between two highly skilled masters of tattoo.

You just can't have the romance and the happy-go-lucky films without there being  a polar opposite, a negative to the positive. Inferno of Torture is a torture-porn blood party, with naked bodies covered with tattoos getting suspended and cut up. There's a story here somewhere under the humiliation of young, beautiful women but the dark subject matter definitely has the center stage. 

Directed by Terri Ishii who has been called the Godfather of J-sploitation, a genre of films mostly best watched in good company due to how ridiculous they are, though Inferno has other things going for it than just the gore. The Eastmancolor looks amazing and fits the theme perfectly with red, glowing blood flowing down the glistening skin. Obviously not for everyone but in its own sick, deranged genre it's a gem.

  

Genre: Crime/Drama/Horror

Parasite: A Graphic Novel in Storyboards (2020)

Discover the illustrations that inspired the historic, OSCAR®-winning film’s every shot in this graphic novel drawn by Director Bong Joon Ho himself.

If you're huge into the making of films you love, you should consider picking up this book drawn by Bong Joon-ho, detailing all the storyboarding he did for his film Parasite. Many of the pages contains little annotations in the margins like "Rubber ball?" when considering the safety of using a knife and "Fruits?" when wondering what should be inside of a bowl in the kitchen.

Pretty much only for the die-hard fans of the film but very informative in showing exactly how a masterfully crafted film jumps from the page to the big screen.

The Insect Woman (Japan, 1963)

Tome is born into poverty in rural Japan, in the late 1910s. Chuji, her father, dotes on her; her mother is less faithful. Tome becomes a neighbor's mistress, works at his mill as World War II rages, and has a daughter. After an affair with a mill supervisor, Tome goes to Tokyo to seek her fortune. Tome's a maid at a brothel, learns trade from the madam, enjoys the protection of a businessman whose mistress she becomes, and is soon herself the boss. As Chuji ages and Nobuko grows up with her own ideas, can Tome's self-preserving schemes provide continued comfort?

With The Insect Woman, Shohei Imamura (The Eel, Black Rain) let's us follow a woman on a not so uplifting journey through life. We really develop sympathy for her, but also see her in a different light when she goes through some rough periods of time. Tome goes from innocent youth to hardened woman in charge. Imamura got the title from the idea of an insect that keeps making the same mistake over and over again yet doesn't give up, and like the insect, Tome always finds herself in another dark place but keeps on going. 

Genre: Drama

Kakera: A Piece of Our Life (Japan, 2009)

The story of the relationship between a college student whose relationship with her boyfriend is going nowhere and a bisexual medical artist who makes prosthetic body parts.

It's always liberating with films like Kakera which doesn't feel the need to limit itself to heteronormativity. I've heard that the Japanese are decades behind in terms of sexuality and stigma concerning relationships outside the norm. 

Director Momoko Ando is greatly aware of the prejudice in our society towards different kinds of sexual orientations and mirrors that with characters you'd be happy to slap in the face and one in particular raises some problematic issues due to how he's allowed to continue, but that trash bag aside, Kakera portrays two women with different experiences who're discovering  a strong attraction between themselves. 

Genre: Drama