Rating: NR
Genre: Adult
Release Date: 11/06/2007
SubTitles: English
Dubbed: Japanese
Sound: DD2
Run Time: 80 min
Distributor/Studio: Kino

Masaru Konuma directs this 1970s landmark of Japanese exploitation cinema, a wildly over-the-top softcore S&M drama based on a book by famed erotic writer Oniriku Dan. Kunishada (Nagatoshi Sakamoto) is an unabashed pervert. One day, he happens upon his kimono-clad ex-wife, Akiko (Naomi Tani), kidnaps her, and drags her to a secluded old house up in the mountains. At first he merely ties her up and humiliates her, but after she cuts him with a razor the real horror show begins. Soon Akiko finds herself tied up in a variety of exotic knots and covered in hot wax. Later, after an escape attempt ends in Akiko being raped by two darkhearted hunters, she awakens sexually and starts to enjoy her debasement. About the same time, Kunishada discovers a suicide victim in a cave. What starts as a pleasant necrophilic fling abruptly ends when he realizes that the would-be suicide Kaoru (Terumi Azuma) is not quite dead.

~ Jonathan Crow, All Movie Guide

Featuring critically acclaimed performances by S&M queen Naomi Tani -- who quickly emerged as one of Nikkatsu's most popular stars -- and Terumi Azuma, this film is widely considered to be one of the masterpieces of both the S&M genre and of Nikku Roman Porno as a whole. Of course by today's standards, the film is totally reprehensible. Featuring torture, rape, enemas, necrophilia, and hints of pedophilia, this is a film that would be a tough sell to all but hard-bitten perverts, adventurous cinephiles, or earnest gender-studies graduate students. The film is a freakshow of aberrant sexuality that will, according to one's sensibilities, leave the viewer disgusted or transfixed by the sheer audacity -- and artistry -- of the film. Not unlike Nagisa Oshima's Ai no Corrida and George Bataille's erotic novel Story of the Eye, director Masaru Konuma creates a world dominated by the gleeful transgression of all that society holds dear. Living up to her reputation, Naomi Tani suffers beautifully, giving a complex performance as a captive turned wanton woman while Nagatoshi Sakamoto, with stubbly chin and a face like a wet paper bag, is thoroughly convincing as the sort of guy you wouldn't want to sit next to on a train. Pushing the envelope of artistic boundaries, Ikenie Fujin is a landmark of 1970s Japanese cinema and a film not likely forgotten for the cinematically adventuresome.

~ Jonathan Crow, All Movie Guide

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