Sadistic and Masochistic Page #2

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When Konuma was an assistant director,

he rarely did a lick of work.

MASARU MORI - CINEMATOGRAPHER

He was always off gambling

or playing games.

- The movies still got made.

- They got made.

So there were four ADs there?

We only needed the chief

and one assistant.

We didn't notice

the other two were missing.

Tanaka was an artist.

It was his plan originally.

We saved up

from our Nikkatsu salaries.

We wanted to make a movie

outside the studio.

KOYU OHARA - DIRECTOR

We put Konuma in charge of the money,

and he spent it!

He went and blew it all at girlie bars.

He blew a month's salary in one night.

He was buying drinks for all the girls.

All the money we'd saved

to make our film,

he went and spent every last penny.

Tanaka was absolutely furious.

Anyone would be.

Then what happened?

They reckoned it was their fault

for having trusted him.

That was it.

We started all over again.

After shooting Shameful School,

KATAGIRI KONUMA:

we began dating.

Really? I wanted to ask you about that.

It's ancient history.

Konuma was the AD

YUKO KATAGIRI - ACTRESS

when you began your soft-porn career.

You two were dating.

Our apartment house

was at the end of a road.

My room was this side,

and his was at the end.

She was always disappearing from the set.

Some of the crew got suspicious

and tailed her one day.

They thought she was with me!

They thought we were getting it on.

But I couldn't let on that I knew.

- So you knew they were dating?

- Sure.

They were tiny apartments.

My furniture would rattle

when she was with him.

We were dating, but we had problems.

Yes. We even broke up once.

Before you got married?

Before I got into soft porn.

The breakup made me determined

to throw myself into Roman porno,

or soft-porn roles.

- The breakup helped?

- Yes.

Nikkatsu was in decline.

They stopped making straight movies.

At one time, there was no shooting

for an entire month.

The company and the unions

were trying to work it out.

There were negotiations going on

to save jobs at the studio.

We expected the soft-porn output

to remain viable.

They really didn't eat up

much of a budget.

Roman porno was really

their last stronghold.

Nikkatsu couldn't have survived

without the Roman porno.

In the end, all the unions agreed

that we could keep the studio afloat

with Roman porno films.

Of course, some objected to our plans.

Lots of them used fictitious

or pen names.

Anyone with a credit did,

from staff to directors.

But not me.

I was the director of cinematography.

My work stood for itself.

I saw no reason to hide my identity.

You've heard from the others

how passionate they were

when Nikkatsu threw all its resources

into making Roman porno.

YOSHIHIRO YUKI - PRODUCER

We weren't anti anything

in those days.

The company laid down six conditions

for the productions.

First, there should be a sex scene

every 10 minutes.

For the rest,

we could do anything we wanted.

All budgets were slashed to 7.5 million yen-

$100,000 approximately.

The length of the films

had to be 60 to 70 minutes.

Because of the low budgets,

all the dialogue and audio

had to be dubbed.

Since Nikkatsu had its own studio sets,

we were free to use whatever was there.

You could make anything

so long as it was Roman porno?

Exactly.

That suited me just fine.

I could shoot what I wanted.

But always three or four

sex scenes to a film.

Only three or four?

As many as we wanted really,

if they approved.

IN THE REALM OF SEX

Hey, mister.

I know a good girl.

ARE YOU YUKO KATAGIRI?

MAY I TOUCH YOU?

JUST LIKE A ROMAN PORNO MOVIE.

YOU CALL THAT BONDAGE?

I'd count the number of sex scenes.

The less there were,

the better I liked it.

I was always amazed

how in just about any possible situation,

the couple would end up having sex.

Now, I understand

that's what porno is all about.

But back then, I just didn't get it.

Why here?

So I talked it over with the director.

If he'd agree to cut even one scene,

I was so relieved.

I was naturally reticent.

Did any of your peers ever

give a critical assessment of your work?

Kumashiro and other directors

would attend preview screenings.

Only Nishimura ever stayed away.

It was amazing.

They'd adjourn to the cafeteria

and analyze the film.

Sometimes I really wished

they would shut up.

That was the atmosphere that first year.

Nobody would approach me

with their comments.

And some were so cruel.

Because it was porno,

they seemed to talk more.

Did you ask them to critique your work?

No, I never did,

and I never wanted to.

You get a much better assessment

from a real audience in a real cinema.

Going by their laughter, their tears,

we soon knew

if the audience liked the film.

But we never knew

if it gave them a hard-on.

So you went to cinemas

to study audience reactions?

I'd see men transfixed,

holding their breath.

When the cinema

showed a triple feature, for example,

some men only stayed

for about half the program.

Then they'd walk out.

I wanted to yell,

"Stay for my film!"

Before Nikkatsu geared up

for Roman porno,

you'd never even consider

going on someone else's set.

But then we'd have three productions

all filming at the same time.

I'd be shooting here,

Nishimura over there

and Konuma down at the end.

All in one studio!

It was bedlam when someone yelled out,

"Rolling! Action!"

So we all agreed

that we'd take turns.

The audio was added later,

so noise didn't matter.

That's right.

It made it hard to synchronize.

It was almost impossible.

The poor ADs had to work really hard,

or else the cast would start getting confused.

I'd let the senior director call "Action."

Then I'd count to three and call my "Action."

One day in a production meeting,

someone said, "Yeah, but it's only porno."

Konuma was livid.

YOSHIEKI KUKAWA - SET DESIGNER

He jumped to his feet and yelled out.

"I'm putting my life on the line

making these films!"

When normally quiet Konuma said that,

I felt relieved.

Up until then,

I'd had a guilty conscience about

what I was doing-working on porno films.

At first, Roman porno-

Aiding and abetting porn?

Was given no artistic recognition.

But that made it easier.

We could really go out

and bring the fiction to life.

With no recognition,

there were no restrictions.

There's one thing I remember the most.

It was difficult to guess

what Konuma actually wanted to express.

OSAMU INOUE - EDITOR

He doesn't say much.

He's the quiet type.

You'd never know

if he walked into the editing suite.

I'd feel a slight breeze,

and there he'd be-

standing silently, watching.

AFTERNOON AFFAIR - KYOTO HOLY TAPESTRY

Papa, let's play Ping-Pong!

We filmed some extraordinary things.

- Wasn't that your plan?

- No, not at all.

There were a number of themes.

Shogun's Harem

was an extraordinary slice of life.

From my point of view-

How can I put it?

I wanted to make films

that focused on the woman's story.

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