NYAFF does Roman Porno WET WOMAN IN THE WIND, DAWN OF THE FELINES, and AROUSED BY GYMNOPEDIES

The New York Asian Film Festival has only dealt with the odd Roman Porno film. Yes, it's run the odd film hand picked but it never went deep into the genre. This year it's making up for lost time by running three. The films are part of Nikkatsu's new series of films where they are bringing in established directors to pay homage and restart the series.

For those who don't know Roman Porno are Japanese softcore sex films that run about 80 minutes and have a sex scene every 10 minutes or so. The studios that produce them generally let the directors do whatever they want so long as the previously mentioned rules are followed.

Okay let me stop right here and make it clear I am not a fan. I love the ones that work, but most of them bore the living shit out of me.  They are filled with great looking people but terribly unsexy, often odd for no reason and go nowhere. Unless you can tell me its a good film I try to avoid them.

That said I waded into the three Nikkatsu films that NYAFF is running this year because the NYAFF programmers rarely let me down....

....At the risk of getting the shit kicked out of me I have no idea why they are running three films since one is just bad and the others are okay... my real question is why in hell are they running two of  them on one day? The thought is just painful. (see addendum below)

AROUSED BY GYMNOPEDIES
Painfully dull film. about a once great director reduced to doing porno who has his lead actress quit. Unsexy, brutish and boring to the point of laughter this film is bad. Quite simply one of the worst films I've seen this year and one of the worst Roman Porno films I've seen which is saying a great deal. Vile and misogynistic the film's the main character is one of the most horrible people I've ever seen in any sort of sex film (and I've seen a lot) It may also be one of the least films I've seen in the 9 years I've been going to NYAFF.

DAWN OF THE FELINES
The lives of three call girls is supposed to be a statement about modern Japan. I'm not too sure of that. A dark down beat story the film is much better than AROUSED. It is the best of the three film in the series  but kind of never gets to build momentum thanks to the sex every ten minute rule and shifts from comedy to drama.

JB's take on the film can be found here

WET WOMAN IN THE WIND.
Breaking the sex every ten minute rule for the first half the film hits into over time in the second half as a woman sleeps with everyone. The film held my interest for the first half but I lost interest in the second when the sex just overwhelmed everything and the monotony of watching other people fake sex began to bore me.

JB's review can be found here

*-ADDENDUM: Lest you think I just hate the films  please note Sion Sono's entry in the Nikkatsu series ANTIPORNO runs at Japan Cuts July 22 and it is one of my favorite films of that festival.


Mondocurry's look at all the films in the sidebar can be found here