is a 1983 Japanese

pink film refers in Japan to movies produced by independent studios that includes nudity (hence 'pink') or deals with sexual content. This encompasses everything from dramas to action thrillers and exploitation film features. Many pink films would be a ...

directed by

Kiyoshi Kurosawa is a Japanese film director, screenwriter, film critic, author, actor, and a former professor at Tokyo University of the Arts (2005-2023). Noted for his psychological films that often focus on ambiguous narratives and on their characters' i ...

, who would later go on to a career directing mainstream horror films.

Synopsis

A young girl, Akiko, in a tenement block in

Tokyo Tokyo, officially the Tokyo Metropolis, is the capital of Japan, capital and List of cities in Japan, most populous city in Japan. With a population of over 14 million in the city proper in 2023, it is List of largest cities, one of the most ...

's Kandagawa area, uses a telescope to spy on her neighbors in between lovemaking sessions with her boyfriend. When she discovers what seems to be an incestuous relationship between a mother and son, she decides, with her boyfriend and her friend Masami, to rescue the son from this predicament and introduce him to a "healthy sex life".

Cast

* Usagi Asō () as Akiko * Makoto Yoshino / Makoto Mino () as Masami * Houen Kishino () as the Son * Miiko Sawaki / Mimi Sawaki () as the Mother *

Tatsuya Mori is a Japanese documentary filmmaker, TV director, and author. Career Born in Hiroshima Prefecture, Mori graduated from Rikkyo University, where he appeared in the student films of Kiyoshi Kurosawa. After graduating, he tried acting and even a ...

as Ryō (Akiko's Boyfriend) *

Masayuki Suo is a Japanese people, Japanese film director. He is best known for his two Japan Academy Prize (film), Japan Academy Prize-winning films, ''Sumo Do, Sumo Don't'' (1992) and ''Shall We Dance? (1996 film), Shall We Dance?'' (1996). Life and caree ...

as the Apartment Manager

Background

was one of a number of young Japanese filmmakers, several associated with

Nikkatsu is a Japanese film studio located in Bunkyō. The name ''Nikkatsu'' amalgamates the words Nippon Katsudō Shashin, literally "Japan Motion Pictures". Shareholders are Nippon Television Holdings (35%) and SKY Perfect JSAT Corporation (28.4%). ...

, who belonged to a production organization called the

Director's Company was a Japanese film production company created in 1982 to provide a venue outside the major studio system for young proven filmmakers to grow artistically. The company's president, Susumu Miyasaka, came from an advertising and public relations bac ...

which had been founded in 1982. Through the influence of fellow Director's Company member

Banmei Takahashi (or Tomoaki Takahashi) is a Japanese film director. Takahashi started his career in the pink film industry, making his directorial debut in 1972 with ''Escaped Rapist Criminal''. Due to a disagreement with his producer, Takahashi quit the film in ...

, Kiyoshi was offered a chance to direct a

for

Million Film was one of the early independent studios which produced pink films. Along with OP Eiga, Shintōhō Eiga, Kantō and Kōji Wakamatsu's production studio, Million Film was one of the most influential on the genre during its first decade. Many of t ...

. This film became ''Kandagawa Pervert Wars'' with its references to

Alfred Hitchcock Sir Alfred Joseph Hitchcock (13 August 1899 – 29 April 1980) was an English film director. He is widely regarded as one of the most influential figures in the history of cinema. In a career spanning six decades, he directed over 50 featu ...

's ''

Rear Window ''Rear Window'' is a 1954 American mystery film, mystery thriller film directed by Alfred Hitchcock and written by John Michael Hayes, based on Cornell Woolrich's 1942 short story "After-Dinner Story, It Had to Be Murder". Originally released ...

'', inventive directorial devices, playful mannerisms and in-joke allusions to Kurosawa's favorite western films. Jasper Sharp suggests that the studio was less than delighted with the result and Million shelved his second pink film effort ''College Girl: Shameful Seminar'' as not sexy enough. Kurosawa was able to buy the footage and reworked it into the 1985 non-pink film ''The Excitement of the Do-Re-Mi-Fa Girl''. The cast and staff of ''Kandagawa Pervert Wars'' present a kaleidoscope of figures who would become an important part of filmmaking in Japan in the 1990s and later. These include Assistant Director

Toshiyuki Mizutani Toshiyuki is a masculine Japanese name, Japanese given name. Written forms Toshiyuki can be written using different combinations of kanji characters. Here are some examples: *敏幸, "agile, happiness" *敏行, "agile, go" *敏之, "agile, of" ...

, Second Assistant Director

who also had a minor role in the film, Third Assistant Director

Akihiko Shiota (born 11 September 1961, Maizuru, Kyoto) is a Japanese film director and screenwriter. Career Shiota attended Rikkyo University, where he was in a film club with other students such as Makoto Shinozaki and Shinji Aoyama and began making 8mm fi ...

, and actor

Release

''Kandagawa Pervert Wars'' was released theatrically in Japan in August 1983 by

and published as a DVD on April 26, 2004, by AceDeuce ().

Reception

Thomas and Yuko Mihara Weisser praised the "witty dialogue and very likable characters" and gave the film a 3 star rating (out of four).

References

External links

* * * {{Kiyoshi Kurosawa 1983 films 1980s Japanese-language films Films directed by Kiyoshi Kurosawa 1980s sex comedy films Japanese sex comedy films Million Film films Pink films 1980s Japanese films