Rape and it's consequences as the film follows a reporter, Nami Tsuchiya(Eri Kanuma) seeking, it seems, to exploit rape victims for their stories because they sell well in her magazine. It seems, however, that she also gets turned on by these stories, as we watch her often pleasure herself while bathing. Meanwhile, she soon discovers a man following her, Tetsuro Muraki(Takeo Chii) who so happens to be(..after she uncovers his identity)a former editor whose own wife allowed a burglar to rape her over and over, night after night, due to his impotence. Soon Nami crosses paths with a target who actually agrees to be interviewed, a nurse who was committed and recently released, & she gets a taste of what it's like to feel savaged and victimized. Muraki attempts to become Nami's savior, but once she's been treated as those she exploits, the psychological trauma is too much to bear.
I'll say that the film features several disturbing rapes, relived by those who suffered them, including once where a woman is brutally pummeled before being ravaged on top of a car hood. Another victim(..who had become a recognized model), who successfully had her attacker imprisoned, must endure further sexual molestation at his hands once he's released(..to make the scene even more chilling, Nami watches, transfixed, from another room, silently, as the model surrenders to him). One powerful sequence of events features a victim(.. who had moved on with her life, raising a child and seemingly happy) refusing to interview for Nami, her photo taken, constantly harassed, eventually attempting to stab the reporter with a knife out of rage for her exploitation(..and, the fact that she had to relive that horrible memory over again, while also feeling humiliated for being put in the paper).
The film doesn't let Nami off. She is rigorous in her pursuit for the rape story, intrudes into the lives of those who wish for such horrifying memories to remain in the past, unable to because the reporter is unwilling to let them off peacefully. Nami was bound to suffer for her sins. The fact that the movie shows how Nami finds the stories erotic is another rather unsettling element that plays out once she herself becomes a story. The relived memory of the psychotic nurse, who was rendered unconscious(..by anesthesia), raped, her stomach opened by a scalpel so the attacker could see her intestines, followed by a chase into the autopsy room where the poor girl is sexually molested in a formalin tank next to dead bodies(!)is really shocking. The overwhelming fantasy that erupts once Nami has been sodomized(..concerning her office of co-workers including her boss, also featuring her violent outburst towards Maruki who wishes to save her from it)is quite strikingly shot, using rain, light, wind(..look at how the papers get caught within a gust when they're not beating her across the skull/face)and the hypnotic, spellbound eyes of our protagonist..I guess, like her subjects, she becomes consumed by the assault. The director Noboru Tanaka is actually able to relate Takashi Ishii's unpleasant subject matter in a stylish, effective way, showing a high degree of nudity without the sex elaborated too explicitly.
I'll say that the film features several disturbing rapes, relived by those who suffered them, including once where a woman is brutally pummeled before being ravaged on top of a car hood. Another victim(..who had become a recognized model), who successfully had her attacker imprisoned, must endure further sexual molestation at his hands once he's released(..to make the scene even more chilling, Nami watches, transfixed, from another room, silently, as the model surrenders to him). One powerful sequence of events features a victim(.. who had moved on with her life, raising a child and seemingly happy) refusing to interview for Nami, her photo taken, constantly harassed, eventually attempting to stab the reporter with a knife out of rage for her exploitation(..and, the fact that she had to relive that horrible memory over again, while also feeling humiliated for being put in the paper).
The film doesn't let Nami off. She is rigorous in her pursuit for the rape story, intrudes into the lives of those who wish for such horrifying memories to remain in the past, unable to because the reporter is unwilling to let them off peacefully. Nami was bound to suffer for her sins. The fact that the movie shows how Nami finds the stories erotic is another rather unsettling element that plays out once she herself becomes a story. The relived memory of the psychotic nurse, who was rendered unconscious(..by anesthesia), raped, her stomach opened by a scalpel so the attacker could see her intestines, followed by a chase into the autopsy room where the poor girl is sexually molested in a formalin tank next to dead bodies(!)is really shocking. The overwhelming fantasy that erupts once Nami has been sodomized(..concerning her office of co-workers including her boss, also featuring her violent outburst towards Maruki who wishes to save her from it)is quite strikingly shot, using rain, light, wind(..look at how the papers get caught within a gust when they're not beating her across the skull/face)and the hypnotic, spellbound eyes of our protagonist..I guess, like her subjects, she becomes consumed by the assault. The director Noboru Tanaka is actually able to relate Takashi Ishii's unpleasant subject matter in a stylish, effective way, showing a high degree of nudity without the sex elaborated too explicitly.
