Erotic Diary of an Office Lady

Japan, 1977
Original title: OL kanno nikki: Ah! Watashi no naka de
Director: Masaru Konuma
Starring: Asami Ogawa, Michio Hino, Tatsuya Hamaguchi

Director Masaru Konuma is widely regarded as one of the foremost exponents of Japanese softcore flicks, or as they're called in Japan, Pinku Eiga. While best known for films such as 1974's Flower & Snake and Wife to be Sacrificed - my first introduction to his work was his 1994 Girls-with-Guns genre flick, XX: Beautiful Hunter (reviewed here).

I figured it was time to check out some of his earlier work. At just over an hour in length, and considering the title, I assumed this would be an easy watch.

Just a quick backgrounder if you're new to Pinku Eiga - the rough approximation with Western 'softcore' is more than a little unfair, as it brings to mind C-grade acting, scripts resembling a daytime soap, and poor technical quality. This is certainly not the case here, nor with most Pinku Eiga.

This film, from acclaimed studio Nikkatsu, is part of their Roman Porno line - and generally speaking this represents a significantly higher quality than the word softcore might suggest. While it's true that Roman Pornos required a sex scene every 10 mins and contain their fair share of nudity and erotic situations, aside from that directors were free to do what they wanted. The films were generally shot on quality widescreen film with highly skilled crews, and represent a veritable golden period for the softcore genre. Which explains its growing popularity today.

What's interesting about Erotic Diary of an Office Lady is that, as the name suggests, it is told from a woman's perspective. We are given insights into how women were perceived in the Japanese workplace in the 1970s ... albeit through the lens of a male director.

So we meet Asami (Asami Ogawa) and Komako (Aoi Nakajima) - both typical Japanese Office Ladies (OL for short) who work together in Tokyo, and are both in their own misguided way looking for love. And this is where Konuma slyly gets his message across, the age old dichotomy of relations between the sexes - with men looking for sexual gratification and women equating sex with love.

To begin with, what we see is sex, sex, sex. The women are attractive, sexually voracious and available ... the male perspective/fantasy.

Asami is banging the boss after work, who treats her as little more than an on-demand sperm bank. Her friend Komako meanwhile has gained a reputation of being willing to screw anyone, and we find her servicing male co-workers in the toilet stall, the stationery closet, the elevator ... you name it. Her availability has earned her the nickname 'public convenience'.

But as the movie continues, we get to know more about these two women and the female perspective is revealed. Asami needs her boss to tell her he loves her before fully unleashing her passion. And, sadly, believes him when he does. While acceding to his requirements as the perfect fucktoy, she has not realised that his words are merely lip-service.

Komako meanwhile is fast approaching 30, and is desperately hoping to find a suitable partner to settle down with - one who will treat her with respect. She has taken to drinking on the job, and screwing anyone who shows interest in the hope of finding Mr Right.

So while at first we thought these women were your typical sexual fantasies (and in a film named Erotic Diary of an Office Lady who can be blamed!) - Konuma masterfully exposes the viewer to the flipside of the coin.

While the sex scenes start off kinky and erotic, they increasingly turn to loveless, and violent affairs, defining an arc from the women's hopes and dreams to a far less romantic reality.

Aethetically speaking, while there are a few stand-out scenes that show what Konuma would be capable of given more time and budget - most of the movie is shot in a utilitarian, realistic mode. Therefore, I wouldn't say that it stands as one of the higher quality Nikkatsu productions in terms of visuals, but the style serves the story well.

What really blew me away though was the final scene - a dialogue-free montage set to some incredible Japanese prog-rock. Neither IMDB nor any other reviews I could find mention the name of this song - a hard-driving rock anthem featuring some fantastic blues/rock guitar, Joplin-esque vocals, and Deep Purple style keyboards. I can now tell you, for anyone that's interested, the song is Watashi wa Kaze (I am the Wind) by Carmen Maki and Oz - an 11-minute opus now on high-rotation on my playlist.

While this film is no masterpiece, it delivered a lot more than I was expecting. Along with the frequent sex scenes, it is also an intelligent and poignant drama.

Rating: 6.5/10

XX: Beautiful Hunter

Japan, 1994
Original title: XX: Utsukushiki karyuudo

Director: Masaru Konuma
Starring: Makiko Kuno, Koji Shimizu, Johnny Okura, Katsuo Tokashi
IMDB: 4.5

In a culture where women are traditionally demure and reserved, its surprising how many Japanese movies feature strong-willed women kicking ass! This lethality combined with femininity is a potent combination, and perhaps goes some way to explaining the increasing popularity of Japanese exploitation.

The rampant nudity doesn't hurt either, of course ... something notably missing from most Hollywood action flicks (which is kinda strange given that males must surely be the target audience). But that's another story ... here we have a Japanese exploitation flick that ticks all the right boxes for its intended audience. And what might that be? Well, take a closer look at the DVD cover above...

Masaru Konuma was a prolific director of Pinku films in the 1970s, including titles such as (the original) Flower & Snake, and Wife to be Sacrificed, often with an S&M theme and highly sexualized. This direct-to-video action film from 1994, towards the end of the director's career, retains a sexy and perverse aesthetic that will be of interest to genre fans, and in particular Girls with Guns aficionados.

The film opens inside a convent, where the young orphan Shion is forced to execute a man at the prompting of the Father (Koji Shimizu) - part of her training to become a Holy Warrior. Exactly what the Holy Warriors are supposed to be fighting for or against, is never really explained - although the Father's modus operandi seems closer to the Yakuza than the Holy Roman Church, perhaps indicating that the church is itself little more than a Yakuza front.



Cut to 10 years later, and Shion (Makiko Kuno) has grown up. The director's method of visually portraying this fact is the epitome of elegant simplicity ... the gratuitous boob shot! And we only had to wait 4 mins and 43 seconds.



She is now the group's most accomplished assassin, and it's during one of her jobs that photographer Ito (Johnny Okura) secretly captures her on film executing one of his colleagues. Shion quickly realizes the threat he poses and hunts him down intending to kill him. However, a chance remark from Ito exposes the vulnerable and needy side of the young woman ... she has never had a boyfriend. And she's horny!

Ito-san is a smooth dude with a penchant for white suits, and while kneeling at her feet begging for his life, he manages to save himself through the remarkable technique of ripping her clothes off and administering a little oral gratification! Poor Shion is in two minds ... she knows she needs to kill him, and her boss is insisting upon it ... and yet it seems she has fallen in love.



On returning home her mind wanders back to Ito as she proceeds to masturbate with her gun. While this may seem like a cheap and gratuitous excuse to show more nudity, this subtle scene actually contains many shades of allegorical meaning that poignantly foreshadow Shion's change of heart.

In addition to being a cheap and gratuitous excuse to show more nudity!




However, as previously foreshadowed, Shion decides to follow her heart and goes on the run with Ito to escape her boss. Said boss however, is not likely to let her off that easy.

If you thought the film was freaky enough up to this point, well that's just the first half hour. What follows are more killings, more sex, more nudity, and some fairly exploitative S&M-based torture featuring foreign objects and the indiscriminate placement thereof.





All in all its a good time. Which is not to say that its a great film. Other reviewers have noted that without the beautiful Makiko Kuno in the title role, the film has little to offer. Admittedly, Makiko is a total sex-bomb and is often naked - elevating the film considerably with her looks alone.

But to say that the film would suck without her, would be equally unfair. This is a competent action flick - while not overly deep, how many action flicks are? It also features some creative photography - with certain scenes featuring fantastic Girls with Guns imagery.

 

On the downside, its quickly apparent that this is a film from the 80s, despite being made in 1994. The music, the clothes, the hair - all seem quite dated. But give yourself 15 minutes to settle into the groove and you won't really be noticing.


6.5/10

More screenshots (click to enlarge)