About to premiere at Tribeca 2011 is Shinji Imaoka's pinku musical Underwater Love. Expect audiences to be confused, enthralled and - potentially - outraged.
A legend in his field, director Imaoka is a sort of pinku auteur - a director of sex films that while certainly containing lots of sex also challenge the notion that sex films can only mean base pornography. The man brings a degree of art to his craft and a certain gonzo mentality that means you can never be sure what's coming next. And what's coming next from him is Underwater Love.
We joked when this was announced that with Doyle at the helm it would probably end up as the best looking pinku film ever made. And now with an extensive gallery of stills - eight shots plus two poster designs - we get our first indication that we may just have been right about that. Check them out below.
A legend in his field, director Imaoka is a sort of pinku auteur - a director of sex films that while certainly containing lots of sex also challenge the notion that sex films can only mean base pornography. The man brings a degree of art to his craft and a certain gonzo mentality that means you can never be sure what's coming next. And what's coming next from him is Underwater Love.
Shot by famed cinematographer Christopher Doyle - the man behind the camera for Hero and most of Wong Kar Wai's key work - with music by Germany's Stereo Total, Underwater Love is a full on sex musical. But, more than that, it's a fantasy sex musical, with the love story playing out between a human and a kappa - a creature from Japanese folklore brought to life with prosthetic effects by Tokyo Gore Police director Yoshihiro Nishimura.Thirtysomething Asuka has an easy life, a job in a fish factory, and a fiancé, Taki, who's also her boss. One day, as she walks by the lake near the factory, she sees her first kappa - a legendary Japanese creature with a human form but a beak face and tortoiseshell back. She soon realizes that the kappa is her old friend from school, Aoki, who drowned when he was 17. As she hides Aoki from her fiancé and others, she must begin to decide what is most important for her.
We joked when this was announced that with Doyle at the helm it would probably end up as the best looking pinku film ever made. And now with an extensive gallery of stills - eight shots plus two poster designs - we get our first indication that we may just have been right about that. Check them out below.
Galleries
More from Underwater Love
- Reviews: UNDERWATER LOVE DVD Review
- News: Third Window Films' UNDERWATER LOVE Limited Edition DVD Coming Soon!
- Reviews: FANTASTIC FEST 2011: UNDERWATER LOVE Review
- News: Bring On The Dancing Kappas! Watch The Theatrical UNDERWATER LOVE Trailer Now!
- Reviews: PIFAN 2011: UNDERWATER LOVE - A PINK MUSICAL Review
- News: Cannes 2011: Third Window Films Acquires UNDERWATER LOVE And SABI OTOKO SABI ONNA For UK
- News: The UNDERWATER LOVE Trailer Is Bubblegum Pop Perfection. With Breasts. And A Bit Of Moaning.
- Reviews: Tribeca 2011: UNDERWATER LOVE Review
- News: Tribeca 2011: Meet The Sexy Kappa From Shinji Imaoka's UNDERWATER LOVE
- News: Jason Gray Visits The Set Of Christopher Doyle Lensed Sex Musical UNDERWATER LOVE
- Galleries: Underwater Love
- News: Plot Details For Doyle-Lensed Sex Musical UNDERWATER LOVE
- News: Cinematographer Extraordinaire Christopher Doyle To Shoot Japanese Sex Musical.
Uhm...
Am I offending people when I say that the Kappa-prosthetics do not exactly look like they are Nishimura's finest hour?
oh my god.