DVD: Nurse Diary – Wicked Finger / Kangofu nikki – waisetsu na karute (1980)

December 29, 2013 | By

Return to: Home Blu-ray, DVD, Film Reviews / N to O

.

Film: Good/ DVD Transfer: Very Good/ DVD Extras: Standard

Label:  Impulse Pictures / Synapse / Region: 1 (NTSC) / Released: September 9, 2013

Genre: Japanese Pink / Adult

Synopsis: Nurse-in-training Ryoko may have achieved more independence after moving into her own apartment, but deeper adult lessons lie ahead when an affair with a doctor is exposed!

Special Features: 4-page colour booklet with liner notes by Jasper Sharp / Reversible sleeve art / Theatrical Trailer.

.

.

Review:

The first entry in Nikkatsu’s smut-in-the-hospital series has little Ryoko (Etsuko Hara) moving out from her dorm, and excitedly beginning her new life in her own apartment – a ploy designed not solely for persona independence from her friends and kid sister Emi (Megu Kawashima), but the freedom to step up her relationship with the hospital’s married Dr. Edagawa (Hiroshi Unayama).

Unlike the lesser, weaker, sillier, and more cheaply made Story of White Coat: Indecent Acts (1984), Nurse Diary: Wicked Finger still boasts elegant, soft-focus cinematography and a coherent story which only goes bonkers when the good doctor decides to imbibe in medical grade alcohol, turning the film from a straight erotic drama with cornered characters in improper liaisons to a bizarre sex comedy with another non-ending.

Being one of several nurses-in-training, she’s merely an aide, but the position enables her to ‘collaborate’ with the good doctor in private sessions, and when the kid sister discovers Ryoko is no virgin, she too seeks out a liaison to prove she too can handle ‘wicked’ behaviour – even if it’s with a nerd in a leg cast.

Woven into the story is a strange peeping tom character, Jyunpei, whose behaviour is initially wrong – spying on Ryoko from his across the street apartment – then becomes fully absurd when his wrong use of a vacuum nozzle sends him to the hospital. Slapstick nonsense ensures, but so does a surprise and earnest apology which convinces Ryoko to briefly abandon her misbehavior and  leave Tokyo – especially since her jealous sister finked on her illicit liaison.

The drunken sex fest which closes the film introduces the jealous boyfriend of a teasing tarty patient (Asami Ogawa), the doctor’s wife (Yuko Asaka), and a wad of money, and while still a Nikkatsu film with decent production values, the lack of wrongness pretty much ensures the only plot propellants are silly escapades. It’s a lighter Roman Porno with minor wrongness, and likely set the tone for a franchise less fixated on outright sadism and brutality.

Although billed in the teaser trailer as Nikkatsu’s latest hot star, Etsuko Hara would star in another pink film before stepping away from the business after having made 15 films in 3 years.

.

.

© 2013 Mark R. Hasan

.

External References:

IMDB

.

Vendor Search Links:

Amazon.ca Amazon.com Amazon.co.uk New movie releases on iTunes
.

Return toHome Blu-ray, DVD, Film Reviews N to O

Tags: , ,

Category: Blu-ray / DVD Film Review

Comments are closed.