{"id":6400,"date":"2013-04-16T02:16:24","date_gmt":"2013-04-16T06:16:24","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/?p=6400"},"modified":"2013-04-16T02:17:07","modified_gmt":"2013-04-16T06:17:07","slug":"fairy-in-a-cage-ori-no-naka-no-yosei-1977","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/?p=6400","title":{"rendered":"DVD: Fairy in a Cage \/ Ori no naka no y\u00f4sei (1977)"},"content":{"rendered":"

Return to: <\/strong>Home <\/a>\/\u00a0Blu-ray, DVD, Film Reviews<\/a> \/ <\/em>F<\/a><\/p>\n

.<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Film: Good\/ DVD Transfer: Very Good\/ DVD Extras: Standard<\/p>\n

Label: Impulse Pictures \/ Synapse Films<\/a> \/ Region: 1 (NTSC) \/\u00a0Released: April 2, 2013<\/p>\n

Genre: Japanese Pink \/ Adult \/ S&M<\/p>\n

Synopsis: \u00a0A judge uses his influence with the military to arrest the wife of an upper class peer and indulge in his cruel S&M “hobby” under the pretext of Official State Justice.<\/p>\n

Special Features: 4-page colour booklet featuring liner notes by Japanese film historian Jasper Sharp.<\/p>\n

.<\/span><\/p>\n

.<\/span><\/p>\n

Review:<\/p>\n

Based on the novel by S&M author Oniroku Dan, Fairy in a Cage<\/strong> may be among Nikkatsu\u2019s most notorious and sadistic films, but amid the hype its earned over the years, director Koyu Ohara doesn\u2019t indulge in the graphic mangling or epic torture found in the work by cinema\u2019s most gifted monster, Takeshi Miike (Audition<\/strong>, Masters of Horror: Imprint<\/strong>).<\/p>\n

It may have been the censorship rules of the time which restricted deep & dirty details; views of any private frontage are carefully blocked during the neatly composed S&M, and Ohara often uses objects, like a sildier’s flesh-coloured sword sheath, to infer an enormous male appendage – teasing before committing any penetrating cruelty.<\/p>\n

Ohara may also have preferred to maintain a certain artiness to the fairly simple (if not pretty banal) story where a jealous judge uses his influence with the military to arrest a jeweler’s wife (played Japan\u2019s \u201cRope Queen,\u201d Naomi Tani) and torture her to tempter his seething, Roman hunger for depravity. That\u2019s essentially the plot, but its simple premise, spawned from male jealousy and lust, is easily contemporary since news pieces of women and men pointlessly tortured due to power plays and ethnic cleansing policies aren\u2019t rare.<\/p>\n

Ohara\u2019s film, however, does linger on certain procedures (perhaps due to the credited involvement of a bondage consultant), and the fact a male character is also abused shouldn\u2019t be read as some effort to transcend the rampant misogyny of Nikkatsu\u2019s nasties. When an arrested actor supposedly names the jewel’s wife (who’s also the president of his fan club!) for associating with an insurrectionist, the two are tossed naked into separate cells and dragged out to watch each other\u2019s protracted abuse. Because the actor is known for playing women, his groveling has an effete quality, placing him not only on the same level as the tormented wife, but available for assault by the judge’s girlfriend, a woman normally accustomed to being trussed up and prodded.<\/p>\n

There is political commentary within Fairy<\/strong>, but it\u2019s more opportunistic that strategic; the few jabs at the corrupt military police adds just a bit more authenticity to the film\u2019s WWII veneer. The story also feels like a pastiche of conventions, since the glee of the torturers \u2013 the judge with a unique \u201chobby,\u201d his normally submissive girlfriend, the military confidante and his new assistant \u2013 is on par with the bored and hungry-for-entertainment villains in nazipolitation nonsense of the decade, if not DeSade’s epic 120 Days of Sodom<\/strong>. It\u2019s also more small-scale \u2013 there are only two victims + four perpetrators in this mean little play \u2013 but like the naziploitation flicks, the ending involves an escape, a flight to rural environs, and a finale that follows the nihilistic worldview in many of Nikkatsu\u2019s nastiest Roman Pornos. The finale also echoes a bit of John Fowles\u2019 The Collector<\/strong>, where the wife \u2013 who once again becomes a \u2018kept\u2019 woman \u2013 becomes ill, which forces her hero \/ captor to reluctantly act quickly to ensure his secluded little shack doesn\u2019t become an impromptu crypt.<\/p>\n

Impulse\u2019s DVD features a new HD transfer mastered from the 35mm camera negative (a Blu-ray release is also available) that\u2019s oddly less robust in the amount of colour saturation typical of the Roman Pornos (maybe it\u2019s from filming exteriors under fairly overcast skies?), and a bit soft in detail. The soundtrack is a clean mono, and Hajime Kaburagi\u2019s score (written under the nom de plume<\/em> Taichi Yamanashi) is a sparse mix of jazz with slight funk, and slight orchestral cues. Most of the music is isolated to the film\u2019s exterior bookends, and rarely evokes mid-forties Japan.<\/p>\n

Fairy<\/strong> has its disturbing material, but it\u2019s also quite ridiculous \u2013 perhaps due to the often funny dialogue (\u201cItchy\u2026 So Itchy\u201d says the actor after having his privates treated with magic itching powder). There’s also Ohara\u2019s need to focus on bodily fluids, as in a hasty enema scene (perhaps a reference to Tani’s best-known work, Wife to be Sacrificed<\/strong>, which celebrated backdoor cleansing), and Tani discovering she must micturate not into a toilet, but a hole under which stands her tormentors with an empty silver-plated serving bowl.<\/p>\n

Impulse has also released Ohara\u2019s first two Women in Prison entries, True Story of a Woman in Jail: Sex Hell<\/a><\/strong> [M<\/a>] (1975) and True Story of a Woman in Jail: Continues<\/a><\/strong> [M<\/a>] (1975), plus the unambiguously titled I Love It from Behind!<\/strong> (1981).<\/p>\n

.<\/span><\/p>\n

.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a9 2013 Mark R. Hasan<\/p>\n

.<\/span><\/p>\n

External References<\/em>:<\/p>\n

IMDB <\/a>— Composer Filmography<\/a><\/p>\n

.<\/span><\/p>\n

Amazon Search Links:<\/em><\/p>\n

Amazon.ca<\/a>\"\" \"\" —<\/span> Amazon.com<\/a>\"\" \"\" —<\/span> Amazon.co.uk<\/a>\"\" \"\"
\n.<\/span><\/p>\n

Return to<\/strong>:\u00a0Home <\/a>\/\u00a0Blu-ray, DVD, Film Reviews<\/a> <\/em>\/\u00a0F<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Return to: Home \/\u00a0Blu-ray, DVD, Film Reviews \/ F . Film: Good\/ DVD Transfer: Very Good\/ DVD Extras: Standard Label: Impulse Pictures \/ Synapse Films \/ Region: 1 (NTSC) \/\u00a0Released: April 2, 2013 Genre: Japanese Pink \/ Adult \/ S&M Synopsis: \u00a0A judge uses his influence with the military to arrest the wife of an […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"spay_email":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false},"categories":[18],"tags":[1977,1486,1976,1506],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p8nuyW-1Fe","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6400"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=6400"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6400\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6420,"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6400\/revisions\/6420"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=6400"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=6400"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=6400"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}