Coming Soon

Antiporno

Directed by Sion Sono
Omnibus Entertainment
2016
76 Minutes
Japan
Japanese, Spanish
Erotic, Drama, Asian
Not Rated
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Kyoko has become the darling of her time as a novelist and artist. Holed up in a vividly colored room, she follows a schedule given to her by her manager Noriko down to the minute. It's a never-ending nightmare, whether she's asleep or awake. Am I Kyoko? Am I playing Kyoko? Between fiction and reality, the secrets of Kyoko's past are revealed. In celebration of the 45th anniversary of Nikkatsu’s roman porno — the more highbrow pinku eiga movement that saved the studio from bankruptcy in the early 1970s — the venerable producer enlisted five of Japan’s most prominent indie filmmakers to re-envision the sub-genre. This is Sion Sono's entry in the reboot project of Nikkatsu's Roman Porno ("Romantic Pornography") films.

Director & Cast

  • Director: Sion Sono
  • Starring: Ami Tomite
  • Starring: Mariko Tsutsui
  • Starring: Fujiko
  • Starring: Sayaka Kotani

Where to Watch

Trailer

Photos

Reviews

  • "Cruelty, masochism, parental abuse (in the painter's flashbacks) and schadenfreude of all kinds fuel this feverish op-art dream that turns on us at every corner."
    Ela Bittencourt, Slant Magazine
  • "Saturated and abstract, Sono seems to be the perfect filter for the revived Roman Porno house."
    Justine Smith, Little White Lies
  • "Amazing in its own unique, erotic and alienating way."
    David Jenkins, Little White Lies
  • "Following Wet Woman in the Wind and Aroused by Gymnopedies, Sono’s effort is easily the most ambitious entry yet in the series of re-imagined softcore entertainments. Not only does it challenge gender roles within the Japanese film industry – and in the country as a whole – but the film also attempts to deconstruct cinema as a voyeuristic narrative medium."
    James Marsh, South China Morning Post
  • "Sion Sono diverts Nikkatsu's Roman Porno Reboot into a subversively playful and multi-layered take on the female condition."
    Pierre Kapitaniak, Electric Sheep
  • "Director Sono is too strong a visual stylist to let unfamiliarity with the deeper cultural meanings prevent any enjoyment of his frequently eye-popping audacity."
    Sherilyn Connelly, SF Weekly
  • "Antiporno is not only a big middle finger to the dangerous societal views of women but also the Roman Porno Reboot brand itself, thanks to its energetically layered performances, beautiful cinematography and surprisingly metatextual storytelling."
    Harris Dang, easternKicks.com
  • "Few directors merge Starburst-colored exploitation and passionate manifesto quite like Sono, and so he rips through the genre like a T-Rex in a tea shop, subverting the expectations of pornography to make a garishly beautiful feminist statement."
    Daniel Barnes, Dare Daniel
  • "It is chaotic, disturbing, grotesque. It is, quite literally, the antiporno promised by the title, daring its audience to enjoy the sex at the expense of its characters."
    Nathanael Hood, MUBI
  • "Sono's cinematographic lyricism masterly isolates the problematic nature of male sexual enjoyment and a male-dominant society hypocritically professing freedom."
    Pieter-Jan Van Haecke, Psychocinematography
Official Selection
Sitges Film Festival
Official Selection
Montreal Festival of New Cinema
Official Selection
Torino Film Festival
Official Selection
Mar del Plata Film Festival

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