Watch at Home 09.12.2025

Dawn of the Felines

Directed by Kazuya Shiraishi
Omnibus Entertainment
2016
85 Minutes
Japan
Japanese
Erotic, Drama, Asian
Not Rated
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Three women drift through the night streets of Ikebukuro, Tokyo. They sleep with the men who call them, and then dawn breaks again. A story about women who feel lonely in the city but live life to the fullest, and the men who surround them. 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 Kazuya Shiraishi's entry in Nikkatsu's Roman Porno ("Romantic Porno") reboot project.

Director & Cast

  • Director: Kazuya Shiraishi
  • Starring: Juri Ihata
  • Starring: Satsuki Maue
  • Starring: Michie
  • Starring: Kazuko Shirakawa

Where to Watch

Trailer

Photos

Reviews

  • "Kazuya Shiraishi’s film benefits from an excellent and wholly believable script, which fully fleshes out its characters, warts and all, and which manages to be dramatic, eventful and even moving without ever feeling artificial."
    James Mudge, easternKicks.com
  • "Juri Ihata’s portrayal of Masako is richly complex and rigorously unsentimental. She plays her tough and smart, but also quite vulnerable. Satsuki Maue effectively brings out the Jekyll and Hyde in Yui, but the one-named Michie probably takes the honors with her mature yet frequently surprising work as Rie."
    Joe Bendel, J.B. Spins
  • "Dawn of the Felines is a suitably melancholy, though no less involving, slice-of-life drama revolving around a trio of prostitutes working for a shabby escort agency in the Ikebukuro district of Tokyo."
    Edmund Lee, South China Morning Post
Winner
Best Screenplay
Asian Film Festival Barcelona
Official Selection
International Film Festival Rotterdam
Official Selection
New York Asian Film Festival