Another audacious exploitation diamond from ace genre director Norifumi Suzuki.
In the film's title sequence, a rich fog clears to reveal a distant convent, the home of a salacious order of nuns who not-so-secretly indulge in every "sin" under the sun. It is crystal clear, even at this point, that we are in the hands of a master cinematician who is an adept hand at creating authentic worlds within worlds.
Suzuki directed the wonderful "Sex and Fury", another exercise in outrageousness, and gems such as "Stray Cat Rock: Sex Hunter", but the film that cemented his reputation for me is this beautifully and lovingly photographed love letter to debauchery and "Beautiful Girl Hunter", truly one of the finest and most confronting pink flicks ever made.
What makes Suzuki's films so strong is his sincerity and the full commitment he brings to the inflammatory material.
Scenes of violent flagellation become painterly portraits in blood. The use of slow motion during a scene in which a nun is whipped with rose bushes is simply surreal. The lesbian couplings are quietly volcanic and the prologue, in which a novice enjoys her last night in the outside world, establishes the film's ironic tone.
The score by Masao Yagi is gloriously operatic and the art direction by Suzuki regular Shuichiro Nakamura is most accomplished and gloriously rich.
Don't miss this stunning work of pop art.
In the film's title sequence, a rich fog clears to reveal a distant convent, the home of a salacious order of nuns who not-so-secretly indulge in every "sin" under the sun. It is crystal clear, even at this point, that we are in the hands of a master cinematician who is an adept hand at creating authentic worlds within worlds.
Suzuki directed the wonderful "Sex and Fury", another exercise in outrageousness, and gems such as "Stray Cat Rock: Sex Hunter", but the film that cemented his reputation for me is this beautifully and lovingly photographed love letter to debauchery and "Beautiful Girl Hunter", truly one of the finest and most confronting pink flicks ever made.
What makes Suzuki's films so strong is his sincerity and the full commitment he brings to the inflammatory material.
Scenes of violent flagellation become painterly portraits in blood. The use of slow motion during a scene in which a nun is whipped with rose bushes is simply surreal. The lesbian couplings are quietly volcanic and the prologue, in which a novice enjoys her last night in the outside world, establishes the film's ironic tone.
The score by Masao Yagi is gloriously operatic and the art direction by Suzuki regular Shuichiro Nakamura is most accomplished and gloriously rich.
Don't miss this stunning work of pop art.