Modern Pulp

February 2 2022

HER STRANGE DAYDREAM

It was just her imagination running away with her.

This bondage themed poster for Tetsuji Takechi’s Hakujitsumu 2, aka Daydream 2, promotes the third iteration of a film he first made in 1967, then remade in 1981. It’s labeled “2” because the first movie was a drama, while the second was x-rated. This version is x-rated too, so it’s the second porn outing for the title, hence number 2, though it’s really number 3. Hope that makes sense. However you number it, it’s similar wine in a different bottle, as director Takechi keeps his remake of a remake highly erotic, while going more hallucinatory. Kyōko Aizome, star of the previous version, is joined by the lithe and beautiful Chizu Kirinami, and she gets the central role as a woman who spirals into a citywide erotic hallucination. We won’t bother to detail the plot, because you can get that info at our previous write-ups here and here.

It’s clear that Takechi, with a hit on his hands in version two, decided to simply swap Aizome out of the starring role and pass the torch to Kirinami. And why not? She’s really lovely. She spends almost the entire movie without a stitch on, even when rappelling over a balcony or wandering the streets of the quasi-reality she’s stuck inside. As for you Aizome fans, don’t worry—though relegated to a supporting role, she’s plenty visible, performs some very carnal scenes, and even wears the assless bondage outfit you see on the poster. Below, because we figured you’d enjoy it, she wears nothing. Kirinami’s film career consisted of two movies, which means there isn’t much promo imagery out there on her. The monochrome shot will have to do until we turn up something better. Hakujitsumu 2 premiered in Japan today in 1987.

Japan, Daisan Productions, Hakujitsumu 2, Daydream 2, Tetsuji Takechi, Kyōko Aizome, Chizu Kirinami, poster art, cinema, pinku, nudity, bdsm, movie review, xxx

Vintage Pulp

June 21 2020

DAYDREAM BELIEVER

If you're going to have a fantasy make it a doozy.

We have two exceptionally beautiful Japanese posters today. These were made for Hakujitsumu, known in English as Daydream. That’s an unusually concise Japanese title, but this won’t be a concise post. The movie is loosely based on a 1926 novel by Junichir Tanizaki, and was one of the first films classified as pinku eiga, as well as one of the first erotic productions to have a big budget and a run in mainstream cinemas. It also played outside Japan, with a screening at the 1964 Venice Festival and a release in Stateside cinemas. And because of its success, director Tetsuji Takechi remade the film in hardcore style, not once, but twice, in 1981 and 1987, both times starring Kyōko Aizome, who we’ve talked about before.

The premise of this is fascinating. Akira Ishihama meets Kanako Michi in their dentist’s waiting room. Later, as both of them are receiving anesthesia, Ishihama looks over and sees—because apparently Japanese dentistry meant placing two patients into the same room—the dentist and a nurse strip Michi, then seemingly suck her blood like vampires. Was it an anesthetic dream, or a real occurrence? Ishihama needs to uncover the truth. He goes to a nightclub where Michi sings, sees the dentist approach her and demand that she leave with him. Ishihama follows—or actually sort of teleports after them—and later sees Michi submit to various forms of kinky bondage. But is any of what he’s seeing real? The title of the film gives that away, doesn’t it?

We wonder if Hakujitsumu used the plot device of fantasy because it softened the idea of the bondage and weirdness Michi goes through. Well, all that would soon become routine in Japanese cinema. In addition this was the first Japanese film to show an actress fully naked—which happens for extended periods. Most write-ups say there’s even pubic hair shown, but we’ll admit we blinked and missed it if that was the case. What we didn’t miss was what a clear precursor to the pinku genre of roman porno Hakujitsumu is. Here those elements seem novel; by the 1970s, they wouldn’t be, and as a result filmmakers were by then pushing the envelope with violence, water sports, and enemas. That envelope could have stayed flat, as far as we’re concerned. Hakujitsumu premiered in Japan today in 1964.

Japan, Italy, Venice Film Festival, Daisan Productions, Hakujitsumu, Daydream, Tetsuji Takechi, Junichir Tanizaki, Akira Ishihama, Kanako Michi, Kyōko Aizome, poster art, cinema, sexploitation, pinku, movie review

ABOUT

EMAIL

LEGAL

SEARCH PULP INTERNATIONAL

PULP INTL.
HISTORY REWIND

The headlines that mattered yesteryear.

October 10

1971—London Bridge Goes Up

After being sold, dismantled and moved to the United States, London Bridge reopens in the resort town of Lake Havasu City, Arizona.

October 10

1975—Burton and Taylor Marry Again

British actor Richard Burton and American screen star Elizabeth Taylor secretly remarry sixteen months after their divorce, then jet away to a second honeymoon in Chobe Game Park in Botswana.

October 9

1967—ChÃ© Executed in Bolivia

A day after being captured, Marxist revolutionary Ernesto “Che” Guevara is executed in Bolivia. In an attempt to make it appear as though he had been killed resisting Bolivian troops, the executioner shoots Guevara with a machine gun, wounding him nine times in the legs, arm, shoulder, throat, and chest.

October 8

1918—Sgt. York Becomes a Hero

During World War I, in the Argonne Forest in France, America Corporal Alvin C. York leads an attack on a German machine gun nest that kills 25 and captures 132. He is a corporal during the event, but is promoted to sergeant as a result. He also earns Medal of Honor from the U.S., the Croix de Guerre from the French Republic, and the Croce di Guerra from Italy and Montenegro. Stateside, he is celebrated as a hero, and Hollywood even makes a movie entitled Sergeant York, starring Gary Cooper.

October 8

1956—Larsen Pitches Perfect Game

The New York Yankees’ Don Larsen pitches a perfect game in the World Series against hated rivals the Brooklyn Dodgers. It is the only perfect game in World Series history, as well as the only no-hitter.

October 7

1959—Dark Side of Moon Revealed

The Soviet space probe Luna 3 transmits the first photographs of the far side of the moon. The photos generate great interest, and scientists are surprised to see mountainous terrain, very different from the near side, and only two seas, which the Soviets name Mare Moscovrae (Sea of Moscow) and Mare Desiderii (Sea of Desire).