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pink films
by Chip Daniels
Only in Japan could a marriage of the porno subculture and avant-garde achieve a breakthrough into the area of hip hop culture!
Now don't pretend that you have never seen a porno film. Of course you've been witness to one or two of those technically unbearable movies that go over the counter everyday in the local sex shops. We've all seen them and know the routine - the actors rush from one copulation to the next until they all meet together in the final orgy scene. It's quite a different story in the Japanese Pink Film.
Pink Films, which some might consider soft pornography, represent a space within which sexuality can be expressed as an art form. Though these films are certainly not appropriate for prudish minds, they do tell real stories. While adult porn actually do have actual sex in them, the sex scenes are only simulated in Pink Films. Because the open display of genitals and pubic hair is strictly forbidden by the Japanese censorship authorities, adult porno films must edit in a mosaic after the filming. (You've seen this?) Pink films are made in such a way so that it's not necessary and yet the films can be very arousing and highly sexual.
Pink Films were first being made in 1961. Unlike adult videos which are videotaped, Pink Films are shot using 16-mm or 35-mm film and are usually about 60 minutes in length. Pink Films have a script, though the voice track is often recorded after the filming is completed because of limited budgets. The demand for "roman pornography" or hard-core adult videos started to squeeze pink films out in the 1970s and now there are only three companies involved in the production of Pink Films today. Only three theaters remain in the Tokyo area that show homo-erotic Pink Films: Omiya, Yokohama, and Ueno.
To offer a first hand account of a pink film, I set out for Ueno's Sekai Kessaku Gekijo. On exiting the Ueno Station, I noticed posters at the Shinobazu-Guchi advertising the local theaters and there in bright lights were posters advertising "Barazoku Eiga" or gay films. The movie showing this particularly evening was titled "Wagamama Senpu," starring Fu Taro, Misawa Shiro and Matsukura Hiroaki. Eagerly I hurried toward the red-light district of this reputable shitamachi.
The theater was old and small with about 60 seats and a 10-foot screen. The back of the theater was slightly elevated and had an open entrance door covered with a Japanese half-curtain, so as to allow free movement in and out of the theater. Behind the theater is a smoking room, bathroom, and a "comfort room." There were about thirty men in the theatre and most seemed to be in their early twenties. Only few people were paying much attention to the film and several couples were making out in the forward rows. There were numerous men standing toward the back of the theatre and were obviously cruising. Several men approached me and offered some "personal" attention.
The film was in Japanese which made for following the storyline somewhat difficult. The occasional sex scenes were done tastefully though and left much to the imagination. The film did not show actual intercourse but it was difficult to believe the men were not actually doing it. The music was decent, the actors were handsome, and the filming was basically very good. Thanks to the sweet old woman who runs the theater, I was able to see the actual film projector and was even presented two Pink Film posters.
So, hit pause on your video player and give Sekai Kessaku Gekijo a try. Don't miss out on your opportunity to watch a real Pink Film and have some fun in the process. Remember, this could quite possibly be a dying art form and now is your chance to see what it is all about.
Directions: Sekai Kessaku Gekijo movie theater, Ueno 2-13-6, Taito-ku, 3831-0158.
Exit the JR Ueno Station from Shinobazu-Guchi Exit. Go to the right and walk past the Keisei Ueno Station and the Ueno Park. You'll find a fountain at the center of the Ueno Koen intersection. Go into the alley to the right of the fountain. Second building on the left-hand side of the alley is an adult movie theater complex that you're looking for. The first floor is Ueno Star-Za movie theater. Go up to the second floor. Buy the ticket at the vending machine for ¥1600 and enter the theater to the left.
For a more in-depth look at Pink Films, check out the chapter "An Actor in Japanese Pink Films: An Interview with Koichi Imaizumi. Queer Japan, Edited by Barbara Summerhawk, Cherion McMahill, and Darren McDonald, Norwich, VT: New Victoria Publishers, 1998. This is an excellent book for understanding gay Japan and Japanese gay identities!