Movies / Home Theatre

Frog Song

By Al Kratina
December 19, 2007 - 22:10

Frog Song
2005, Japan
Directed by Shinji Imaoka
Written by Shinji Imaoka
Produced by Misturu Fukudawara, Kyoichi Masuko, Kazuto Morita
Starring: Konatsu, Rinako Hirasawa, Takeshi Ito, Youta Kawase
Genre: Drama, Erotica
Rating: Not Rated
Running Time: 65 minutes
DVD Distributor: Salvation Films
Website: Buy it here.

Japanese film genre Pink Cinema is exactly what it sounds like: fleshy and uncomfortable. From a Western point of view, Japan has strange rules regarding adult material. The visual depiction of genitalia remains forbidden in the country, however they have invented a whole bathing-in-body-fluids fetish that swings all the way past sex and into the realm of morbid curiosity and abstract art. It’s in this climate that Pink Cinema was born, and erotica met art film and Western DVD fans with Asian fetishes.

Frog Song, released through the Salvation Group imprint Sacrament Films, is a prime example of the kind of filmmaking that defines Pink Cinema. It’s a sexual film, to be sure, with nudity and friskiness galore. However, despite the fact that attractive women frequently dress up in large frog costumes that look like Kermit for plushophiles, titillation is not its main concern, and though writer-director Shinji Imaoka has a good eye for nipple, the film is about much more. Konatsu plays Akemi, a young woman, either simple-minded or just extremely annoying, who leaves her philandering boyfriend after cracking his head open with a bottle. She meets a prostitute, played by Rinako Kirasawa, and they embark on a charming and surreal coming of age journey for adults, a quirky My Girl with an STD.

While Imaoka does present a great deal of sexuality in the film, it’s neither romantic nor exploitative, presented simply as part of the plot. There are strange comedic touches that often fall flat, but they occasionally work to heart-warming effect, and the bittersweet, musical ending suites the film perfectly. Konatsu and Kirasawa provide performances that are captivating even with their clothes on, and the film, as a whole, is neither too fleshy, nor too uncomfortable.

Sacrament’s DVD contains a widescreen presentation of Frog Song, as well as the short film Japanese Box.

Rating 7 on 10

alkratina@comicbookbin.com

Last Updated: August 31, 2023 - 08:12