Tweet
Released by: Impulse Pictures
Released on: September 10, 2013.
Director: Hidehiro Ito
Cast: Mina Asami, Kazuyo Ezaki, Nami Misaki, Hiroshi Fukami
Year: 1984
Purchase From Amazon
The Movie:
Directed by Hidehiro Ito in 1984, Story Of White Coat: Indecent Acts is another in the long line of 'nurse-centric' movies geared towards the patrons of Nikkatsu's theater chain in the eighties where a countless string of Roman Porno movies unspooled for an audience hungry for sex films.
The story follows Shinobu (Mina Asami), a pretty young woman who has just started a new job as a nurse. The movie tells us that she's a twenty-seven year old virgin. Shortly after she starts, a young man named Junior shows up - there's an emergency, his large wang is stuck inside a young lady he's been boffing in the back of his car and he needs help getting free. One injection later and he's fine, just sick from all the booze he slugged back prior. As luck would have it, Junior is the son of one of the major financial backers of the hospital, and he figures this gives him the right to more or less do what he wants.
When he finds Shinobu passed out he and his assistant undress her so that Junior can explore her 'juicy body.' When she wakes up, he's got his head between her legs and is just about to rape her but she eventually breaks free when another nurse interrupts. This leaves Junior in the mood, and luckily for him the other nurse is ready to go, but neither of them realize she's got crabs. Shinobu gets while the getting is good but then winds up being talked into masturbating for a man in another room dealing with erectile dysfunction issues. Junior will not be satiated, however - he wants Shinobu bad and will stop at nothing to get her. His assistant though? He's falling in love with her, but when Junior rapes her and makes her climax, his love may mean nothing if he can't please Shinobu, who wanders around and eventually winds up screwing a stranger in a fetish club.
This one basically starts off like a sex comedy but takes a darker turn once Junior decides he's going to have Shinobu regardless of her opinion on the matter. The rape scene here is rough by most standards, he forces her to give him head and unloads in her mouth while he's shaving her. She spits it out and goes back to work but he gets aroused again and roughs her up some more. From here, she's broken. He makes her come and she hates herself for it. She wanders the streets in a daze and winds up in the fetish club unsure of what else to do but fuck some more and mutter to herself. The rape scene starts off as being played for laughs but what it depicts is hardly funny, a point that's made by the time it's over and done with. The message that the movie sends with this is pretty confusing though. Is Shinobu only associating her worth with orgasm? When Junior's assistant confesses his love to her, they try and get back at him with his attempts to make her climax and when he fails she simply lies there and mutters some more. It's all very strange and sociologically confusing. Will she redeem herself if a man who cares for her is able to give her pleasure?
With that said, Mina Asami's performance is a good one. She's sexy and plenty appealing but also capable of showing some pretty serious range as an actress, and she does exactly that, even when everyone around her is hamming it up and chewing the scenery for laughs. When things are going okay for her she's bright and bubbly and seems to care for her patients and appreciate her job. Likewise, once Junior has done the deed, the sadness and confusion her character feels seems pretty genuine, even when the movie tries to get comedic again when she and the assistant hook up. Hidehiro Ito has no problems pacing the movie that clocks in at just a few minutes short of an hour and the camerawork here is pretty solid. There's a good score and nice production as is typical of Nikkatsu's productions. Like pretty much everything in the line so far, this one isn't for prudes and as always, those who are offended by the sometimes casual treatment of rape in movies might take offense, but Story Of A White Coat: Indecent Acts is at the very least a very well made and genuinely unpredictable foreign oddity chock full of sleaze and hyper sexualized lunacy.
Video/Audio/Extras:
Story Of White Coat: Indecent Acts arrives on DVD in a 1.78.1 anamorphic widescreen transfer. Colors are handled well and look quite natural as do skin tones, of which there are loads on display. Black levels aren't quite inky deep but they're strong and detail is pretty good across the board. There are no issues with print damage to complain about and overall this is a clean, sharp, good looking picture though it should be noted that a few scenes were shot with some softness in mind and that comes through in the transfer (as it should).
The Japanese language Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono track is crisp and clean though occasionally just a tiny bit shrill. The levels are well balanced and there are no issues with hiss or distortion. The optional English subtitles that are provided are free of any typos and easy to read. This won't floor you but it sounds fine, there are no problems.
Extras on the disc are limited to a menu, chapter selection and a fun trailer for the feature. Inside the case, however, is an insert containing some original poster art for the feature and liner notes from film scholar/author Jasper Sharp. Whereas normally Sharp's liners are pretty film specific, this time around he tackles the differences between pink eiga and Roman Porno movies before discussing how the transitions taking place in the five main studios in Japan at the time shaped their output.
The Final Word:
The Impulse Pictures DVD release of Story Of A White Coat: Indecent Acts looks and sounds fine and though like the other entries in the line it's light on extras, the movie itself delivers. Thanks to some ridiculous set pieces, hyperactive pacing and a great performance from its lead actress, it offers up an equal mix of cheap thrills and genuine pathos.
