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Released by: Pink Eiga
Released on: October 2nd, 2014.
Director: Naoyuki Tomomatsu
Cast: Asami, Yoko Satomi, Hiroaki Yanagi, Mari Yamaguchi
Year: 2008
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The Movie:
In this 2008 film directed by Naoyuki Tomomatsu, the lovely and talented Asami (probably best known on western shores for Machine Girl) plays a pretty young housewife named Akama Kaminuma. Her husband, Kenji (Hiroaki Yanagi), is a nice enough guy but to be blunt, he's boring. It's no wonder then that Akama has a very active fantasy life, but what is surprising is that said fantasy life tends to involve being ravished as a prisoner at the hands of some surly guards and a nasty warden.
Akama goes to a shrink once in a while and he tries to get to the bottom of what is causing her mind to drift into these very dark places, but it doesn't seem to do much good. She knows she wants to have kids one day, but that manifests itself in her fantasy life too when she imagines a pregnant woman (Yí´ko Satomi) she met on the street taking her in a cell bound lesbian encounter. As they go down, the other inmate tells her that the scar on her stomach is from where she stabbed the baby inside her. When Akama encourages Kenji to go in on a business endeavor with a friend of his, he obliges, but when they wind up on the hook for a whole lot of money because of this, things go from bad to worse and soon it turns out that Akama's fantasies might not make the best reality.
Made in the same vein as the women in prison movies that both the United States and Italy were churning out in the seventies and eighties while also drawing inspiration from Japanese classics like the Female Convict Scorpion series, this low budget sixty-two minute sexploitation trash fest is light on plot but super heavy on sleaze. The story is quite a bit darker than you'd probably expect it to be and each and every one of the frequent (and graphic) sex scenes reflects that. Rape, humiliation, double penetration roughness, golden showers, degradation, lesbianism and more all take place in the movie's short running time, and Asami, bless her heart, completely throws herself into the role. When she's going through all of this, we realize through her performance that she's not just having kinky sex with various partners, but simultaneously working out her own personal demons. As such, her work in front of the camera is physical in all the ways that you would expect it to be, but it also has an almost tragic, damaged size to it.
The rest of the cast are fine here too. Hiroaki Yanagi is appropriately distant as the remarkably plain husband and Yí´ko Satomi scores high points not just for her enthusiasm in the girl on girl scene but for managing to freak us out at the same time. For the most part though, this is Asami's show all the way.
Fast paced and surprisingly authentic for a movie shot in a studio as opposed to an actual prison location, Naoyuki Tomomatsu (who also did Vampire Girl Vs. Frankenstein Girl) makes the most of his low budget. The script is simple, but it does actually offer some interesting character transitioning on the part of Asami's character and while the emphasis is absolutely on the taboo sex and assorted nastiness, by the time the end credits hit the screen it's impossible not to pick up the tragic side of all of this.
Video/Audio/Extras:
Unfortunately, the 1.85.1 widescreen transfer is non-anamorphic and interlaced. It's a newer picture so there isn't any dirt or debris to complain about and the colors, including the black levels, are fairly strong but the standard letterboxed presentation feels a bit dated. That said, it's all perfectly watchable. The image is clean, though skin tones look a little bit greenish in spots. There are some mild compression artifacts and some mild edge enhancement problems here and there and detail isn't particularly strong. Had this been anamorphic it'd have definitely scored higher - it's certainly watchable enough, but there are people who are going to want more out of a DVD than watchable enough.
The Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo track on the disc is in Japanese with optional English subtitles. There's a bit of channel separation here and there in regards to the score and the dialogue is clear enough. The subs are easy to read and free of any obvious typos. All in all, the movie sounds fine.
First up, as far as the extras go, is an interview with Asami that runs just under seven minutes. Here the actress talks about how she got into acting in adult films, her thoughts on some of the roles that she's played, how much influence a certain Meiko Kaji film did or did not have on her performance in the picture and her thoughts on acting in films that require extensive nudity. She comes across as charming, bubbly and ridiculously happy.
Aside from that, look for a two trailers and two teasers for the feature, trailers for a bunch of other Pink Eiga releases, some cast and crew bios, a still gallery, menus and chapter stops.
The Final Word:
Prison Girl is super sleazy and seriously dark, but it's pretty well made and fans of Asami will definitely appreciate seeing her in an English friendly version of this early entry in her filmography. The presentation won't blow you away but the interview with the leading lady is a lot of fun and the other extras enjoyable too.
