The Pornographers

1966 Japanese film

Shōhei Imamura
Kōji Numata

Based onErogotoshitachi
by Akiyuki NosakaStarring

Shōichi Ozawa
Sumiko Sakamoto
Masaomi Kondō
Keiko Sagowa

CinematographyShinsaku HimedaEdited byMutsuo TanjiMusic byToshirō Kusunoki

Production
company

Imamura Productions

Distributed byNikkatsu

Release date

March 12, 1966 (1966-03-12) (Japan)

^[1]^[2]

Running time

128 minutes^[1]^[2]CountryJapanLanguageJapanese

The Pornographers (“エロ事師たち”より人類学入門, "Erogotoshitachi" yori jinruigaku nyūmon, lit. An introduction to anthropology through pornographers) is a 1966 satiric Japanese film directed by Shōhei Imamura. It is based on the novel Erogotoshitachi by Akiyuki Nosaka.^[3]^[4]

Plot

Subuyan Ogata is a pornographic filmmaker living in Osaka. His business is under threat from thieves, the government, and his own family.

Cast

Shōichi Ozawa as Subuyan Ogata
Sumiko Sakamoto as Haru Matsuda
Keiko Sagawa as Keiko Matsuda, Haru's daughter
Haruo Tanaka as Banteki
Nakamura Ganjirō II as Elderly executive from Hakucho Company
Masaomi Kondō as Kōichi Matsuda, Haru's son
Akira Nishimura as Detective Sanada
Ichirō Sugai as Shinun Ogata, Subuyan's father
Akiji Kobayashi
Shinichi Nakano as Kabō
Chōchō Miyako as Virgin House Madame
Kazuo Kitamura as Doctor

Production and reception

The film is a satirical black comedy, depicting the underbelly of the Japanese post-war economic miracle, in this case pornographers and small time gangsters in Osaka. It has been called Imamura's best-known film outside Japan.^[5]

Release

The Pornographers was released in Japan in March 1966 where it was distributed by Nikkatsu. It was released in the United States by Toho International with English subtitles in August 1966.^[3]

References

^ ^a ^b "エロ事師たちより人類学入門 (Erogotoshitachi yori Jinruigaku nyumon)" (in Japanese). Japanese Movie Database. Retrieved 6 July 2021.
^ ^a ^b "エロ事師たちより人類学入門 (Erogotoshitachi yori Jinruigaku nyumon)" (in Japanese). Kinenote. Retrieved 6 July 2021.
^ ^a ^b Galbraith IV, Stuart (1996). The Japanese Filmography: 1900 through 1994. McFarland. ISBN 978-0-786400324.
^ "エロ事師たちとは (The Pornographers, novel)" (in Japanese). kotobank. Retrieved 22 January 2019.
^ Sklar, Robert (2002). Film: An International History of the Medium (2nd ed.). New York: Prentice Hall. p. 365. ISBN 978-0-130340498.

External links

The Pornographers at IMDb
The Pornographers at AllMovie
Hoberman, J. (4 August 2003). "The Pornographers". The Criterion Collection. Retrieved 6 July 2021.