Roman Porno Reboot Collection Vol. 1

Antiporno: Kyoko, a young artist with a sadomasochistic streak, wreaks havoc on everyone that she encounters, but her absolute worst behavior is reserved for her simpering older assistant Noriko, whom she routinely humiliates in increasingly kinky ways. That is, until their sense of reality gets upended in an exuberantly reflexive twist.

An outrageous, rabble-rousing contribution to the Roman Porno redux series, Antiporno is an expectation-defying, antic study in blighted eroticism, damaged psyches, and shifting power dynamics, set against outlandishly theatrical backdrops; “a feverish op-art dream that turns on us at every corner.” (Slant Magazine)

Aroused by Gymnopedies: A modern take on the “Roman Porno” genre from director Isao Yukisada, Aroused by Gymnopedies is an “engaging and ultimately touching portrait of love, loneliness and loss of youth” (Variety).

Shinji, a middle-aged film director, is trapped in a seemingly hopeless cycle of creative crisis and self-destruction. After his failure making art films, he now finds himself shooting low-budget pornography as a means to get by. Over the span of one week, he embarks on a series of sexual encounters that put his work, relationships and happiness in jeopardy.

Dawn of the Felines: Dawn of the Felines is a haunting, empathetic journey through the nocturnal world of three sex workers navigating the neon-soaked street of Ikebukuro, Tokyo. Each night brings new encounters – eccentric clients, dangerous fetishes and the looming threat of police crackdowns – while each dawn finds them wrestling with loneliness, survival, and the search for meaning in a city that rarely looks back. Directed by Kazuya Shiraishi (The Devil’s Path, Twisted Justice, Bushido), Dawn of the Felines is a “suitably melancholy” (South China Morning Post) tribute to Noboru Tanaka’s classic Roman Porno film Night of the Felines. Modern and unflinching, Shiraishi’s update to the genre famously created by the Nikkatsu film studio in the 1970s offers a portrait of women living on the edge of society while negotiating their agency, connection, and dignity.

Wet Woman in the Wind: A tornado of unbridled sexual desire is unleashed when a free spirited seductress sets her sights on a reclusive playwright. Wet Woman in the Wind highlights the id in its stream of consciousness tale. Having a character who overturns the inhibitions of all that cross her path with wild abandon allows this striking entry in Nikkatsu's Roman Porno Reboot series to transcend its sexploitation raison d'être. Director Akihiko Shiota cuts to the chase, taking advantage of the subgenre's sparse requirements: a sex scene every ten minutes with a total running time no longer than 80 minutes. What ensues is a gleefully anarchic plot that explores the human psyche through sexuality within a psychodrama that is as hilarious as it is titillating. Featuring a tour de force performance by Yuki Mamiya as the eponymous agent provocateur, Wet Woman in the Wind is a "hugely enjoyable film - and often, partly because of its relative demureness, a fairly arousing one, with female pleasure and male discomfiture foremost on the menu" (Screen International).

White Lily: Celebrated ceramic artist Tokiko (Kaori Yamaguchi) takes Haruka (Rin Asuka), a troubled teenage runaway, into her home where she becomes her apprentice. When Tokiko’s husband dies, Haruka promises to remain by her side, and the two begin a romantic, but volatile relationship. Overcome by sorrow and struggling with alcohol abuse, Tokiko drifts into a series of casual sexual encounters, leaving Haruka torn between her feelings of passion and devotion for her mentor and the emotional abuse she has been forced to endure.

Produced as part of Nikkatsu's Roman Porno Reboot series, White Lily is directed by Hideo Nakata, the master behind such J-horror classics as Ringu and Dark Water.