A Woman Called Abe Sada

A Woman Called Abe Sada

Noboru Tanaka's 'A Woman Called Abe Sada' is based on the true story set back in the 1930's involving an insatiable giesha girl (the aforementioned Abe) and her married lover Kichi. Now, you may be thinking 'what the hell' sort of movie is that for SGM to drool over, but hey - there's more here than meets the eye.

'Abe Sada' is a very intense and very highly sexually charged film with a great bizarre twist that will please 'genre' fans all round. The lovely Junko Miyashita plays the role of Abe with great conviction. Raped at the age of 15 and thrown out of her family home, Abe gets sucked into the world of prostitution and soon develops a very passionate need for sex. The first half of the film follows Abe and her lover Kichi locked away in a room, drinking endless amounts of Sake indulging in very passionate and volatile sex which often borders on being life threatingly dangerous. As the intensity of the relationship grows so does the danger, which inevitably leads to disastrous (and very painful) consequences.

'Abe Sada' truly is a forgotten classic. Based on the same true story that was used in the film 'Empire of the Senses' (which sadly stole 'Sada's opportunity for recognition in the West), the film has a very claustrophobic and involving atmosphere thanks to the excellent direction by Tanaka, which is backed up by great performances by the small ensemble cast. Undeniably, viewers of the film will be heading for a cold shower after watching this very horny (and educational!) movie, males in particular will be sweating in fear by the end (as well as wishing they hadn't watched it with their partners either!) I won't go into detail of exactly what happens, but can confidently say - check this one out, it's a classic.

The disc, as ever with Pagan, is quite sparse in content with only a still gallery and (for a change on DVD) some truly interesting cast and crew bios. But considering the age and rarity of the movie, the chance of getting trailers and commentarys are virtually zero. And the film is what we're here for and the widescreen print used here is lovely and Pagan have done a grand job with the transfer. There's also a welcome nice touch with the subtitle options, instead of the usual on/off malarkey there's also the option of where you want your subtitles placed !

So, Pagan Films knock SGM for six once again with yet another release of a rarely seen movie that impressed us no end. An intense and sexy film that fans of classic Japanese cinema will thoroughly enjoy (and would you believe it's a Region 2 release too !) Check it out now !


 
Directed by Noboru Tanaka
Released by Pagan
Rated 18 - PAL (Region 0)
Ratio - Widescreen
Audio - Dolby Digital Japanese
Subtitles - English
Running time - approx 77 mins
Extras - Still Gallery & Biographys
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