Tokyo Decadence-DVD Release.

"PROVOCATIVE, EXPLICIT AND OCCASIONALLY EVEN THOUGHTFUL." – CHANNEL4.COM.

Written and directed by acclaimed Japanese novelist and film director, Ryu Murakami (the genius mind behind Takashi Miike's "Audition"), Tokyo Decadence takes the viewer on a journey to the seedy, secretive side of modern Japanese society as seen through the eyes of a young call girl who specializes in sadomasochistic acts of bondage, domination and submission.
Miho Nikaido (the real-life wife of US indie director Hal Hartley and the star of several of his films, including Henry Fool, Flirt and Fay Grim) stars as Ai, a young Japanese prostitute whose unrequited love for a former celebrity client draws her ever deeper into the dark underworld of gangsters, drugs and subversive sex as she tries desperately to win his affection.

 

Catering to Yakuza captains, salarymen and ostensibly "respectable" heads of industry, Ai witnesses and experiences sexual degradation, confusion and despair through her encounters with various clients who include a tycoon and his girlfriend who insist on humiliating her, a crazed drug fiend with a strangulation fixation, a submissive businessman known only as "Turtlehead" and a wine connoisseur with a disturbing taste for necrophilia.

 

Sexually graphic without being gratuitous, brilliant and honest, Tokyo Decadence is an unforgettable film that never shies away from exposing the realities of a world that is devoid of humanity and feeling. Boasting a music score by Academy Award winning composer Ryuichi Sakamoto (The Last Emperor) and a brave, subtly sympathetic, soul-baring central performance by Miho Nikaido, it presents a searing, disturbing and extremely graphic indictment of the hypocrisies of excessive materialism and sexual puritanism.
Tokyo Decadence (cert. 18) will be released on DVD (£9.99) by ArrowDrome on 24th October 2011. Special Features include collectors’ booklet by Robin Bougie, reversible sleeve and ArrowDrome trailers.