Underwater Love
2011 ‘Onna no kappa’ Directed by Shinji Imaoka
Synopsis
Asuka, a woman in her thirties, works in a lakeside fish factory. She’s about to be married to her boss, Taki. But one day, she encounters a kappa – a water sprite found in Japanese folklore – and learns that the creature is in fact the reborn form of Aoki, an old crush who’d drowned to death when they were 17.
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TFW??? a german movie label on pink cinema with a japanese sung soundtrack by stereo total and christopher fucking doyle as director of photography assembled in a movie about one of the most famous national symbols of japan with a mighty dong and cheap makeup mixed in a musical about love, rebirth and the BEST "god of death" ever smoking cigarettes like joints ... NO WAY ... this was the most quirky movie ever seen!!!
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This one-of-a-kind pink musical holds up surprisingly well on second viewing. Stereo Total’s tunes keep things bouncing along at a jaunty pace and there’s not so much porn that you feel ashamed for watching. Highlights also include an impressive kappa penis, an anal pearl the size of a tennis ball and Chris Doyle’s rather wonderful cinematography. Music start!
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Underwater Love, a Japanese pink musical, is one of the most delightfully unique films I’ve seen. The spirit of the film is so fun and charming, that like Air Doll, it transcends its pornographic nature and becomes genuinely heartwarming. The story is about a factory worker (about to be married to her boss) who encounters a kappa whose spirit is an old high school crush, and they fall in love again. There are several sex scenes but there is nothing smutty about them. Two of the main elements that help this film succeed are the visuals and the music. The film is beautifully shot by Christopher Doyle, who I consider to be the best cinematographer in Asian cinema, who is…
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MUSIC START! A very special movie indeed! KAPPA!
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For those who are familiar with independent Japanese pink cinema, this high-concept fantasy/musical might seem like commonplace treading. But my first foray into the genre easily makes Underwater Love one of the most spirited, unique and strangest soft-core experiences I have ever seen. The transitions from human/creature sexual explicitness to a bombastic musical simply left me stunned. Shot by Christopher Doyle (famed cinematographer of Hero and Wong Kai Wai's work) the camera intimately ponders in its moments of sexual connection, yet jitters through quick zooms in the more lively dance scenes. This movie is intentionally goofy, absolutely berserk, and somehow surprisingly endearing. It's about a thirtysomething woman named Asuka who works in a lakeside fish factory. She is content, settled…
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A Japanese soft porn musical worthy of being a cult classic. About a mythological creature "kappa" with dances to Stereo Total. The cinematographer, main actress, director and producer opened the face to face by dancing to the ending, it was great, except for the fact that Christopher Doyle was annoyingly drunk. We giggled all the way home.
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Underwater Love, a Japanese pink musical, is one of the most delightfully unique films I’ve seen. The spirit of the film is so fun and charming, that like Air Doll, it transcends its pornographic nature and becomes genuinely heartwarming. The story is about a factory worker (about to be married to her boss) who encounters a kappa whose spirit is an old high school crush, and they fall in love again. There are several sex scenes but there is nothing smutty about them. Two of the main elements that help this film succeed are the visuals and the music. The film is beautifully shot by Christopher Doyle, who I consider to be the best cinematographer in Asian cinema, who is…
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really strange but lot of funny scenes - if you dare… ;)
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TFW??? a german movie label on pink cinema with a japanese sung soundtrack by stereo total and christopher fucking doyle as director of photography assembled in a movie about one of the most famous national symbols of japan with a mighty dong and cheap makeup mixed in a musical about love, rebirth and the BEST "god of death" ever smoking cigarettes like joints ... NO WAY ... this was the most quirky movie ever seen!!!
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By far, one of the strangest films that I have ever seen in my entire life. There was something so charming and entertaining about the film that made it so much fun to watch, even though I couldn’t really tell who the audience was for this. The setup is that it is “soft-core porn musical” based on a Japanese folklore about people that drown that come back to life as ‘kappas’ (which are basically weird looking turtle spirits) and haunt their lost loved ones, or something. How anyone could find a gross looking guy in a turtle costume as sexy is way beyond my comprehension, but if you ever wanted to see what a gigantic prosthetic turtle dick looks like,…
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I suppose there are two conditions in which this film is moderately enjoyable: You're either 15, or drunk beyond salvaging. If you don't happen to fall into either of these categories, you're in for a sloppily acted and directed soft porn fairy tale (?!) with annoying musical interludes.
I could play devil's advocate and try to interpret this as a heavy-handed statement about Japan's lost generation - all characters are thirty-somethings stuck in shit jobs without perspective, and I've got to admit the recurring motive of "going to Tokyo" was a nice touch - but really that'd be pushing it too hard.
I'll give it a generous 1.5 stars because the director of photography did a decent job.
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Here’s something you don’t see every day. Asuka is planning to marry her boss at the fish factory where she works, but then meets a kappa (human/turtle creature from Japanese folklore) who turns out to be Aiko, the boy who drowned at school. The two begin an affair, which threatens to be curtailed by the God of Death, despite Asuka’s lucky anal pearl. Or something along those lines. And it’s a musical. No, it’s not directed by mental Miike, and you might be surprised to see Christopher Doyle’s name in the credits, but this mix of ‘pink’ softcore and naff song and dance numbers is actually quite simple and charming, despite its barmy story. The musical numbers by Stereo Total are a particular highlight, the lyrics making no sense whatsoever, but it matters not!
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MUSIC START! A very special movie indeed! KAPPA!