1981 Directed by Rolf Olsen
High on shock and light on cultural relativism, this mondo collection of video strangeness features assorted dead (or dying) people, a sex change operation, inexplicable sex acts, and a bunch of other stuff the producers' could get the rights to cheaply.
Shocking Asia - Sünde, Sex und Sukiyaki
No artistic value whatsover, just a bunch of "mondo" skits all tied together by an official sounding narrator and is presented as some sort of wacky travel-log. Some of the scenes are obviously really fake and are terribly acted. Documentary does feature a few nasty bits however, such as the legit decomposing bodies on a river in the middle of India being picked apart by Vultures.
Film has its own "Crying Game" moment too. Won't spoil that one.
Film is not as brutal as the "Shocking Africa" one. Some of that stuff is burned into my brain.
Mondo films have found themselves in a strange place due to their relatively recent widespread accessibility thanks to platforms like Youtube. No longer are mondo films like 'Shocking Asia' primarily stuck to circulating amongst genre enthusiasts via bootlegged VHSes. Now they are being algorithmically recommended by a catch-all suggestion system to whomever. More often than not, it seems these movies are uploaded under their foreign titles or a vague collection of adjectives that tend to hint at a video far more salacious. None seem to ever be labeled as mondos but instead as documentaries (which I guess isn't entirely untrue) which is where the waters start to become a little murky for me.
For anyone familiar with exploitation cinema, particularly…
This Hong Kong/German co-production features graphic scenes of the Asian continent. We witness a mass piercing in India, cremated remains of human bodies dumped into the Ganges River in clear sight of bathers. The camera then shows Japanese sex clubs that reenact bizarre sexual rituals and bondage fantasies. There is also a graphic sex change operation in Singapore. There is also a dwarf, and female wrestling featured to round out the fun. This film was shown in many different versions as each market had a different set of acceptable standards. The film was shown in the US boxed with Mondo Magic
Reminding me of the things I know, confirming how wrong you'll always be. The mermaids are calling out in a soundless place, a time without ringing as the night carries their singing. Follow the fountain's lull. Wish there shall be something soon.
Focus on me for an hour. The always girl - the last one you'll ever see.
Someday you will die alone.
HERE WE GO AGAIN. There's something crawling up my arm, a disease, a friend, another creature to do me harm. I'm hitting my head against the wall. Why haven't I been reborn yet! How many lifetimes of this purple-hued haze, smoke-filled air and lifeless dogs litter the streets. Is this the belly of the beast? WHERE AM I?!?! My stomach is full... there's nothing dangerous here... I'm uncomfortably comfortable, and it's incredibly queer. There are mages upon the glass, blue eyes that steal from my hope, desperation in rivalry, a hat unmade through trickery, something malevolent through storms before the sea swells. There is an abyss in sight.
Scattered cuts, slight steel upon my skin, my thighs, my wrists, my…
Fun that one of the least shocking shock docs literally has "shocking" in the title! Not much to say that isn't widely apparent but it hits all the mondo bits that one would want. Happy to add this to the mondo tape collection I have growing.
The supposed "duality of Asians toward animals" pop-theorized by the film is at base the projected duality of the West toward Asia, its Other like animals are. West and East, or Democrat and Republican, Coke or Pepsi? A paralyzed Orient becomes the projector-screen for lalangue. The dialogue becomes the stilted bulwark against ruining fantasy's difference, the difference we relish unsullied by the notion that it is a mystery that is knowable, or, even worse, already known. Cool footage! One wishes there were no dialogue.
A metà strada tra uno shockumentary ed un 'mondo movie', il primo SHOCKING ASIA, sulla cui data di uscita regna il mistero (1974?, 1976?, 1981?), è un bignami effervescente delle follie asiatiche degli anni '70, oggetto di stereotipi destinati a non morire mai .... nemmeno ai giorni nostri (esempio i pipistrelli divorati vivi).
Imperniato perlopiù su cucina estrema e sesso a 360°, questo documentario spazia velocemente e senza sosta lungo diversi luoghi dell'estremo oriente e del sud asiatico, senza lesinare visioni scioccanti afferenti autolesionismo, violenza sugli animali e operazioni chirurgiche senza censura.
Ecco di seguiti i frangenti più rilevanti e degni di nota:
- cremazioni di cadaveri a cielo aperto
- transessuali a Singapore
- operazione chirurgica di vaginoplastica
-…
