As I was reading the post below this one entitled “Lovely Andrea”, I was struck by Nureki Chimuo’s opinion that most videos produced today are, as he put it, “crap”. Now, Nureki sensei is getting up there in years and I suppose it would be easy to dismiss his comment as the rantings of an old man living in the past. But I doubt he’s the only one who feels this way. Okay, I’ll just come out with it: I agree with him.
I recently purchased a box set of five DVDs from the late, legendary director Ishii Teruo. Among bondage aficionados, Ishii is known for his sadistic fare such as “Joy of Torture” among others. He is also well known for directing yakuza films starring Takakura Ken.
Like the Nikkatsu classics of the sixties and seventies, these were shot on film in glorious widescreen. They actually have a plot. A bit bizarre, perhaps, and difficult to follow for the average Westerner, but a plot nevertheless. Actually, the Ishii films have a little too much story for my taste. I think Nikkatsu had it about right, effectively balancing the storyline with the bondage action.
That said, I wonder how much of today’s fare will even be available 30 years from now, let alone esteemed and desired by a whole new generation of bondage fanatics.
When video came along and pretty much killed shot-on-film bondage movies, it was a good news, bad news sort of thing. The good news was that you could crank out a lot of material cheap. The bad news was that you could crank out a lot of material cheap.
But still, in the early eighties, there were many excellent movies shot on video. Although Cinemagic has certainly turned out its fair share of boring, vanilla fuck movies with some ropes tossed in as an apparent afterthought, they also managed to hit the sweet spot on many occasions. The same thing goes for the old Art Video SM company.
About 20 years ago, there was a video I rented over and over again simply because I didn’t have two VCRs. I think you know what I’m talking about. This video was fantastic and it’s now all but impossible to find. I saw it a few years ago in a used video shop somewhere in Tokyo. Unfortunately, I didn’t have a spare 20,000 yen in my pocket at the time!
I have a mental list of things I believe need to be present in order for a video to avoid the crap designation. High up on that list is location. Back when they were shooting movies on film, things like sets and wardrobe mattered. Of course, they had people who could act pretty well, too. But even if you don’t have trained actors to work with, good locations will really enhance the viewing experience.
One company that “gets it”, I think, when it comes to the right kind of locations is Kink.com. The owner of Kink.com recently purchased the San Francisco Armory for shooting material for his own websites. He also plans to rent it out to mainstream movie companies. Personally, I like a grubby, run-down place like the armory to a hotel room or a red plastic “dungeon” for shooting videos.
When Kink came to Japan to work with Osada Steve, Steve scrounged up some interesting locations, the best of which was an old Japanese style house. In fact, this place has been used as a set for many bondage videos shot in Tokyo. Other than this place though, most of the videos I have seen recently have been shot in rather uninspiring locations.
I’ve gotten behind again so the gallery below is spread across two or three Kinbaku Live Nights at Studio SIX. Sorry ’bout that. You will notice a couple of new faces there. One is Misa-chan, the other Juri-chan. And, of course, we never get tired of the beautiful and alluring Ageha.
The five thumbs below relate to this post and are self-explanatory. The bondage thumbs are repeats from the Kink.com shoot. They just happen to be some of my favorites!
KabukiJoe
GALLERY — Studio SIX
