FLOWER AND SNAKE (1974) (Impulse Pictures Blu-ray Review)

FLOWER AND SNAKE (1974)

Label: Impulse Pictures
Release Date: March 16th, 2021
Region Code: A 
Duration: 74 Minutes
Video: 1080p HD Widescreen (2.35:1) 
Audio: Japanese DTS-HD MA 2.0 Original Mono with Optional English Subtitles
Director: Masaru Konuma
Cast: Naomi Tani, Nagatoshi Sakamoto, Yashuhiko Ishizu, Hioko Fuji 

Flower and Snake (1974) is a legendary Nikkatsu erotic production from the seventies, this one starring Makoto Katagiri (Yasuhiko Ishizu) as a mama's boy who lives with his mother, Miyo (Hiroko Fuji, Nympho Diver: G-String Festival), 'natch. Mom operates some sort of kinky bondage-themed basement photography studio/bookstore, she's a kinky old broad, but Makoto's own sexuality is a bit flawed. He was emotionally scarred by an event that happened when he was young, having walked in on the sight of a black U.S. soldier having sex with his mother, unable to comprehend that his mom was a prostitute he shot the soldier with his own gun, but the G.I. managed to grab the kid around the neck before dying. That event not surprisingly left him emotionally scarred and impotent. Now an adult he is incapable of getting aroused by women, and resorts to whacking off into Kleenex, which when finished he tosses into a wastebasket he keeps in the closet, and performing a tint ceremony to mourn the death of his unborn children.

Makoto works for an elderly businessman named Senzô Tôyama (Nagatoshi Sakamoto, The Red Petal Is Wet) who is fond of BDSM and sex games, but his younger new wife Shizuko Tôyama (Naomi Tani, Fairy in a Cage) not only won't indulge her husband's BDSM fantasies but seemingly won't even allow him to touch her. The increasingly frustrated Senzô is left to vent his sadomasochistic fantasies onto his put-upon housemaid Haru (Hijiri Abe, New Eros Schedule Book: An Offering of Fine Skin). At the start of the film she is at her master's mercy in the rose garden, where he subjects her to creepy crawly bug torments and an forced enema that leaves her running through the yard with her butt cheeks clenched.

At his wits end with his wife's refusal to be his submissive Senzô hires his employee Makoto to stage a kidnapping of his wife, paying him to keep her prisoner and break her spirit, in an effort to mold her into a sexual plaything that will be more pliant to his sordid fantasies. Makoto knocks her out with a Mickey-Finn placed in her tea and takes her to a field where he attempts to rape her, but is unable to get an erection as he experiences a flashback to the black soldier he killed as a child. He then takes her to the home of his mother and ties her up, as the sexually frustrated Makoto begins work on making his employer's hot wife a submissive he is also working through his own sexual baggage and slowly overcoming his mental-induced impotency.

Adding the sexual delirium is the participation of his kinky mother in the sensual tortures and rope bondage that Shizuko is put through. The mom even invites her staff to have a crack at breaking the woman of her aversion to sadomachistic sex acts, but for some reason she is none to pleased when her son begins to overcome his impotency. Makoto reports back to his employer every few days with audio recording of is sessions with is wife, but the employer begins to worry that maybe Makoto is having a bit too much fun, and that he is in fact developing feelings for his attractive wife, and he is correct.

Flower and Snake (1974) is a tense watch, the rope bondage, repeated rapes, and multiple forced enemas are not for the less adventurous cinema-fans or the faint of heart, but the pulse-raising sexual seen fervor throughout is undeniable. Censorship of the era dictates that no genitalia can be shown, the sexpot body of Naomi Tani is on full display in all other respects, and she is put through the wringer. The breast-bondage is a sight to behold, and it is both alarming and titillating, her face contorted in expressions of both extreme pleasure and pain, selling the nuanced range of emotions. The finale of the film has a few interesting twists and turns as well, one involving the truth of Makoto's childhood trauma, and another that casts Shizuko in a different light altogether.

Audio/Video: Flower and Snake (1974) arrives on Blu-ray from Impulse Pictures presented in 1080p HD and framed in 2.35:1 widescreen. The movie gets a nice filmic looking transfer with an appreciable amount of film grain with some excellent fine details in the close-ups. The source is clean aside from some minimal white specs that pop-up, and the colors are warm throughout. Audio comes by way of original Japanese 2.0 mono with optional, newly translate English subtitles, the audio track is clean and without issues, a solid uncompressed audio presentation.

The single-disc release arrives in a standard keepcase with a one-sided sleeve of artwork with the Blu-ray disc inside featuring a tantalizing rope-bondage scene from the movie. There are in extras on the disc.

Special Features:
- All-new high-definition restoration from the original camera negative provided by Nikkatsu Studios
- Newly-translated removable English subtitles

Flower and Snake (1974) is a gorgeous and challenging erotic film, but it is Naomi Tani who absolutely steals every scene with her dedicated performance,  able to convey both pleasure and pain as she is put through in scene after scene of elaborately staged rope bondage. If you're a fan of BDSM cinema and thrill at the sight of rope bondage Flower and Snake delivers all of that in spades. Another great looking Nikkatsu catalog title gets a solid Blu-ray from Impulse Picture. 

Screenshots from the Impulse Pictures Blu-ray:

DVD Review: NYMPHO DIVER: G-STRING FESTIVAL (1981)

Nympho Diver: G-String Festival  (1981)
The Nikkatsu Erotic Films Collection

Label: Impulse Pictures 

Region: 1 NTSC

Duration: 69 Minutes

Rating: Unrated 

Video: Anamorphic Widescreen (2.35:1) 

Audio: Japanese Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono with English Subtitles 

Director: Atsushi Fujiura
Cast: Anzi Eri, Ezaki Kazuyo, Aono Rima

Director Atsushi Fujiur's Nympho Diver: G-String Festival (1981) is quite a departure from the dark erotic delights that Impulse Picture's have been putting out recently as part of the Nikkatsu Erotic Films Collection. It's a departure in that there's still a ton of naked Asians performing sex acts, don't fret that my friends, but it's a pretty light-hearted sex-comedy that's brisk and entertaining if rather light on plot. We begin with a fun voyeuristic sex scene as a young man attempts to screw his beloved in a rather uncomfortable place... the front of a compact car with an audience, the young woman squeals in protest to her lover's lust only to protest just as fervently when he stops, it's goofy, sexy and fun and sets the pace for the film's 69 minute duration. The sparse story revolves around a seaside village once renown for its attractive pearl divers, apparently these "ama" or "girl diver" films are a Japanese cinema sub genre all to themselves, anyway, the once thriving tourism trade has waned increasingly through the years, there's but one girl diver left in town and she's a bit of an aging sea beast, too. In desperation the mayor hatches a scheme to increase tourism and save his dying village by recruiting sexy, young divers from the surrounding area. Towards this end his young, and rather horny son, recruits a few pretty ladies, all in their 20's, from disparate walks of life. There's a nice montage of the mayor's son, Nobou, awkwardly approaching each woman and somehow winning them over, it's all a bit slapstick and good bit of fun, a pleasant departure from the previous Nikkatsu features so ripe with bondage, rape fantasies and violent sexual desires. So, while it's a welcome change of pace it must be said that despite the fact that these films were dark and maybe a bit of a challenge to endure they at least had, for the most part, an intriguing story line you could follow and maybe even sink your teeth into, Nympho Diver however is pretty slim on story, and mostly cobbled together with copious amounts of nudity and goofy sexploitation, which is not an altogether unpleasant issue. Everyone is getting some here; the mayor, his son, even the local priest is balls deep in it. We get a little bit of every kink here, from voyeurism, to fetishes, the priest pleasuring one of the gals with a wooden stick, grown men in diapers, breast feeding, sex under false pretenses, a love triangle and then it somehow it all culminates in a bizarre g-string festival and a bizarrely somber headscratcher of an ending, weird stuff, but it's Nikkatsu so you just gotta expect that sorta strangeness going in my friend.

DVD: Not the most attractive film cinematically but Impulse Pictures' disc look pretty great on a technical level, presented in anamorphic widescreen (2.35:1) we get a great source print with precious few flaws. Colors are a bit soft but overall it looks quite good with decent black levels, it's a surprisingly crisp affair. We get a Japanese language Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono audio track that's free of hiss and pops, dialogue, score and effects are well-balanced, there are  newly translated English subtitles for those of us not worldly enough to not need them, and quite honestly this is not really a film that requires dialogue. While the film is a bit disposable I am I am quite impressed overall with Impulse Pictures presentation of The Nikkatsu Erotic Films Collection.

Extras are limited to the Original Theatrical Trailer (1:13) and the usual Jasper Sharp liner notes which accompany each of the Nikkatsu films, putting the film into context of the period, always an informative read.

Special Features:

- Newly Translated Removable English Subtitles
- Original Theatrical Trailer
- Liner Notes from Japanese Film Scholar Jasper Sharp

Verdict: Definitely a fun watch with ample amounts of nude Asian ladies, whom occasionally don g-strings, but are mostly just nude, with some fun low-brow kink and bawdy hi-jinx. Honestly, there's not a lot of re watch value here for me, none in fact, at the very least this was a fun break from the dark weirdness of the previous Nikkatsu films even if a bit sub-par. 2 Outta 5