Japanese Reviews Reviews

Film Review: Safe Word (2022) by Koji Shiraishi

"Would you like to work as a dominatrix?"

As ‘s Roman Porno series continues, the company needed some fresh blood to handle the newest titles, and , one of the masters of J-horror, who has recently started moving into new paths as in the case of “” seemed like an ideal candidate. The result is “”, a movie dealing with the world of BDSM, paralleling it with the world of idols while including the meta element of the mockumentary. The result is quite interesting.

Misa The Killer is an underground idol, who, as the movie begins, is being filmed closely by a female director for a documentary. One day, during one of her performances, the trans manager of BDSM club “H” catches her during a rage fit and decides to headhunt her to become a dominatrix in his establishment. Misa does not realize from the beginning what it is about, and is even enraged when she finds out the truth. However, the appearance of the top dominatrix of the club, Kanon, soon has her changing stance completely, and Misa finds herself enjoying being “the victim” as much as the “aggressor” in the club. Gradually, Kanon’s dominance over her grows, while Misa still continues acting as an idol. An antagonist, her feelings for Kanon, and an incident with the owner of the club complicate things even more, while the director of the documentary never stops shooting.

Koji Shiraishi’s approach, which combines the sensuality of the Roman Porno with S&M elements, drama, romance and the mockumentary, emerges as rather intriguing, as he handles all of them adequately, in a feat that is not exactly easy. At the same time, the purpose of the relaunch of the series, to present erotic films that are grounded in reality and also address female audience, seems to be met fully here, as he explores both the whole concept of BDSM and the way it works nowadays and the psychology of the people working in the field. Granted, the owner arc and the whole concept of shouting out about one’s perverseness is somewhat excessive, in manga-esque fashion, but this is the only aspect of the narrative that goes that far in that direction.

On the other hand, the paralleling of the BDSM world with that of idols is quite interesting as a comment. Furthermore, the movie benefits the most by the deep analysis of Misa and particularly the ways she transforms from an aggressor type to Kanon’s “pet” and again to an aggressor towards her clients, in an aspect that adds much depth to the narrative, while allowing the audience to empathize with her, at least to some level. The element of the ever-present director, in the form of the documentary that never stops being shot, cements the layered approach Shiraishi implements in the best fashion.

is great in the role, especially regarding her transformations, even if her angry moments could have been a bit more measured, while her portrayal of the pleasure Misa undergoes in the hands of Kanon is probably the best trait of the movie, at least in terms of sensualism, particularly the way she moans and shivers during their endeavors. as Kanon is equally convincing in her laconic, strict portrayal of the ‘ultimate mistress’, and her chemistry with Kawase, excellent. Furthermore, the “grounded to Earth” aspect of the movie also benefits from the overall appearance of the two protagonists, who are beautiful, but neither pornographically (through plastic surgeries etc) nor in star-studded fashion, like or for example, instead exhibiting a ‘next-door’ beauty.

Kei Ikeda and Ryoka Neya’s cinematography moves in the same direction, with the BDSM club presented not as an underground dark place, but as a bright, colorful location, with the aforementioned approach actually being reserved for the idol world, in a choice that could be perceived as a comment. Shiraishi’s own editing results in a relatively fast pace that works nicely here, although some episodes could have been omitted.

“Safe Word” is not exactly a pink film that also functions as an indie drama, as in the case of “Hand” from the same series for example, but still presents a rather fresh approach to the pink film and the presentation of the BDSM world, while pleasantly titillating throughout.

About the author

Panos Kotzathanasis

Panagiotis (Panos) Kotzathanasis is a film critic and reviewer, specialized in Asian Cinema. He is the owner and administrator of Asian Movie Pulse, one of the biggest portals dealing with Asian cinema. He is a frequent writer in Hancinema, Taste of Cinema, and his texts can be found in a number of other publications including SIRP in Estonia, Film.sk in Slovakia, Asian Dialogue in the UK, Cinefil in Japan and Filmbuff in India.

Since 2019, he cooperates with Thessaloniki Cinematheque in Greece, curating various tributes to Asian cinema. He has participated, with video recordings and text, on a number of Asian movie releases, for Spectrum, Dekanalog and Error 4444. He has taken part as an expert on the Erasmus+ program, “Asian Cinema Education”, on the Asian Cinema Education International Journalism and Film Criticism Course.

Apart from a member of FIPRESCI and the Greek Cinema Critics Association, he is also a member of NETPAC, the Hellenic Film Academy and the Online Film Critics Association.

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