{"id":104504,"date":"2021-03-29T06:32:48","date_gmt":"2021-03-29T03:32:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/asianmoviepulse.com\/?p=104504"},"modified":"2021-03-29T06:32:50","modified_gmt":"2021-03-29T03:32:50","slug":"film-review-the-woman-with-red-hair-1979-by-tatsumi-kumashiro","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/asianmoviepulse.com\/2021\/03\/film-review-the-woman-with-red-hair-1979-by-tatsumi-kumashiro\/","title":{"rendered":"Film Review: The Woman with Red Hair (1979) by Tatsumi Kumashiro"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

“The Woman with Red Hair” is probably the most acclaimed work of the late Tatsumi Kumashiro, one of the most celebrated directors within the pinku genre (and later on, even beyond) whose pink films even made it repeatedly to the Kinema Junpo’s Best 10 of the year. This particular one was number 4 that year, and was also nominated for four awards (although it did not win any) from the Japanese Academy, including Best Director, Best Screenplay for Haruhiko Arai, Best Sound for Fumio Hashimoto and Best Actress for Junko Muyashita, who actually won the accolade from the Hochi Film Awards.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The film focuses on the friendship between two construction workers, Kozo and Takao, with the first one being a specialist worker and thus much cherished and somewhat higher up the chain, and the second a simpleton who idolizes him for the most part. The story begins when the boss’s daughter, Kazuko (played by Ako who also won an award for her performance in the Yokohama Film Festival) attempts to seduce Takao, but ends up being gangbanged by both men, in a scene that highlights their friendship in distinct exploitation fashion. A bit later, the girl informs Takao that she is pregnant, and demands a marriage proposal. In the meanwhile, however, the titular girl has entered the two men’s life when they pick her up from the side of the street, with her soon starting to live in Kozo’s small apartment, despite the fact that she is married with two children. The two share a relationship of lust and abuse from Kozo’s side, but Takao feels threatened by the presence of the girl, and even demands from Kozo to allow him to have sex with her, in a discussion that leads to fisticuffs at first, but at Kozo actually allowing him to do so, even despite the initial protests of the girl.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Kumashiro creates a rather interesting portrait that uses the love triangle to make comments about male friendship, the role of women in society, lust, and even the lives of poor construction workers, with the settings the film takes place in being almost exclusively rundown neighborhoods. Yonezo Maeda’s cinematography portrays all the aforementioned with realism, in a rather convincing job.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n