polski

No Love Juice: Rustling in the Bed

Yûji Tajiri
Fuwa-fuwa to beddo no ue de
Japan 1999 / 58’

Tomomi, a Tokyo office girl approaching her 30s is stuck in a dull, uninspiring job and in a dead-end relationship that has dragged on for six years. After a night out drinking she awakens on her train ride home to find a handsome young man, an art college student named Takao, dozing with his head on her shoulder. She hesitates before daringly planting a kiss on his lips and dashes from the carriage. When she discovers he has followed her, a passionate affair ensues, but how much of an obstacle is their age difference? Originally released into pink cinemas under the sexed-up title of Office Lady Love Juice (and later on video as Working Big Sis’: Can’t Hold Herself Back After 5pm), Yûji Tajiri’s second work is a touching drama that ushered in a new era in the pink film genre by looking at sexual relationships from a woman’s perspective. Although it contains all the steamy bedroom moments one might expect from a film of this genre (more artistically shot than most films of its kind), this subtly-realised and nuanced character study delivers far more than bare skin, and is one of the best entry points for newcomers to pink film.

Jasper Sharp

awards

Pink Grand Prix 1999 – Best Film, Best Director, Best Script, Best Actor

Yûji Tajiri

Born in 1968 in Hokkaido, Yûji Tajiri is one of a group of directors known as the Seven Lucky Gods, or Shichifukujin, whose work is indicative of a change in style and approach to the pink film genre in the new millennium. Tajiri joined Mukai Kan’s Shishi Pro company in 1990 and began working as an assistant to directors including Hisayasu Satô and Takahisa Zeze before making his debut in 1997 with Go Go Train (Ike ike densha: Hamete, ikasete, yamenaide). Outside of the pink genre, he has also made the horror film Harami: White Fear (Harami: Shiroi kyofu, 2005).

Selected filmography

1997 Ike ike densha: hamete, ikasete, yamenaide / Go Go Train

1999 Bez miłosnych soków: Łóżkowe szelesty / Fuwa-fuwa to beddo no ue de / No Love Juice: Rustling in the Bed

2002 Memai / Dizzy

2004 Keiren / Convulsions

2005 Harami: Shiroi kyôfu / Harami: White Fear

2006 Himo Hiroshi / The Strange Saga Of Hiroshi The Freeloading Sex Machine

Prepared by: Jasper Sharp

Credits

director Yûji Tajiri
screenplay Kôsuke Takeda
cinematography Masahide Iioka
editing Shôji Sakai
cast Atsumi Kubota, Mikio Satô, Yumika Hayashi, Yûji Sawayama
producer Daisuke Asakura
production Kokuei Company
sales Stance Films
language Japanese