Angel Guts: Red Flash (1994)

AKA Red Lightning

The Angel Guts series, and for that matter the entire body of work from series creator Takashi Ishii, is one of the finest examples of the difference in attitudes between Japan and the west when it comes to depictions of sexuality, sexual violence in particular. Given the cultural climate in the west, one dominated by censorious, perpetually offended cultists quick to call for the silencing of anything deemed “offensive” by the hive, Ishii's approach to subjects like rape and sadomasochism are bound to trigger the culturally fascistic types whereas in Japan, Ishii is seen as a feminist friendly filmmaker. Ishii has gone on record stating that his intention behind the Angel Guts manga series was a tribute to victimized women, the “Guts” in the title referencing courage. Its the same mentality that Ishii brings to his film work. Beginning with his debut, the fifth in the Angel Guts film series, Red Vertigo (1988), Ishii has made a career out of exploring the psyches of female protagonists who are quite damaged, yet resilient and what should be apparent to those not blinded by authoritarian ideology, no matter the mental and psychical trauma Ishii's heroins endure, Ishii is always on their side. Angel Guts: Red Flash, the most elusive of the series, is yet another example of Ishii subverting the “Pink Film” or Pinku eiga, putting another Nami at the center of a psychosexual mystery.

After getting blackout drunk in a fit of jealousy after discovering her lover with another woman, Nami, a young photographer, is escorted from the bar by a complete stranger, only to wake up later in a love hotel with the dead body of the stranger from the bar on the floor. The following morning, Nami receives an ominous message from a stranger demanding sex or else they'll inform the police of Nami's murdering of the man in the hotel. Although Nami has no memory whatsoever about what happened, a videotape left in the hotel shows another, unidentifiable person in the room. Along with business colleague Muraki, Nami attempts to uncover the truth about what happened in the hotel, a process that becomes all the more challenging when a troubling memory from her past creeps to the surface as well as Nami's suspicions of Muraki's motives for helping her.

Made during the height of the American erotic thriller craze, there does seem to be an attempt on Ishii's part to give Angel Guts: Red Flash (Tenshi no harawata: Akai senkô, 天使のはらわた 赤い閃光) the vibe of some of the American sex thrillers of the time. Some have compared Ishii's approach with the film to Brian De Palma, a comparison which is not unwarranted, and there are points in the film which seem to recall Paul Verhoeven's Basic Instinct (1992), particularly the nasty stabbing scenes, and much like Verhoeven's infamous potboiler, some of the characterizations are sure to send the forever outraged into offense induced seizures. Despite some of the films Americanized genre trappings, by and large the execution of Red Flash is 100% Ishii. There are essentially two different narrative threads woven together throughout the film, the first obviously being the mystery involving Nami and what happned in the hotel but its the second, the traumatic event constantly haunting Nami, that makes the first all the more fascinating. The mystery works on its own largely due to questionable motives of Muraki yet Nami's troubled state of mind gives Ishii the incentive to leave everything open to further questioning, especially after Nami's past is revealed via flashback (which naturally takes place during a rainstorm, pure Ishii) and after what seems like a logical conclusion, Ishii ends the film with an unforgettable, haunting image which causes everything that has happened prior to be mentally re-evaluated.

Unlike the majority of films in the Angel Guts series, chief among them High School Co-Ed (1978), Red Classroom (1979), Nami (1979), Red Porno (1981) and Red Vertigo, which were all produced by the Nikkatsu Corporation, Red Flash was released by Argo Pictures. The series was something of a cash cow for Nikkatsu who turned their attention to the “Roman Porno” market as a means of boosting low profits which turned out to be a wise move so its interesting that Red Flash was made independent of Nikkatsu. There are several other films sometimes incorrectly listed as part of the Angel Guts series such as Rouge (1984) and Red Rope – Until I Die (1987). Ishii's Alone in the Night (1994) is also sometimes associated with the series. Due to it being a non-Nikkatsu film, it was naturally missing from the 2005 set of Angel Guts released from Artsmagic which consisted of the five Nikkatsu films and again, it is the most elusive film baring the Angel Guts moniker, although with it being sandwiched in-between two of Ishii's bigger films, A Night in Nude (1993) and Gonin (1995), the later which gave Ishii some much deserved international renegotiation, its somewhat understandable that Red Flash would fall through the cracks. Nevertheless, its very much a film worth seeing and yet another example of Ishii's knack for combining difficult psychological themes with stylish pulpy flair.

Scrubbers (1982)

Although women in prison films are inevitably bound to feature several of the familiar trappings the genre has become infamous for throughout the years, be they innocent protagonists wrongfully imprisoned, villainous, oftentimes female wardens, sadomasochism and lesbianism, the genre isn't as one-note as those with only a cursory knowledge of it might suspect. Whereas some of the earliest examples of the genre from the 1930's could be seen as cautionary morality tales, the seeds for what the genre is best known for today were planted in the 1950's which in turn gave way to the much more sordid European take on the genre. Jess Franco in particular had this market expertly cornered with films like 99 Women (1969), Barbed Wire Dolls (1975), Women Behind Bars (1975), Ilsa the Wicked Warden (1977), Women in Cell Block 9 (1977) and Sadomania (1980). The Italian's also proved themselves more than apt in the women in prison department, with films like Bruno Mattei's Caged Women (1984), Women's Prison Massacre (1985) as well as Rino Di Silvestro's Women in Cell Block 7 (1974) being some of the more infamous names in the genre. Mai Zetterling's Scrubbers is one of the more interesting films to technically fall under the WiP banner, with Zetterling painting a bleak portrait of the lives of delinquent girls sent to borstal and the system that would rather forget about those is claims to “reform”

Carol and Annetta, two young delinquents, escape from a borstal with two very different plans. Annetta is desperate to see her daughter while Carol hopes to be captured and sent to another facility where her girlfriend Doreen is being held. After crashing a truck into a building, Carol gets her wish and is sent to a rougher borstal where Doreen is, however Carol is soon crushed to learn that Doreen has found another lover and the two constantly taunt Carol, flaunting their relationship in front of her. To make matters worse, Annetta is later arrested while trying to visit her daughter and is sent to the same borstal. Thinking Carol ratted her out, Annetta vows revenge and despite protection from Eddie, a rugged fellow inmate that takes a liking to her, Carol becomes a constant target.

When viewed alongside other films in the women in prison genre, Scrubbers is an interesting watch in that Zetterling does employ various tropes associated with the genre, although not in the way that most going into a WiP film would expect which is no doubt going to frustrate many expecting something along the lines of an Italian style take on the genre. Essentially the biggest difference between Scrubbers and the more salacious titles the genre has to offer is that, grimy as some of them are and the fact that most are considered niche today, most women in prison films were commercial by design in hopes of turning a quick profit, something which was clearly not on Zetterling's mind with Scrubbers, despite the fleeting appearances of lesbianism and the borstal girls behaving unruly. Scrubbers is an incredibly downbeat film, presenting an unflinching look at inhabitants of a society that have been tossed aside, and as Zetterling has no trouble accusing, mostly due to class differences. The film may be centered around Carol and Annetta, but Zetterling spends a generous amount of time profiling several other of their borstal acquaintances and the working class struggles that unite them all couldn't be more apparent. Zetterling does attempt to lighten the mood a bit at times, mostly thanks to an inmate constantly mouthing dirty songs, yet these moments, as well as the brief bits of the girls getting a reprieve from borstal life by dancing, are ultimately cut short by the brutal reality of their situation.

Considering the material, Zetterling's direction is appropriately no frills although she does let her more surrealistic side show via dream sequences representing Annetta's desperation to see her daughter which are somewhat reminiscent of the dreams/hallucinations in Zetterling's masterpiece Doctor Glas (1968). Perhaps the most fascinating aspect of the film is Zetterling's portrayal of Annetta, who could be seen as a detestable character given her actions towards Carol throughout the film are brought upon her incorrectly believing Carol sold her out, however at the same time Zetterling cleverly shows Annetta in several scenes in utter despair over the situation of her daughter, in a way reminding the audience that any rash judgment on its part could possibly be no different from the judgment of the authorities that put Annetta and the rest of the girls where they are. In her autobiography All Those Tomorrows, Zetterling wrote that her mindset going into the film was based around one word, “compassion”, after doing extensive research, even visiting several borstals, coming to the conclusion that the way of dealing with young offenders was outmoded. “Compassion” may seem like a strange word to base a women in prison film around, but the results speak for themselves. It may provoke in a manner different than some of the more famous women in prison movies, yet Scrubbers is yet another provocative work from one of Euro cinema's most undervalued provocateurs.