Nanami: The Inferno Of First Love

I have long heard good things about Susumu Hani, who is known as one the vanguards of the Japanese New Wave movement but until recently it has been hard for me to track down his films. I previously seen Bad Boys (1961) and She and He (1963) and was impressed with both films. However, I think Nanami: The Inferno Of First Love (1968) is his masterwork. It feels way ahead of its time in terms of the themes and visual images that dominate the film-it was co-written by the director and playwright/director Shuji Terayama. The film begins with teenagers Shun (Akio Takahashi) and his girlfriend Nanami (Kuniko Ishii) going to a love hotel. Shun admits it is his first time and Nanami easily disrobe since she works as a nude model in the entertainment district. They decide to wait until they each other better to have sex so they gradually begin telling each their stories-each is tragic. These looks at adult sexuality include pedophilia and S&M models shots with Nanami's co-workers from the red light district. The commodification of sex is persistent theme in the film as well. His usual shooting practices such as as hand-held shooting, hidden cameras, non-synched dialogue, on-location shooting, and use of a non-professional cast became widespread by other New Wave directors such as Shohei Imamaura and others. The on-location shooting reveals how many different parts of Tokyo from Shinjuku to Ikebukuro looked in the late 60s. Apparently the first American version trimmed 20 minutes from the film and I can pretty much guess which parts were cuts there are some non-erotic shots of children naked (including full-frontal male and female child nudity) as well as plenty of S&M sex and nudity. One thing is for certain, there weren't many other directors going to the extremes that Hani did in this film at the time.