Tokyo Decameron (1996) Online

The title of this is "Tokyo Decameron", which would seem to tie it to the bawdy medieval morality tales associated with Italian author Boccaccio (and later adapted to the screen by Italian directors like Pier Paolo Passolini). However, aside from consisting of three separate stories this has nothing in common with Bocaccio or Pasolini's "Decameron". It's more of a modern-day Japanese cross between the Marquis de Sade at his silliest and a very low-rent, shot-on-video version of Quentin Tarantino's "Pulp Fiction".

The first story is about two lesbians, one submissive and one dominant, both named "Mariko". When the submissive "Marko A." becomes involved with a man, her jealous dominant lover "Mariko B." takes revenge. But there is an ironic twist. The second story involves four depraved bisexual women who catch a young girl shoplifting and force her to be their "maid". They dress her in an ass-baring maid's uniform, force her to wear a dog collar and eat out of a dog dish, and at one point even make her serve as a flower "vase"(apparently the penalty for shoplifting must be VERY harsh in Japan for the girl to put up with this kind of abuse to avoid being turned in to the cops). Eventually though, she takes revenge. The last story is about a young stripper taking revenge on a man who she believes participated in the gang-rape of her older sister.

As any kind of serious movie this SOV effort is pretty lame, but there is a certain titillation factor here, of course. But while there are plenty of pretty, naked Japanese girls on display, many may not go for some of the perversions this movie shamelessly wallows in. There's nothing wrong with lesbianism (although it's pretty standard stuff), and the S and M is generally more silly than disturbing, but still I don't think most people want to see blood (even obviously fake blood)in their softcore porn flicks. There are a few other very questionable perversions on display here (asphyxiation, "adult babies", etc.).

The good news is the Japanese are still making the kind of sleazy, degenerate crap popular in the 1970's in Europe and in American "grindhouses". But, depending on your point of view that also may be the bad news.

A low budget movie with three stories full of sadomasochism overtones. The stories are supposed to have interesting twists but none of the scripts truly delivers. The female leads are attractive, but none of them stunning and unfortunately none have good acting talent. Accordingly some of the 'hot' scenes are lifeless and lack enticing sexuality or eroticism. After all, the movie is all about disturbing sex themes. All the stories are directed by K. Kobayashi and therefore he maintains the same rhythm and tone. Other films made of different stories have different directors (think 'Spirits of the Dead', 'Tales from the Crypt') have the benefit of different stylistic approaches which enhance the overall result of the movie. Although all stories have a similar theme they are not interrelated (such as in 'Amores Perros'). There is little, if any depth, to any of the individual stories.

The first story 'Two Women Named Mariko' tells of the master-slave relationship of two women. Mariko A, who likes to dress in military garb, humiliates Mariko B and has open group sex with four male soldiers. When Mariko B starts a gentle relationship with one a guy, the dominatrix punish her in front of his love interest. The twist in the story is a tired one. The submissive Mariko is en reality the one calling the shots.

'Lesbian Dream' is the worst of the three. Four lesbians get together in a country house and play with a submissive girl. They take turn in humiliating her. Awful acting and annoying characters do not help the weak twist in the story. A dead man is in their garage. Enter some flashbacks and end up with a framing scheme of one of the dominants and the submissive girl, which again turns out to be a deceitful naughty girl.

'The Man in the Pillory' is perhaps the best of the three. Here a woman is exerting revenge on a man she believes raped her sister and led her to commit suicide. There is again a master-slave relationship between the woman and her captive. The twist in the story is that the captive is not as innocent as we are led to believe.

Overall a cheap B-level soft-core sex-oriented movie with poor acting and minimally interesting but poorly developed stories.