ZOOM UP! More Japanese Roman Porno coming your way!

ZOOM UP: THE BEAVER BOOK GIRL (1981)
D. Takashi Kanno
Impulse Pictures. Synapse Films

2:35-1 / 16X9 Anamorphic

This is the fourth release from Impulse Pictures/ Synapse Films Nikkatsu Roman Porno Collection series, celebrating the 100 year anniversary of the Japanese studio. Without question this is my favorite of the releases so far. This is officially the 3^rd film in the loosely connected “ZOOM UP” series, the first being ZOOM UP: RAPE SITE in 1979 and the second ZOOM UP: RAPE APARTMENT in 1980 both by different directors and boasting different plot lines. So it makes no difference that you are jumping into the series after a couple of other entries. If the other two are as interesting as this one, I hope Impulse/Synapse has them on the future schedule.

ZOOM UP: THE BEAVER BOOK GIRL deals with a photographer for a slick skin magazine who specializes in those ever popular panty shots and upskirt voyeur pics. His newest specialty is piss pics, which seem to be the only thing that even remotely turn him on. When he comes home to find his assistant and newest model fucking wildly in the living room he goes about cooking dinner like nothing is going on. When she hungrily begs him to join, he violent pushes them both out of the way and finishes his cooking. He is clearly a man with some sexual hang ups. We get a peek at what that might be when his boss (who continually hits on him, grabbing his dick every chance he gets) mentions to a new model that his “true artistry” lies in his past as a rapist(!) but it was okay because all the girls instantly fell in love with him. 

Meanwhile a slightly older woman, maybe in her thirties, has been stalking the three leads as they go about their day of making pornographic pictures. She finally makes her way into their loft and gets in on the action in a sequence that will send piss fetishists into a blissful fugue state. We later learn from the skin magazine editor that this lady is named  Nami ( Nami is a common name used in a lot of Manga and sexually explicit films in Japan) and she was the most popular skin game model until year before when she dropped out mysteriously, taking five million yen with her she robbed from him. But he tells the photographer that if she shows back up to get her to pose again and then give him a call so he can get his money back.

Naturally she does show back up, but she is so game to do things that the other models won't do, the he does not call his boss. Instead she convinces him to go to a another remote location for a more private shoot. But we just know things are going to get weird, and they do indeed. As it turns out they have much more of a past together than he even could possibly remember. 

Much more intricately plotted than the other three Nikkatsu film released so far, this one goes from being a voyeuristic skin flick, to a weird study on fetishism, to a rape/revenge film all in the same couple of reels. It even throws in a really raw and bizarre love story at some point. Mix into that some of the most potent, edgy and down right dirty sex in the Nikkatsu films up to this point and you get a winner of a film. Of course, if off the beaten path sex is a turn off to you, you might want to consider giving this film, and the others as well, a really wide birth. But if you have some adventure in your soul, and things like S+M, or particular fetishists really catch your attention, this may be a something for you to take a look at. Just like the other films, it is really well made, has a peculiar point of view, and ends up being weirdly haunting before it is all over. 

The disc includes the short, but catch-line filled trailer, and nicely done liner notes by author and historian Jasper Sharp. Watch for his book THE HISTORICAL DICTIONARY OF JAPANESE CINEMA from Scarecrow press.

Review © Andy Copp