A failed screenwriter, her ex-star wife, and a flute man in the shadows — pink cinema gets meta.
Shadow is a screenwriter who can't sell. Yuri, who was a popular actress, retired after marrying her girlfriend, Kagechu. She lives a poor life, and although her film buddies, director Sumita and actress Mina, are worried about her, she believes that Kagechu will one day write her a screenplay that will wow the world...
Writing
Screenplay-within-screenplay structure mocks itself gloriously.
Production
Micro-budget authenticity = accidental aesthetic.
Director
Kuninori Yamazaki
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Pink film (pinku eiga) was Japan's low-budget sexploitation industry; by 2007 it was nearly extinct, making this a genre's self-obituary.
Director Yamazaki spent decades in pink film; casting Araki (a legendary pink actor) as 'Darkness in the shadows' is bitter inside-joke casting.
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