This is the fourth film in the Roman Porno Reboot series. It's surprising that Sion
Sono accepted the challenge of making a pornographic film for Nikkatsu,
because he's outspoken in his criticism of pornography. Instead of making a
porno, he's made an anti-porno, as the title suggests. He's kept to the
constraints imposed by Nikkatsu, i.e. an 80-minute film with a sex scene every
10 minutes, but only nominally. Some of the sex scenes are just
brief b/w images of copulation cast onto the
wall with a projector. Do the sado-masochism scenes count as sex or not? Then there's lesbian
sex taking place in the background while the main characters are talking in
the foreground.
Kyoko is an 18-year-old schoolgirl who's been given the lead role in a Roman
Porno film. She auditioned for the role because she's a virgin who wants to
become a whore. She's traumatised by the suicide of her younger sister and the
fact that her parents have sex at home every day. In the Roman Porno film
she's an arrogant young novelist and painter who despises everyone around her,
especially her personal assistant Noriko.
That's what the film is about. Or is it? The film shifts between different
levels of reality. Is Kyoko really making a film? In the film she's also
called Kyoko. Sometimes she calls to the director to end a scene, but when she
looks around there's no film crew. When there are pauses between filming, the
roles are reversed. Noriko is an arrogant actress who despises and bullies Kyoko as a
talentless newcomer.
When Kyoko tells her parents about her upcoming film role, the film crew is in
her house filming their reaction. Kyoko has repeated visions of her sister,
who isn't really there. Or is she? Is her whole life a film? She sees her
parents on the film set. When she was younger she had a sexual encounter in a
forest that was recorded on film. She sits and watches herself in the film, but when she shows it to
others they see nothing except for an empty forest.
Sion Sono has made other films which deal with different levels of reality,
such as
"Tag" and
"Strange Circus", but he's never pushed it as far as in "Antiporno". This is a film that
could have been made by David Lynch. The first time I watched it I thought I
understood it. After watching it a second time I realise that I don't
understand it.
Kyoko is plagued by visions of her past. Are they nightmares? Is she having a
mental breakdown?
Or is it all a film set? Probably not. This doesn't look like a Roman Porno. Maybe
if I could read the Japanese words written on the clothing and the walls I'd
have a better idea.
There might not be very much sex in the film, but there's a lot of nudity, some of it very erotic. Ami
Tomite is a beautiful actress. She's also a woman with an obsession. Ever
since she was a young teenager she wanted to appear in a Sion Sono film.
"Antiporno" was her fifth film directed by Sion Sono, and her first lead role.
Her next goal is to appear in a film made by Lars Von Trier. He should talk to
her. He won't be disappointed.
We're often shown a lizard in a bottle in Kyoko's room. That could be a clue
to the film's meaning. She's a woman trapped in a small world from which
there's no escape.
This is only the second time I've watched "Antiporno". I need to watch it more
often. Needless to say, it's a film that I forgot when I compiled the list of
my top 100 films. It deserves to be very high in the list.
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