Dawn of the Felines (3 Stars)

This is the third film in the Roman Porno Reboot series. Actually, all five films were made at the same time, but they were released at regular intervals from November 2016 to February 2017. In 2016 the company Nikkatsu approached several leading Japanese directors to ask them to make pornographic films to celebrate the 45th anniversary of their pink film series, which ran from 1971 to 1988. They were all directors who hadn't previously made pornographic films. The directors were given strict rules: the films had to last 80 minutes and have a sex scene every 10 minutes. That's a strange concept. Could you imagine the reaction if America's top directors were asked to make pornographic films? They'd all reply No, and they'd consider the request an insult.

Five Japanese directors accepted Nikkatsu's request. It's unknown how many directors turned down the request. I assume that every top Japanese director was asked, so Nikkatsu must have hoped for a lot more than five films. I don't know the director Kazuya Shiraishi, who made "Dawn of the Felines". All I know is that he's received many awards at international film festivals. It would be interesting to see some of his other films, so that I can find out what his usual style is.

Now let's get to "Dawn of the Felines". It's about three prostitutes who work for an agency in Tokyo. Even though they must have many customers each, we only see one of their customers. All three girls have twisted relationships with their customers.

Masako visits a computer hacker called Takada. He regularly pays for a "premium packet" which includes full sex, but all he does is stare at his computer screen while she talks to him. He hasn't left his apartment for 10 years.

Rie visits an old man called Kaneda whose wife has recently died of cancer. He's incapable of sex, but he pays large amounts to enjoy her company.

Yui has a customer called Taniguchi who works as a stand up comedian. He's a sadist and hurts her a lot, more than she wants, but he pays well.

Kazuya Shiraishi has stretched the definition of sex scenes, barely fulfilling Nikkatsu's requirements. There are more non-sex scenes than sex scenes, in which the girls want sex, but don't get it. Even the scenes which do involve sex are sterile and unerotic. I'm sure that this is deliberate. The director was effectively saying to Nikkatsu, "If you want a porn film from me I'll give you the most boring sex scenes I can think of".

The film has no clear message, except maybe to show that prostitution is a job like any other. Each of the girls has drama with her customer. The plots, which are unrelated to one another, are quite complex, and I would have to write a much longer review to describe everything that happens. I'll write more about them next time I watch the film.

Yes, I intend to watch it again, even though I've only given it an average rating. I sat down to watch the film expecting something erotic, and it didn't deliver. Next time I watch the film I shan't have any expectations, so I'll be able to ignore the nudity and follow the stories.