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Flower and Snake - Flower and Snake(DVD) [Impulse Pictures - 2021]

Flower and Snake is a grimy ‘n’ unbalancing blend of roughie and sex comedy. The early 1970’s Japanese production is a prime slice of the Pink genre, been both classy filmed-yet-at the same time wonderfully depraved and totally inappropriate. Here on Impulse Pictures is a DVD reissue of the film- there is nothing on the extras front- but the new print is classy letting one revelling in the glorious sleaze-ness of the whole thing.

Flower And Snake (aka Hana to Hebi ) appeared in the year 1974, and it was directed by Otaru, Hokkaido born Masaru Konuma. He had fifty-seven directional credits to his name, and these largely look as if they all fall in more nasty/ grim side of the pink genre with titles like Getting Raped(1976), Image Of A Bound Girl(1980), and Woman In A Box: Virgin Sacfice(1985). And there’s no doubt that Flower And Snake is a very well filmed, and at points fairly arty picture- but boy is it damn sleazy, extremely misogynistic, and creativity perverse. Sure this been a pink film, we never get full on hardcore- but it does push the edges of things, both in good taste and depravity.

The film focuses on thirty-something mummies boy Makoto Katagiri (Yasunori Ishizu)- who’s haunted by images of killing his mothers big, black, and butch American GI when he was a child. He lives with his mother, and she creates bondage bound porn in her basement, which sits above the adult shop she runs. Katagirl can’t rise to the occasion around women, though he pleasures himself looking at his mom's photos building up a mountain of tissues in his wardrobe. During the day he’s a loyal salaryman working in a big firm- one day he’s sent to see the companies president Senzô Tôyama(Nagatoshi Sakamoto)at his huge house. Katagirl pictures have been found in his desks draw, and Senzô wants him to tame his wife Shizuko (Naomi Tani) by the use of bondage.

And from the off we’re straight into the sleaze, as after an unsettling red light lit flashback to Katagirl youth- we kick into a title sequence showing a selection of nude and tied women in uncomfortable poses, and there’s even a fleeting shot of genital shaving. As we get into the film the sleaze comes on in flowing waves- we have president Senzô Tôyama peering at his maid's holes in the garden before pushing an enema in, we have all manner of painful-looking bondage and rope work, messy sexualized torture, more painful enema action, etc. The tone shifts between been disturbing and brutal, and comic and playful- with at points these two starting to blur together to create a most unbalancing experience. 

Moving onto the cast- and they are all good enough- Yasunori Ishizu plays well the manipulated mummies boy, and he looks very much like an oriental Barry Evans( from the British sex comedy Adventures series). Tani as the president's wife is certainly twisted and tuned a lot, and you do feel sorry for her- as some of these ties/ positions must have been painful for real. Sakamoto as the president balances nicely between depraved and amusing. All in all Flower And Snake is an unbalancing sleazy 70’s treat, and I’d say if your after erotic films that wrong foot/ trouble- you’ll dig what we have here.

Moving onto this new region 1 DVD, and as mentioned there are sadly no extras here. Though we do get a very nice new high-definition scan of the film- which really brings out both the flesh colours and 1970’s japan colourings- with new removable English subtitles.  It would have been nice to have some sort of commentary track here about the film, its production, and other films made by Masaru Konuma., but I know it’s not always possible.

I’d say you’ll be needing to have a flair good grounding in 70’s sleaze with a rough edge to get the most out of Flower and Snake- but if you're looking for something that will equally amuse and appal- then this is most certainly for you. And I very much look forward to checking out more of the releases in Impulse Pictures Nikkatsu series. 

Rating: 4 out of 5Rating: 4 out of 5Rating: 4 out of 5Rating: 4 out of 5Rating: 4 out of 5

Roger Batty
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