Film Review: Debauchery (1983)

SYNOPSIS:

The sexy Ryôko Watanabe stars as Ami, a jaded housewife who pitches herself, body and soul, into the Tokyo decadence of the decade in an attempt to pep up her marriage. She secretly joins the elite “Madame Machiko Society Club” to experiment with discrete sex games and the thrill of making love to anonymous men. The sexual perversion and sick depravity she is subjected to, by her clients, is much more than she bargained for. Bondage, beads and whips are only the beginning! Can she escape this secret life she has chosen, or will it destroy her forever?

REVIEW:

With a name like “Debauchery” all I can think is why there wasn’t an 80’s hair metal band called that…. They loved names like that… Which kind of works cause this film is from the 80’s… Ah the 80’s what a great time for sleaze… You could even have A list actors in sleaze, I don’t know what my reading demographic is so I hope I’m not dated in tossing out “Wild Orchid” as low point for Mr. Rouke and very high point of Zelman King…

Okay some people might think there is a super thin line between rape and BDSM… And some people might think it’s not true that other people like REALLY rough sex…. If you’re part of the above 2 groups you’re not going to handle “Debauchery” very well because it’s about a woman who is really into being brutalized during sex. Okay so this chick is into being whipped, tortured, beaten, being humiliation, oh yeah, she even gets made to take on a dirty old homeless gang f*ck.

Made in 1983 and originally titled “Ryôshoku” this is wonderful piece of filth from the land where they can’t be turning Japanese while watching this film because they already are… Japanese that is. For a piece of smut and I mean that loving compliment, the film has really solid production values, it’s well lit the print is clear etc… I know I should be talking about the T & A but I’ll get to that…

So the basic story of the film is about a bored house wife that takes to a life of prostitution to make her days a bit more exciting. I guess she never saw the “Hookers on the Point” documentary but this film was also made way before the time of AIDS and crack… In fact even the U.S. had a similar piece of exploitation one hell of rare film called “Working Girls” NOT to be confused with the Melanie Griffin Harrison Ford film released 2 years after called “Working Girl.” Only “Working GirlS” was a tad more of an art house film and bit more “fun” but just as sleazy yet not as rough. In fact on the topic of rare smut “Debauchery” reminds me of Doris Whishman’s “Bad Girls Go To Hell.” It has the feel of a roughy minus G.G. Darlene’s blond hair and burlesque ready ba-zooms….

Now the sex in the film is REALLY rough and I don’t know if I’d call it rape because the woman who gets this rough sex –played by Mizuho Nakagawa, keeps going back for more. She looks at her bruises and we get a cut away of her wet panties while she touches herself. After her first trick she gives the money to some homeless guy and then looks for a whore house to work in. This is a woman looking for abuse… So if you’re watching this film and getting a bit turned on I don’t think is quite the same shame as in say…. Oh, I don’t know… say maybe jerking off to the 22 minute rape scene in “I Spit on Your Grave.”

So this chick really digs taking a pounding… in the face and in da butt. The funny thing is, in Japan you can “show anything” well rather you can show anything but pubic hair and during a few f*ck scenes there is annoying haze over some naughty bits to add to irony the actress takes anal beads… well in that place where anal beads get their name from… and there is no censor bar for that (or censor blur rather) but it’s shot so you can tell she’s doing it for real… which at that point why be doing it for real -well I guess cause she was getting paid too… or maybe cause some people do get off on that… Also a fun little moment is when Mizuho (our house frau turned high priced hooker) sees a spider crawling up her and needs to take her breast out and play with her nipple –Larz Von Tier you talking notes?

The Funny thing about “Debauchery” is as it had so much more potential to be a f*cking amazing film about pain as pleasure and pleasure as pain… I mean that as in retooling the whole thing a “serious film.” Mizuho ‘s husband makes love to her gentility yet bores and ignores her, he hurts her though neglect and non-communication, but I don’t feel like this film was built to be deep… Instead the film just kind of stays on a mellow border line rape sexploitation film. But even weirder to me is also in the cast is Tatsuya Nanjo, who was in “Sister Street Fighter” so she was on a film set with Sonny Chiba… and that was prior to being in “Debauchery… “Which makes me wonder who did this chick piss off to go form working a guy who Quinton Tarintino idolizes and puts in “Kill Bill” to doing scenes of taking d*ck in a bathroom –and being just the “friend” who gets walked in on while taking said d*ck….

“Debauchery” is a fun piece of dirty smut. The film has a few plot holes but that’s like going to see the Sistine Chapel and checking out the floor… If you see the box cover it pretty much just about says it all… You might not be expecting everything the film gives you but I can’t say you won’t see it coming.

Debauchery (1983)