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July 15, 2013
Horny Working Girl: From 5 to 9
Onna shinnyu-shain: 5-ji kara 9-ji made
Katsuhiko Fujii - 1982
Impulse Pictures Region 1 DVD
Both sleazy and silly, there is one scene in Horny Working Girl that I found remarkable. For those who are familiar with certain laws pertaining to the depiction of sex in Japan, there is the prohibition against showing any pubic hair. Certainly, anyone who has viewed any of the previous Impulse Pictures Nikkatsu series would be familiar with this law, with filmmakers skirting the law usually with strategically placed objects or simply blurring parts of the onscreen image.
Somebody at Nikkatsu was clever enough to get around the law. In one scene, an older man is looking eye to eye as it were with a blonde, or at least what appears to be a woman with blonde pubic hair. We hear lots of moaning, and see an extreme close-up of a woman's nether region, which got me to wondering, how did they get away with this. Only it turns out that what we see is part of a life sized doll. There is also a shot of a businessman, during a dream of sexual ecstasy, licking his hairy underarm. While that image is not in itself erotic, it's the idea behind that shot that shows how a bit of spunk on the part of Nikkatsu.
The film follows the sexual misadventures of an "Office Lady", Chieko, played by Junko Asahina. Chieko is lured to a company based on her ability to snag a big client. Her boss is a horn dog who also finds time for his secretary. The wife finds out, and the three get together, and momentarily really get together, before hatching a plot of stiff revenge involving priapism and the threat of the most unkindest cut of all.
For myself, Asahina was seen to better advantage previously in I Love it from Behind!. The usual sexual shenanigans are here, although given the possibilities, this film is softer on the sapphic situations. There is a scene of misuse of a xerox machine, one of the few moments that would still be contemporary in an office full of huge selectric typewriters. The thudding disco music on the soundtrack is an audio blast that I'm glad is past.
One other moment worth mentioning involves a male acquaintance pursuing Chieko out onto the street. The scene itself is not significant. What is of interest is that the scene was shot on a very crowded Tokyo street, and one can see some of the pedestrians stopping in their tracks to take a look at the actors and film crew. Unlike a lot of films where the crowds are paid extras arranged to mill around the actors, there is no attempt to block off the gawkers. I don't know if any of those passing by the camera knew or cared they were in a soft core film. Even though Horny Working Girl: From 5 to 9 is not one of the better entries in the Nikkatsu Roman Porno series, I have to admire those moments of fearlessness from the filmmakers.
Posted by Peter Nellhaus at July 15, 2013 07:18 AM