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January 30, 2014

Nurse Girl Dorm: Sticky Fingers

Kango joshiryo: Ijiwaru na yubi
Yoshihiro Kawasaki - 1985
Impulse Pictures Region 1 DVD

The DVD cover has the title listed above. On the DVD, the title is translated as "Assy fingers". In any event, fingers belonging to the men and women here do plenty of exploring in dark and sticky places. For myself, I'm fingering this DVD as one of the best I've seen in Synapse's ongoing series of Nikkatsu's Roman Porno.

As far as the sex goes, it's fairly standard issue simulated straight and lesbian couplings, gropings, and tongue wrestling, as well as an abundance of exposed breasts. As if to leave nothing out, there's also a bit of cross-dressing, sado-masochism, and accidental buggering. In short, just about something for everyone. No sense dawdling when the film starts off with an unusual, and very personal use, of a vacuum cleaner. Minus the sex, there's a very entertaining and funny movie about nurses with very accommodating bedside manners, in and out of their dorm.

Unlike some of the other worthy efforts from the studio in which the filmmakers were allowed some freedom to make social statements or experiment visually, Yoshihiro Kawasaki just aims to be entertaining, and he does this quite well. Much of the credit goes to star Jun Izumi. She's attractive, but in a approachable kind of way, reminding me somewhat of the iconic Setsuko Hara. Unlike Miss Hara, she's not defending her virginity at all costs. Izumi's attitude makes me think of Bettie Page, with her infectious cheerfulness, inviting the viewer to join in on the fun.

The plot, as such, has experienced nurse Yuki returning to dorm life after divorcing her accident prone husband, a cop. Not only does this give Yuki the opportunity to hook up with one of the other nurses, but she also gets to show the younger dorm mates how to sneak in their respective boyfriends. The dorm is run by a disciplinarian who later gets the chance to literally crack the whip. In between, there's an opportunity for a peppy song performed offscreen, from Yuki's point of view, about leaving behind bad relationships, and going forward alone. I don't know who the singer is, but knowing what I do about Japanese movies, I wouldn't be surprised if that was also Jun Izumi.

Mostly why I like this film is because it seems like everyone in the cast is having fun. One of the nice running gags involves a bulldog often seen wearing a medical headlight, the pet of the dorm mistress. Most of all, though, is Jun Izumi's performance. I know she's faking orgasm after orgasm, but for someone pretending to have sex, Izumi does it with convincing sincerity.

Posted by Peter Nellhaus at January 30, 2014 07:10 AM