The SM Detective

I came across this film by accident. I had gone to my local DVD rental shop looking for the documentary film Bakushi, directed by Hiroki Ryuichi. Yes, I'm embarrassed to say I still haven't seen Bakushi.

I was thinking about seeing it in the theater but I couldn't grasp how a film that was shot on miniDV could possibly look good on the big screen. I spoke to someone later who had seen it in a theater. I asked him about the technical quality and he said he thought it looked pretty good.

Later I saw the DVD at a shop that only sells videos. The price wasn't bad but I thought I'd rent it first before buying. Good plan except it seems the one and only video store close to me doesn't carry it.

So, instead of Bakushi I walked out with Nawa Shimai: Kimyo na Kajitsu. The interesting thing about this film is that it stars Ms. Saotome. I am a huge fan of Saotome Hiromi. In fact, I have to resist the urge to set up a secret shrine to her in my closet. Hell, I'd probably do it if I had any room in there.

Internet sources indicate that this was her first film. I don't know if she appeared in any video schlock before this. IMDb doesn't mention any. I do know that she appeared in a Nikkatsu-produced Shima Shikou shot-on-video SM fest in the 80s but I assume it came out after Nawa Shimai: Kimyo na Kajitsu.

This film, NS:KK, was also produced by Nikkatsu back in the good old days when they were still shooting on 35mm celluloid. The technical quality of the film, directed by Nakahara Shun, is very good. It's amazing how even older 35mm material holds up on relatively low resolution DVD.

I'm sure I missed a lot of the finer points of the plot but I was able to figure out the basics, I think. Essentially, the story involves a fellow who is the worst salesman in his department. One day, while out walking, he notices someone's book bag on the ground in front of a gated home. The contents of the bag are strewn about on the ground. He puts the books and papers back into the bag and enters the property looking for the owner.

At this point he sees a girl (Saotome Hiromi) lying face down on the ground, legs askew, revealing her white panties under her schoolgirl uniform. He runs over and picks her up. "Sister, be careful!" she mutters in a dazed voice.

He tries to help her inside but as they are making their way to the door they suddenly see another woman, bound and partially nude hanging from a tree in the backyard.

Cut to the inside of the home where the tied up woman is now resting in bed with the guy and Ms. Saotome next to her.

After this, the guy stays and eats with the two sisters. I forget if we're now presented with a third sister or if I just got confused and this is the same sister who had been hanging from the tree.

Anyway, the guy stays the night and the two sisters retire to their rooms. I guess he can't sleep so he decides to watch a movie on one of those old, clunky VHS machines (or maybe it was a Betamax, remember those?). There's some porno action on the tube. At first I thought it was going to turn out to be the guy's wife on the tape but it looked more like the elder sister of the household.

Oh, by the way, in case you're wondering about the parents, they're conveniently not around. They're in Osaka.

While watching the porno flick, the guy hears a strange noise and gets up to investigate. He eventually makes his way to the back door, opens it and is confronted by a near-repeat of the scene he had earlier witnessed: the woman hanging practically naked from a tree limb in the rain. The only difference this time is that her younger sister, Ms. Saotome, is pleasuring her with a vibrating dildo. Then the guy gets bonked on the head by some unknown personage.

He comes to tied up with another hapless fellow. Everything seems to have been a set-up. The two crazy sisters are all about capturing men to be their personal sex slaves -- or something like that.

About halfway through the flick, the guys turn the tables on the two nymphos, discover their secret stash of SM toys, and go to town on them. And, not surprising with this kind of fare, the two girls seem not to mind one bit.

I've got some pics here of the two most interesting scenes. The best scene, for me anyway, was where Ms. Saotome is hanging upside down wearing only her panties. I wonder if this was one of her favorite positions? She appeared this way in the aforementioned Shima Shikou video and I once read that she appeared in some sort of scene where she was hanging from a bridge in the bustling Shibuya section of Tokyo (not sure if she was upside down or not in that one).

To make a long story short, the two guys and gals are really digging their SM antics together but eventually the guy returns home to confront his wife who wonders where the hell he's been for the past week. He makes up some excuse but she's not buying it and asks him if there's another woman involved. (No honey, actually two.)

Well, needless to say he can't come clean. How is he going to explain to his wife how he innocently fell into this den of depravity? So he makes his way back to the strange house, sits down outside and lights up a cigarette.

Not much later, two detectives come along. Unfortunately, my Nihongo just wasn't good enough to figure out what they were saying to the guy but, whatever it was, it wasn't good news. He takes off running and that's where the movie ends.

I'm guessing someone was murdered in the house and the guy was the prime suspect -- something like that.

I'll give this one three erect cocks out of a possible five. Not the best I've seen but as an admirer of the wonderful Saotome Hiromi, definitely one I'd add to my collection.

By the way, I attended a video shoot in 2007 in which Ms. Saotome was involved. Twenty-three years later and Ms. Saotome was still at it and looking as beautiful as ever.

According to an interview of Asagi Ageha that appeared last year in the Japan Times, Saotome Hiromi is a true, dyed-in-the-wool bondage lover.

As far as SM is concerned, she is right in the thick of it. She used to write a popular column for S&M Sniper magazine.

I started off the post talking about the documentary Bakushi. Well, it was Ms. Saotome who was responsible for initiating this project from what I have read.

It's interesting because, as mentioned, Ms. Saotome started her big screen movie career in 1984. That same year, Bakushi director, Hiroki Ryuichi, directed Ms. Saotome in her second big screen flick, Za SM. Now I have to see if I can find that one around someplace.

Regrettably, I couldn't find a trailer online of Nawa Shimai: Kimyo na Kajitsu but I'm throwing in a couple of unrelated vids here just for the fun of it.

Update: The English title of this film is Rope Sisters: Strange Fruit. Thanks to the commenter below for this and additional information as well as for the pic of the poster. Sadly, the girl doesn't hang upside down from a tree like this in the movie.

KabukiJoe