In-person screening of FEMALE PRISONER SCORPION: JAILHOUSE 41 at Japan Society NY on March 4th

Japan Society NY
presents

Female Prisoner Scorpion: Jailhouse 41
Directed by Shunja Ito
Starring: Meiko Kaji, Fumio Watanabe, Kayoko Shiraishi
Japan, 1972, 90 minutes

When: Friday, March 4, 2022 at 7:00pm
Where: Japan Society NY
333 East 47th Street, NYC
Map
Tickets: $15 / $5 members

To mark the 50th Anniversary of this landmark Japanese film, Japan Society NY will be offering a rare 35mm presentation of it at an in-person screening this coming Friday, March 4th at 7:00pm.

 

Best recognized outside of Japan for her role as the mesmerizing, katana-wielding Lady Snowblood, Meiko Kaji’s equally definitive portrayal of the fearless convict Sasori (Scorpion) initially cemented her status as an icon of 70s exploitation.

 

Synopsis:

After a year in solitary confinement in a vicious women’s prison, Sasori has taken on a mythic stature among the prisoners. Escaping with an uncouth band of inmates, she leads the group while the prison’s sadistic guards follow in hot pursuit. The second film in Toei’s Female Prisoner Scorpion series, Shunya Ito’s fever dream sequel is recognized as the series’ best entry, bolstered by avant-garde tinged visuals, delirious violence, a fuzzy guitar score and, of course, Meiko Kaji’s fierce, steely-eyed performance of rage and vengeance.

Please review Japan Society's safety protocols at the bottom of this page.

Meiko Kaji mini-retrospective concludes tonight with screening of FEMALE PRISONER SCORPION: BEAST STABLE

Japan Society NY

presents

Female Prisoner Scorpion: Beast Stable  © 1973 Toei Co., Ltd.

 Female Prisoner Scorpion: Beast Stable

(Joshu Sasori Kemono Beya)

Directed by Shunya Ito

With Meiko Kaji, Mikio Narita, Reisen Lee

Japan, 1973, 87 minutes

Blu-ray, color, in Japanese with English subtitles

When: Sunday, February 12, 7:00 PM 

Where: Japan Society NY

333 East 47th Street, NYC

Map

Japan Society NY's five film Meiko Kaji mini-retrospective will conclude this evening with the a screening of Female Prisoner Scorpion: Beast Stable at 7:00 PM. (At 4:30 Sunday afternoon there will be a separate screening of Blind Woman's Curse.)

Perhaps Meiko Kaji's most iconic role, Nami "Scorpion" Matsushima was created by Toru Shinohara for an adult manga, and has been the subject of many remakes, but Kaji will always remain the original and the best. The third film in the series, and last by original director Shunya Ito, Beast Stable is the most horror-tinged entry, and arguably the most violent. Nami, having escaped from prison in episode #2, befriends a lonely sex worker and incurs the wrath of a yakuza gang led by a former nemesis, the sadistic and power-mad Katsu—a grand guignol creation clad in black feathers who has sworn vengeance on Scorpion.

18+
This film is unrated, but may only be viewed by persons 18 years of age or older.

Part of Cruel Beauty: A Romantic Weekend with Meiko Kaji

Tickets: $13/$10 seniors & students/$9 Japan Society members

Special Offers:
All Access Pass: (1 ticket for each film in the series, 5 tickets total) Save $3 per ticket. $50/$35 seniors & students/$30 Japan Society members

Double Feature Pass: (2 different films in the same transaction) Save $2 per ticket. $22/$16 seniors & students/$14 Japan Society members

STRAY CAT ROCK: SEX HUNTER at Japan Society this Saturday evening

Japan Society NY

presents

Stray Cat Rock: Sex Hunter © 1970 Nikkatsu Corporation

Stray Cat Rock: Sex Hunter

(Nora-neko Rokku Sekkusu Hanta)

Directed by Yasuharu Hasebe

With Meiko Kaji, Rikiya Yasuoka, Tatsuya Fuji

Japan, 1970, 85 minutes

Blu-ray, color, in Japanese with English subtitles

When: Saturday, February 11, 7:00 PM 

Where: Japan Society NY

333 East 47th Street, NYC

Map

Japan Society NY's five film Meiko Kaji mini-retrospective, which begins tonight with New Battles Without Honor and Humanity: The Boss's Head, will continue with separate screenings of two films on Saturday, the second of which will be Stray Cat Rock: Sex Hunter, which will be shown at 7:00 PM. (Lady Snowblood: Love Song of Vengeance will be shown earlier, at 4:30 in the afternoon.)

Meiko Kaji headlined her first ongoing series with this group of five girl-gang biker films, made during Nikkatsu Studio's heyday of "New Action" films, which amped up the sex and violence while addressing contemporary social issues from a distinctly left-wing point of view. Sex Hunter is the third (and best) entry in the series, and stars Kaji as the leader of the Alleycats and girlfriend to the morose, possibly impotent Baron (Tatsuya Fuji), who leads a biker gang of his own in attacks on mixed-race kids around the US military base in Yokosuka. Co-starring burly, half-Italian actor Rikiya Yasuoka (Tampopo) as tough outsider Azuma, his not-quite-consummated romance with Kaji burns up the screen as their increasingly violent brawls with Baron's gang, as well as the local yakuza, pile up the casualties on both sides.

18+
This film is unrated, but may only be viewed by persons 18 years of age or older.

Part of Cruel Beauty: A Romantic Weekend with Meiko Kaji

Tickets: $13/$10 seniors & students/$9 Japan Society members

Special Offers:
All Access Pass: (1 ticket for each film in the series, 5 tickets total) Save $3 per ticket. $50/$35 seniors & students/$30 Japan Society members

Double Feature Pass: (2 different films in the same transaction) Save $2 per ticket. $22/$16 seniors & students/$14 Japan Society members

LADY SNOWBLOOD: LOVE SONG OF VENGEANCE at Japan Society NY this Saturday afternoon

Japan Society NY

presents

Lady Snowblood: Love Song of Vengeance © 1974 Toho Co., Ltd.

Lady Snowblood: Love Song of Vengeance

(Shurayukihime Urami Renka)

Directed by Toshiya Fujita

With Meiko Kaji, Juzo Itami, Yoshio Harada

Japan, 1974, 89 minutes

DCP, color, in Japanese with English subtitles

When: Saturday, February 11, 4:30 PM 

Where: Japan Society NY

333 East 47th Street, NYC

Map

Japan Society NY's five film Meiko Kaji mini-retrospective, which begins tomorrow night with New Battles Without Honor and Humanity: The Boss's Head, will continue with two films on Saturday, the first of which will be Lady Snowblood: Love Song of Vengeance.

Meiko Kaji took a break from her work on the Scorpion series at Toei to make a pair of bloody period swordplay films at Toho Studios, based on a manga by Kazuo Koike, the creator of Lone Wolf and Cub. The Lady Snowblood films, both of them directed by former Nikkatsu collaborator Toshiya Fujita, cast Kaji as the swordswoman Yuki, born in prison, and raised to seek vengeance on the group who raped her mother and murdered her father. Love Song of Vengeance, the sequel, sets Yuki on a different path, helping a left-wing dissident (Juzo Itami) who seeks to reform the government and expose a conspiracy between military and industrial forces which threaten the future of the nation.

18+
This film is unrated, but may only be viewed by persons 18 years of age or older.

Part of Cruel Beauty: A Romantic Weekend with Meiko Kaji

Tickets: $13/$10 seniors & students/$9 Japan Society members

Special Offers:
All Access Pass: (1 ticket for each film in the series, 5 tickets total) Save $3 per ticket. $50/$35 seniors & students/$30 Japan Society members

Double Feature Pass: (2 different films in the same transaction) Save $2 per ticket. $22/$16 seniors & students/$14 Japan Society members

Lady Snowblood: Love Song of Vengeance © 1974 Toho Co., Ltd.

5 film Meiko Kaji mini-retrospective begins this Friday, February 10th

Japan Society NY

presents

New Battles Without Honor and Humanity: The Boss's Head © 1975 Toei Co., Ltd.

New Battles Without Honor and Humanity: The Boss's Head

(Shin Jingi Naki Tatakai Kumicho no Kubi)

Directed by Kinji Fukasaku
With Bunta Sugawara, Tsutomu Yamazaki, Meiko Kaji
Japan, 1975, 94 minutes

Blu-ray, color, in Japanese with English subtitles

When: Friday, February 10th at 7:00 PM

Where: Japan Society NY
3333 East 47th Street, NYC
Map

International Premiere

Japan Society NY's five film Meiko Kaji mini-retrospective begins this Friday evening with Kinji Fukasaku's New Battles Without Honor and Humanity: The Boss's Head.

Never before released outside Japan, Kinji Fukasaku's follow-up trilogy to his successful Battles Without Honor and Humanity series tells three unrelated stories about yakuza intrigue and betrayal, and this middle film co-stars Meiko Kaji as the dutiful wife of a heroin-addicted hitman (Tsutomu Yamazaki) who befriends, then betrays, series star Bunta Sugawara. An essential link within Fukasaku's cinematic world, The Boss’s Head found him expanding his action vocabulary to include car stunts, as well as creating not one, but two meaty female roles (the other played by Yuriko Hishimi). Composer Toshiaki Tsushima contributes another memorable score, and the ensemble casting is among the best of the entire series. A yet-to-be-discovered classic.

18+ This film is unrated, but may only be viewed by persons 18 years of age or older.

Part of Cruel Beauty: A Romantic Weekend with Meiko Kaji

Tickets: $13/$10 seniors & students/$9 Japan Society members

Special Offers:
All Access Pass: (1 ticket for each film in the series, 5 tickets total) Save $3 per ticket. $50/$35 seniors & students/$30 Japan Society members

Double Feature Pass: (2 different films in the same transaction) Save $2 per ticket. $22/$16 seniors & students/$14 Japan Society members

Five film Meiko Kaji weekend mini-retrospective coming to Japan Society NY February 10-12

Japan Society NY

presents

Cruel Beauty: A Romantic Weekend with Meiko Kaji

When: February 10-12, 2017

Where: Japan Society

333 East 47th Street, NYC

Map

Action-packed Prelude to Valentine's Day Anticipates

The 70th Birthday of Iconoclastic Genre Actress

Known for her fashionable modern style, long black tresses and piercing gaze, the inimitable Meiko Kaji rose to the top of the Japanese film industry in the late 1960s and '70s, working with some of the era's most talented filmmakers to create several now-classic genre film archetypes along the way—from hard-boiled girl gang bosses to kimono-clad, sword-wielding assassins.

Japan Society celebrates the iconic star, who turns 70 in March, with an action-packed prelude to Valentine's Day, full of female rebellion, ice-cold vengeance and tough love. Guest curated by writer and producer Marc Walkow, Cruel Beauty: A Romantic Weekend with Meiko Kaji screens five films Friday-Sunday, February 10-12, highlighting a selection of Kaji's most memorable roles.

In addition to the International Premiere of New Battles Without Honor and Humanity: The Boss's Head, the series includes early star-making appearances in Blind Woman's Curse and Stray Cat Rock: Sex Hunter, as well as selections featuring her iconic characters in Lady Snowblood: Love Song of Vengeance and Female Prisoner Scorpion: Beast Stable.

In his program notes from the series, Walkow writes: "Japanese movie stars don't get much more iconic than actress Meiko Kaji. Born as Masako Ota in Tokyo on March 24, 1947, Kaji's history is sadly one of being continually misunderstood by the studios which employed her. Originally groomed as a matinee idol at Nikkatsu in the '60s, she instead found fame there as the leader of a hard-boiled girl gang, riding motorcycles and brawling tooth-and-nail with both men and women. She moved over to Toei in the early '70s, again miscast as a replacement for recently-retired period film star Junko Fuji, who had embodied a different kind of beauty and strength throughout the '60s.

Before long, however, Kaji once again found her place as an outlaw character, this time as a nearly-silent, icily violent female prisoner who unwillingly becomes the leader of a rebellion against the patriarchy. Having found fame, Kaji once again defied industry expectations and passed up further star turns in favor of working with talented filmmakers in supporting roles, preferring to take her work as an actor more seriously, as well as devote much of her time to her own private life. She remains an inimitable presence in Japanese cinema, and an icon who continues to inspire filmmakers and audiences around the world."

Though all films are later episodes in popular series, they stand on their own and can be enjoyed without familiarity with preceding episodes. These films contain a considerable amount of violence, nudity and graphic depictions of sex typical of the genre, and are recommended for audiences ages 18 and over.

Admission: $13/$10 seniors & students/$9 Japan Society members. Special offers: All Access Pass (1 ticket for each film in the series, 5 tickets total) $50/$35/$30; Double Feature Pass (2 different films in the same transaction) $22/$16/$14. Tickets may be purchased online at www.japansociety.org, in person at Japan Society, or by calling the box office at 212-715-1258.

ACF 1398: Happy Birthday, Meiko Kaji

In Female Prisoner #701: Scorpion (1972)

Japanese actress Meiko Kaji was born Masako Ohta on March 24, 1947 in Tokyo, Japan.

Meiko Kaji, left, in Stray Cat Rock: Sex Hunter

I feel confident in saying that she is best known in the United States for her roles in the Female Convict Scorpion (a.k.a. Female Prisoner Scorpion) series (which began in 1972), in Stray Cat Rock: Sex Hunter (1970), and in the two Lady Snowblood movies (1973 and 1974).

In Lady Snowblood (1973)

Kaji was one of the actresses featured in Japan Society's film series Mad, Bad... & Dangerous to Know: Three Untamed Beauties of Japanese Cinema, which ran from March 31-April 18, 2010. The other two were Ayako Wakao and Mariko Okada. 

So, Happy Birthday wishes to you Meiko, from AsianCineFest and all your many fans wordwide.

ACF 524: Two more Meiko Kaji films at Japan Society today, Sunday, April 4th

Japan Society's Mad, Bad.... & Dangerous to Know series continues this afternoon with the last two of the films starring Meiko Kaji. Info and links below.

Image copyright Toho Co., Ltd

Lady Snowblood: Love Song Of Vengeance

Directed by Toshiya Fujita

Japan, 1974, color 97 min.

Print courtesy of Toho Co., Ltd

Showtime 3:00 PM

This sequel to Lady Snowblood, fuelled by the sheer force of overkill—the disturbingly joyful violence and the stylized application of physical power—finds the iconic killing machine / smooth-skinned beauty, Yuki “Snowblood” Kashima (Meiko Kaji) imprisoned for the ghastly vengeance she waged on her family's behalf. She has sent 37 people to hell and though most of them were hardened criminals and cold-blooded murderers, that simply cuts no ice with the judge: she is sentenced to death.

While waiting her turn to the gallows pole, a white-gloved secret agent makes Yuki an offer she cannot refuse: assassinate an enemy of the state (who is also a friend to the common people) in exchange for her pardon. Can the “child of the netherworld” see her sins redeemed at the cost of her life, or will she ignore the plight of the powerless—at the cost of her conscience? A sequel that offers both the savage amusement of foul violence and a razor-sharp political edge.

18+
This film is unrated, but may only be viewed by persons 18 years of age or older.

Info and online ticket purchasing here.

Image copyright Toei Co., Ltd

Female Convict Scorpion Jailhouse 41

Directed by Shunya Ito

Japan, 1972, color, 90 min.

Showtime 5:00

“One of the most jaw-droppingly over-the-top viewing experiences in film history.”
– Superheroeslive.com

“An absolutely phenomenal surrealist-cum-exploitation picture...one of the truly genuine masterpieces of violent 1970's cinema"
– Phillyfests.com

Jailhouse 41 finds the deadly Matsu, better known as “Sasori” (Scorpion) in a realm shut off from all hope and goodness: the darkest depths of a maximum-security prison, where God Himself dares not peek—or so it would seem. Taking her first chance at escape, she and six other female prisoners embark on a crazed rampage through a ghost town. The battered past of the women is revealed through a pop-art prism of kabuki theatre influences and frenzied baroque camerawork, as they trade surreal acts of sadistic vengeance with their pursuers and the men who fall in their path.

Highly stylized even for the standards of this exceptional franchise, Shunya Ito gives free reign to his experimental tendencies in this sequel to Female Prisoner #701: Scorpion, offering a brutally compelling film, haunting and intoxicating in equal measure.

18+
This film is unrated, but may only be viewed by persons 18 years of age or older.

Info and online ticket purchasing here.

The last segment of the series is entitled MARIKO OKADA: THE DISCREET CHARM OF THE ADULTERESS. It will feature four of her films and will run from Wednesday, April 14th through Sunday, April 18th.

The film series Mad, Bad… & Dangerous to Know: Three Untamed Beauties is made possible through the generous support of The Globus Family.

ACF 523: Three Meiko Kaji films kick off "A Mad, Bad Unjholy Easter Weekend"

Japan Society's Mad, Bad.... & Dangerous To Know film series begins focusing on the second of three featured actresses today with separate screenings of three films starring Meiko Kaji. They are all "must-see movies." Descriptions, showtimes and links to purchase tickets online for each film are provided below.

Image (c) Toei., Ltd

Female Prisoner #701: Scorpion
Directed by Shunya Ito
Japan, 1972, color, 87 min.
Showtime 3:00 PM

“This film is a true genre classic.”
- Chris Nelson, Dreamlogic.net

Stabbing. Shooting. Scalding. Raping. Rioting. Feral sapphic sex. Beating. Burning. And copious amounts of female nudity. Shunya Ito’s film set the ultimate template of the "Women In Prison" (W.I.P.) movie genre. Expertly riding the fine line between arthouse imagery and car crash-like anti-aesthetics, the storyline of Female Prisoner #701: Scorpion follows the quest for vengeance of Nami Matsushima, an unjustly imprisoned woman, to whom Meiko Kaji lends her unique star presence. Used, abused and betrayed by her first love, a corrupt cop, “Matsu”, endures a variety of exotic punishments that would make even Cool Hand Luke cry, and eventually becomes “Sasori” (Scorpion), a byname for vengeance.

Prepare yourself for lock-down, this is sexploitation cinema at its most ferocious and classiest, easily transcending the B-film revenge-tale that serves as its pretext. Female Prisoner #701: Scorpion spawned three direct sequels, a pair of spin-offs, and a 2008 Hong Kong-Japan co-produced remake.

18+
This film is unrated, but may only be viewed by persons 18 years of age or older.

Info and online ticket purcahasing here.

Image (c) Nikkatsu Corp.

Stray Cat Rock: Sex Hunter
Directed by Yasaharu Hasebe
Japan, 1970, color, 85 min.

Showtime 5:00 PM

“Impeccably stylised and undeniably cool”
– Tom Mes, MIDNIGHT EYE

“A delinquent classic.”
– AMERICAN CINEMATHEQUE

“A take no prisoners affair and one of the best films to make full use of Meiko Kaji’s powerful female presence”
– Kimberly Lindbergs, CINEBEATS

If you haven’t seen this classic hallucinatory girl gang flick, with no actual sex hunting, but ample sex and hunting (and a politically radical racial subplot), you really haven’t lived. Directed by the late sexploitation master Yasuharu Hasebe, Stray Cat Rock: Sex Hunter stars cult film legend Meiko Kaji as Mako, a girl gang leader sporting the best hat in film history and wielding Molotov cocktails like a pro. Mako’s gang assists The Eagles, an all-male gang of typical young delinquents led by the cooler-than-thou Baron (Tatsuya Fuji), speeding around in army jeeps left by the American occupation, hanging out in über-hip clubs, swindling cash from businessmen to buy sexy pants, and generally indulging in testosterone-fuelled ruckus-raising.

Life rocks, rolls and swings by nicely for the cheerful youths until one of the Eagles loses his girl to an African-American/Japanese man. Baron suddenly develops a serious fetish for racial purity and goes on a crusade against all the local “halfs,” mixed-race Japanese citizens. The trouble is: Mako has a soft spot for dark-skinned hunk Kazuma, a newly arrived Half who is searching for his long-lost sister. Sides will be chosen and rampage will be wrought in this full-on war of the sexes as Kaji’s Mako takes the opinion that sexual slavery and hunting mixed-race people are definitely not okay.

18+
This film is unrated, but may only be viewed by persons 18 years of age or older.

Info and online ticket purcahasing here.

Image (c) Toho Co., Ltd

Lady Snowblood: Blizzard from the Netherworld
Directed by Toshiya Fujita
Japan, 1973, color, 97 min.
Showtime: 7:30 PM

A baroque blood-fest of a picture, deftly blending samurai, ninja, yakuza, and manga motifs, Lady Snowblood is a revenge tale with many a stupendous turn and a major twist: the ruthless seeker of righteous retribution is a kimono-clad beauty (Meiko Kaji) with stern regal features and avenging-angel eyes, who makes grown men cry in the night. Born in a dark hellhole of a prison, Yuki “Snowblood” Kashima was raised by an ironhanded priest who trained her in the arcanes of sword fighting. Dressed and hardwired to kill, she will find and wreak her bloody vengeance upon the four villains who butchered her family.

Quentin Tarantino drew on Lady Snowblood as the inspiration for Kill Bill Vol. 1 (2003). As impressive as one might find Tarantino’s film, fans should definitely experience the formal beauty of the original, a mad mix of shameless grindhouse exploitation and surreal arthouse extravaganza driven by a full-blooded devotion to unstinting gory action.

18+
This film is unrated, but may only be viewed by persons 18 years of age or older.

Info and online ticket purcahasing here.

The other two more films in the series starring Kaji will be shown on Easter Sunday:

Lady Snowblood: Love Song of Vengeance at 3:00 PM

Female Convict Scorpion Jailhouse 41 at 5:00 PM