A cheating husband comes to terms with his devilish sexuality.
What They Say:
When the beautiful Kumiko joins the editorial desk at a small local newspaper, the most deeply kept secrets of the rich and powerful leader of a religious cult suddenly begin finding their way into print in blistering exposes. Scandalous exposes which have even more shocking repercussions for the paper’s sales manager, Okomoto, and his elegant wife Shizuyo. Ensnared in the escalating war of wits and chains between the sadistic cult master and Kumiko, his former sex slave, Shizuyo finds herself strung in the rope bonds of a ruthless game that mixes sensuality with humiliation. Could it be that Shizuyo’s only hope of release may come in the form of her own husband’s mistress? Or is that exactly what the Devil has been planning on all along? From the novels of the late legendary SM Master Oniroku Dan, prepare to be served a dark and unsettling vision of twisted lust and inhuman bondage: THE DEVIL’S FEAST!
The Review:
Audio:
Audio quality varies throughout the film and often seems to have a muted aspect to it. Music seems vibrant but voices and sound effects have that imbalance that sometimes occurs when they are dubbed. Nothing seems too distracting, and in my nostalgic way of watching this film, it reminds me of movies that influenced the production.
Video:
Sometimes I’m not sure what a cinematographer intends and how a transfer turns out. Much of the beginning of the film I felt that the print used seemed off. Everything from color separation to exposure seems odd. As the scenes changed, I saw the attempt to use visual cues to reinforce emotional reactions from the viewer. Everything that seemed off had a purpose, but early in the film, this technique distracted me.
When I watched this on my primary review equipement, the film looked gritty, adding to the hardboiled theme. When I did a second check on my 24 inch monitor with PS3, digital noise permeates the scenes I tested.
Packaging:
The disc comes in a standard sized keepcase with a soft hub on the back. The front cover shows Kumiko on silky sheets with her midriff and cleavage exposed as she bites on a piece of rope. A similar image takes up the top quarter of the spine. The title is in black font on a red background in the middle, and the bottom quarter has the Switchblade logo. The back cover has an image of Kumiko blindfolded and bound with a white-robed man in a oni mask groping her from behind. The text in the summary is tiny white on black font. In the bottom third, several censored scenes from the film demonstrate the fetish elements viewers can expect. The credits appear in black font on a white background, and the technical grid and copyright information is in small white font on a black background. The disk has been printed with another variation of Kumiko on the sheets. In this one her hip is exposed and the rope drapes over her. Both breast appear to be exposed, but a brush stroke crosses the area and acts as a background for the title font.
Menu:
The main menu offers the same image of Kumiko on the white sheets with the tangled rope, except her left breast is exposed. “Play Feature” and “Special Features” appear in red brushstrokes on the left side of the screen. The special features menu shows an image of Shizuyo and Kumiko in gold bodypaint.
Extras:
The only extras are three Switchblade trailers.
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers)
One of the interesting developments in Japanese erotic must be the reliance on fetish objects to offset the national censorship of explicit pornography. For various reasons, mainstream softcore films became prominent in Japan’s theaters in the 1970s. During the same decade that gave Americans explicit mainstream films like Deep Throat (1972) and Debbie Does Dallas (1978), Oniroku Dan’s bondage fiction added a particular twist to Japanese cinema that has influenced output in all mediated erotica. Many viewers of Japanese films will know of Flower and Snake (1974) or have seen one of the many video releases of films based on his work.
In The Devil’s Feast (2007), we have the story of contemporary Japanese issues including religious cults, the effects of rape, the identity created by marriage, and sexual relationships with coworkers. The exploration of these issues comes through scenes of erotic bondage juxtaposed against scenes of mundane life.
Okomoto seems to be an up-and-coming writer whose day job finds him selling ads for a local newspaper. He comes home to a pretty and supportive wife, Shizuyo, who wants to be the complete package for him as she cooks, tries to have sex, and plans for a future child. While she is very willing to please her hubby, he just can’t get an erection for her. She feels like a failure because she can’t please him, and he just feels like a failure. The scenes between them show a couple overly concerned with the husband’s career and the wife’s role as a future mother. Neither partner can focus on the problems of the present as they try to escape them by looking to the future.
Enter Kumiko. Having graduated from a good university and working as an editor at a major news organization, she has signed on at this small newspaper for no apparent reason. She quickly tracks down Okomoto and tells him she likes his writing, and with no hesitation, she invites him to a pub and then to a bath. Seduced by her direct approach, Okomoto goes to bed with her, but as he begins, she asks him to tie her hands behind her back. Okomoto finds his kink, and he is off to the races.
The film continues to juxtapose Okomoto’s relationship with his straight-laced wife with the kinky thrills he finds with Kumiko. His fun ends when Kumiko prints an expose about the local cult that seems to singlehandedly fund the newspaper. The cult leader had been a suspect in several rapes, but the investigation and media coverage dried up quickly. This story causes Okomoto’s boss to offer Shizuyo to the cult leader. The cult also kidnaps Kumiko, and soon the women find themselves in bondage together. Kumiko had been a victim of the cult in the past, and now, she helps the cult leader break Shizuyo’s will and inhibitions. When the women have been broken, Okomoto realizes that this somehow mirrors the state of his sexuality.
Viewers may find the visuals quaint. It wasn’t until Okomoto picks up a flip phone that I realized how recently this movie had been produced because the settings and print both seem like a low budget movie from the past. Still, this does not affect the erotica and may even enhance the drama for those who love movies from the 1970s. Both the bondage and the sexual behavior have been purposefully shot to convey not only scenes of passion but scenes of personal emptiness. This means some “erotic” scenes actually may have the opposite effect to a viewer’s libido, so be prepared for a roller coaster of emotions. We have scenes of infidelity and angry sex, components familiar to viewers of American erotica. Viewers will also be exposed to kidnapping, rape, intimidation, and humiliation, so be prepared for these darker elements.
In Summary:
The film successfully tells the story of a man torn between responsibilities and desires. While erotic scenes appear frequently, a viewer’s response to them will depend on how well they identify with the characters in the dramatic moments. While the fetish elements of bondage appear throughout, often, they don’t always have an erotic content beyond the ropes and the bodies that have been tied. Settings and filming ranges from stark and cold to warm with saturated colors.
This is not a film for everyone, and it is certainly not among the best adaptations of Oniroku Dan’s writing. The Devil’s Feast will resonate with viewers who understand that sexuality cannot be separated from culture and social lives.
Features:
Japanese 2.0 language with forced English subtitles and Sentai trailers.
Content Grade: B
Audio Grade: B
Video Grade: B-
Packaging Grade: B+
Menu Grade: B+
Extras Grade: C
Released By: Switchblade Pictures
Release Date: July 31st, 2012
MSRP: $19.98
Running Time: 67
Video Encoding: 480i/p MPEG-2
Aspect Ratio: 1.78:1 Anamorphic Widescreen
Review Equipment:
Samsung 40” LCD 1080P HDTV, Sony BDP-S3500 Blu-ray player connected via HDMI, Onkyo TX-SR444 Receiver with NHT SuperOne front channels and NHT SuperZero 2.1 rear channel speakers.
