The 1995 film Immoral: Indecent Relations (original Japanese title: Immoral: Midarana Kankei) serves as a poignant, albeit fragmented, finale to the career of Tatsumi Kumashiro, the director widely hailed as the "King of Nikkatsu Roman Porno". Kumashiro’s work transformed Japanese adult cinema from mere exploitation into a respected art form characterized by nihilism, anarchy, and a deep humanism. The Unfinished Masterpiece
Recommended for further study (key films): immoral indecent relations tatsumi kumashiro work
Considered one of the best Nikkatsu pink films; a character study of a woman's search for satisfaction. Immoral: Indecent Relations His final work, completed posthumously. www.imdb.com Immoral: Indecent Relations (Video 1995) - IMDb The 1995 film Immoral: Indecent Relations (original Japanese
The film examines who holds power in a relationship—often shifting between the male and female leads through sexual expression. 📺 How to Approach the Work He allowed improvisation, stopped shoots when actresses were
Others defend Kumashiro by pointing to his collaborative relationships with actresses like Junko Miyashita and Rie Nakagawa, who repeatedly worked with him and praised his sets as safer and more psychologically nuanced than mainstream Japanese cinema. He allowed improvisation, stopped shoots when actresses were uncomfortable, and regularly gave complex interiority to female characters—rare in 1970s pink films.
What makes the film a landmark of immoral indecent relations is its tone. Kumashiro shoots the sexual encounters with a flat, almost documentary eye—no romantic lighting, no sensual music. The sex is awkward, desperate, and often silent. One key scene involves a voyeuristic teenage boy watching his friend have intercourse with an older woman; when he is discovered, he does not flee but sits down to smoke a cigarette. There is no shame, only a hollow curiosity.