The Glamorous Life of Sachiko Hanai DVD with (Unrated) +Movie Reviews

George W. Bush and Sachiko Hanai - A Love Story

Zack Davisson | Seattle, WA, USA | 07/14/2008

(5 out of 5 stars)

"I am a big fan of the Japanese Pink Film genre. Quite different from straight porn, they were a hugely successful category of film mainly in the 70's, where they played to packed theaters, but now mainly exist on straight-to-video releases and still manage to thrive. Most of the time they are just cheesy as hell; some hot naked girls and only a stitch of plot, like the Ninja Vixens series. Sometimes they are dark and plumb psychological depths, like the infamous Flower & Snake. And sometimes they are just plain weird.

"The Glamorous Life of Sachiko Hanai" is clearly in the last category. Although it started out as a straight Pink Film, with the more explicit title of "Horny Home Tutor: Teacher's Love Juice", director Meike Mitsuru decided to re-cut and re-shoot it as a flick that has all the nudity and sex required, with a bizarre plot that could play at an Indie film festival. In fact, this is the first Pink Film ever to get distribution in US theaters, mainly on the festival circuit.

The story revolves around Sachiko Hanai, a prostitute who works at an Image Club doing a "seduce the teacher" routine that is a common fantasy of Japanese guys. One eventful night leaves her with a bullet in her head and in possession of the cloned finger of George W. Bush. The bullet has logged against her brain, giving her a genius-level intellect and various mental abilities. Bush's finger has a mind of its own, being able to move and communicate to Sachiko via television screens, as well as some more subtle manipulations.

While the political message is hazy at best, with the cloned finger being hunted by North Korean agents in order to gain access to Bush's fingerprints and thus America's nuclear arsenal, it is mainly just decoration and a bit of a McGuffin. The real fun is just in following Sachiko Hanai's glamorous life, and her lust for knowledge and other things. Along with her genius IQ, the bullet also delays all of her body's responses, so that she experiences things after the fact, such as when she makes a super-spicy curry but thinks it is too bland until and hour later when her mouth is one fire. Given that this is a Pink Film, several of her other body responses also happen to delayed and hilarious effects.

The lead actress, Kuroda Emi, makes a very hot school teacher and isn't ashamed at all in showing off her talents. This was her only flick, and she soon gave up the Pink Film genre for a new career as a fighter in the Mixed Martial Arts circuit. Most of the other actors are veterans of Japan's various underground genres, like Hotaru Yukijiro who appeared in the strange zombie flick Stacy. The sex in the film isn't explicit, but is definitely good enough and it is great to see Emi do her stuff.

The DVD for "The Glamorous Life of Sachiko Hanai" is a winner, with some cool extras thrown in. The original incarnation, "Horny Home Tutor: Teacher's Love Juice" is included, as well as a funny little short featuring the Sachiko Hanai character and a George Bush puppet doing a Smack Down style fight against another girl in a ICBM missile costume. That is actually where the cover image comes from, and Emi does not appear in that outfit during the main movie. The only disappointment is that the 2006 documentary "The Making of 'Sachiko Hanai'" isn't included, but otherwise this is good stuff through and through.
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Loopy Japanese sex farce

Roland E. Zwick | Valencia, Ca USA | 08/07/2007

(3 out of 5 stars)

"***1/2

It's hard to know just what to make of the Japanese film, "The Glamorous Life of Sachiko Hanai." Is it a parody of a softcore porn flick or just a softcore porn flick itself? I tend to think it's the former, since, along with its myriad (and fairly graphic) simulated sex scenes, the film is also a wildly funny, tongue-in-cheek absurdist farce, replete with social criticism and political commentary for the deeper thinkers in the crowd. Not all of it works equally well, but you at least gotta' give `em props for trying.

Sachiko Hanai is an attractive young tutor with what a polite person might describe as an "active interest in sexual expression." Despite her job as a teacher, Sachiko is no great shakes in the brains department, until, that is, she is accidentally shot in the forehead by a secret agent from North Korea. Due to the bullet's strategic placement in the cerebral cortex, Sachiko suddenly becomes a super genius, able to comprehend French philosophy, complex laws of physics and arcane mathematical equations with no trouble whatsoever. She also develops a paranormal ability to peer into the unseen mysteries of the universe and to foretell future events. Her condition, however, does not curtail her appetite for sex; in fact, if anything, her newfound intelligence seems only to exacerbate it.

Indeed, much of the fun of "Schiko Hanai" derives from the incongruous juxtaposition of raw sexuality with intellectual pretentiousness. There's something immensely funny about watching people make passionate love while debating the finer points of dialectical materialism and String Theory or using Susan Sontag and Noam Chomsky as aphrodisiacs. The actors help to pull it off by playing their scenes with a straight-faced, deadpan seriousness that enhances the humor.

The plot gets even weirder when Sachiko finds herself in possession of the cloned, self-animated finger of George W. Bush and the machine that would allow it to unleash an arsenal of deadly nuclear weapons on an unsuspecting world. How's that for a storyline?

I frankly have no idea what this spy thriller cum sex comedy is really all about, but I had a great deal of fun watching it just the same."

[2.5]--Sachiko Hanai probably wishes she lived a glamorous l

Jenny J.J.I. | That Lives in Carolinas | 05/01/2007

(3 out of 5 stars)

"This is something you don't see everyday. I never had seen pink films till I've seen "The Glamorous Life OF Sachiko Hanai." This is not under any circumstances a jewel but a bizarre Pink film. This is a campy, surrealistic Japanese art film laced with softcore erotica. Sachiko Hanai is probably an accomplished "pink film"; but probably not as classier as the rest.

It mainly starts when Sachiko, played by Emi Kuroda , dining in a café who is then shot in the head by a North Korean spy. The bullet lodges in her brain turns her into an nymphomatic intellectual superwoman with hallucinogenic seizures, and psychic control of George W. Bush's cloned finger. As weird as that sound that's what this film consist of. Sachiko voracious appetite for sex, although it is unclear whether the bullet caused that, begins a tryst with a police officer, local professor (after discussing Susan Sontag and Noam Chomski) then moves on to his son, and eventually to the North Korean spy who shot her. In a particularly odd scene she also has relations with George W. Bush's finger. Even though this film is loaded with sex the director is simply saying to have Sex than war, which leads to George W. Bush middle finger that possesses a dual function within the film. It makes itself on the one hand independent, in order to procure it to Sachiko Hanai, on the other hand one it is the key to a secret weapon. The reproach, it does not leave itself clearer concerns a drive-steered policy to any more to formulate. If one does not agree with George W. Bush I guess can greatly appeal to this production.

Mitsuru Meike is no Takashi Miike, to which he can probably be capable of if he had a bigger budget. While the crude basic atmosphere has its charm, it never attempts to bring its its characters (or the viewer) closer to anything of comparable significance--through its physical indulgences, and what remains often feels like nothing more than intellectual foreplay with deliberately controversial political button-pushing thrown in for a sense of artistic legitimacy. Is this stuff trailblazing or merely forced sensationalism meant to get our rocks off in a way that we needn't feel guilty about? That the film itself can't seem to make up its own mind seems as indicative of its own confliction as anything else. I say a little bit more of consistency throughout this entire film could of gain some momentum and probably a higher rating on my end.
"

Japanese arthouse takes a shot at bush

Mackshere | hampered by what's acceptable | 04/11/2009

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Got pink?

A long lost friend of mine called this a surrealistic Japanese art film laced with softcore erotica. She was totally correct. Although she's not as susceptible to being brainwashed by an abundance of female nudity, I still think she short-changed the greatness of this odd little sexy gem.

Quick plot synopsis:
Super-sexy Sachiko gets shot in the head by a North Korean spy. The bullet gets lodged in her brain, ironically making her super-smart. Not to mention super-horny. To top it all off, she has some sort of psychic control of George Bush's cloned finger. Ahh yes, time to push some buttons.

The political backdrop is interesting but not especially significant or well-developed. It seemed this film was on the brink of something truly special, but it never quite materialized. Then again, maybe I was just too focused on the fact that Sachiko looks great naked. All in all, this is excellent as a sleaze film but nearly becomes something so much more. 3.5 stars.

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A wacky, tripped out, one-of-a-kind erotic comedy!

Daniel J. Hamlow | Narita, Japan | 05/24/2007

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Palm Pictures has put some pretty interesting foreign movies such as Akarui Mirai (Bright Future) with Asano Tadanobu, but Hanai Sachiko No Karei na Shogai is one of the most brash, funny, and downright sexiest films I've ever seen, hence the X-rating, so be warned.

Call girl Sachiko Hanai is shot in the forehead by a North Korean agent. She survives, but the lodged bullet penetrates the center of her brain (via some mind-blowing but crude animation) and turns her into an intellectual genius. We can tell because she starts scribbling physics equations on the wall with a piece of chalk, and she becomes fascinated with French philosophy, and the genius of humankind--"all that is man's passion released towards the Universe." However, one amusing side effect is the havoc it plays on her taste buds. And the bullet hole makes for a grisly parody of the red bindi Indian women have on their forehead, although in Sachiko's case, it signifies the major nerve point in the human body--see what the bullet did to her?

Sachiko runs into the bookish Professor Toshio Saeki, and so touched is he with her intelligence he doesn't think twice of having an affair with her. He is one of the funniest characters. I mean, someone who gets turned on by anyone saying "Noam Chomsky?" Sachiko then tutors his shy and antisocial son Mamoru. Did I say shy and antisocial? With Sachiko, not for long, and what better reward to get right answers than by her removing a piece of clothing. What was it Van Halen sang, "Got it bad, so bad, I'm hot for teacher"?

Mamoru is keen on military defense maneuvers and missiles. "We'll always have wars. It's a good occupation," he says. This leads to Sachiko learning how "the TDF missile system is manipulated by the Bush administration, neoconservatism and the military industry that supports it." And speaking of Dubya, he gets a great drubbing here for the war in Iraq. He appears via some crude animation but by someone wearing a mask of freeze frame pictures of him. Turns out that Sachiko accidentally took Dubya's cloned finger that the North Korean agent's after. However, the scene of the finger violating her on the rooftop is queasy, not because it involves a writhing Sachiko being aroused, but because it's horrible to have Dubya to that to anyone, especially a sweet cute intellectual call girl like Sachiko.

The mission accomplished" speech is horribly but funnily dubbed, with references to his superweapon that pinpoints America's enemies one by one. "My intention is to have "naturally friendly wars" he says. Naturally friendly wars....RIGGHHHHTTT!

As for the North Korean agent, he's not exactly a nice guy, shooting people and even violating the professor's wife--a kind of nasty scene right there. But he ends up having a conscience later on. Hey, if it happened to Darth Vader in Jedi....

The film is clearly a throwback to the late 60's/early 70's softcore underground flicks such as Doris Wishman's Double Agent 73 or Pete Walker's The Tale of Tiffany Jones, but since when did Chesty Morgan or Tiffany go full-frontal or have something white squirted on them?--and I don't mean mayonnaise! Check out the dayglo pink cover of the DVD, not to mention Sachiko's outfit. Typical go-go girl/exploitation. And Sachiko being exploited by whoever she meets is straight from Candy by Terry Southern, although she does tend to give of herself to begin with. Then you have apocalyptic elements of Dr. Strangelove and elements of Michael Moore's Fahrenheit 911.

Emi Kuroda as Sachiko is clearly the star and a likeable one too, with or without clothes. Her teacher outfit at the beginning is a knockout. And her rendition of the Star Spangled Banner is definitely more appealing than Borat's. Sheer, unabashed, sexy delight for liberals, aficionados of 70's softcore cinema, and anyone who loves contemporary Japanese cinema. Sachiko, please be my teacher!

"Those who tell others to face reality are usually not facing it themselves."--Mamoru to Sachiko.
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