is a 1975

1975 in film

The year 1975 in film involved some significant events, with Steven Spielberg's thriller Jaws topping the box office.-Events:*March 26 - The film version of The Who's Tommy premieres in London....

 Japan

Japan

Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...

ese film in Nikkatsu

Nikkatsu

is a Japanese entertainment company well known for its film and television productions. It is Japan's oldest major movie studio. The name Nikkatsu is an abbreviation of Nippon Katsudō Shashin, literally "Japan Cinematograph Company".-History:...

's Roman porno series, directed by Katsuhiko Fujii and starring Naomi Tani

Naomi Tani

is a Japanese actress who is best known for her appearances in Nikkatsu's Roman Porno films with an S&M theme during the 1970s.-Early career:Born October 20, 1948, in the Hakata ward of Fukuoka, Naomi Tani moved to Tokyo at the age of 18. After arrival in Tokyo, she was featured in a photo layout...

 and Terumi Azuma.

Synopsis

When the boss of a yakuza clan in 1920s Osaka is assassinated, Oryu, his mistress, vows revenge. Her search for the killer takes her out of the city. The old boss' son proves a poor leader, only interested in Omitsu, his high-class girlfriend. Yajima, the second-in-command, is taking advantage of the situation to accumulate power for himself. Oryu is called back to help stabilize the situation. Yajima kidnaps both Oryu and Omitsu, and subjects them to torture and various forms of sexual humiliations. During the S&M sessions, Oryu learns that Yajima was the killer of the old boss.

Cast

• Naomi Tani
  Naomi Tani
  is a Japanese actress who is best known for her appearances in Nikkatsu's Roman Porno films with an S&M theme during the 1970s.-Early career:Born October 20, 1948, in the Hakata ward of Fukuoka, Naomi Tani moved to Tokyo at the age of 18. After arrival in Tokyo, she was featured in a photo layout...
  
  : Oryū
• Setsuo Mia: Ginjirō Emoto
• Terumi Azuma: Omitsu
• Morio Kazama: Matsuo
• Akira Takahashi: Tatsuya Yajima
• Toshihiko Oda: Kenji
• Mari Kojima: Momoko
• Tetsusen Nakahira: Saburō
• Keisuke Yukioka: Shigeyoshi Sawai
• Kōji Yashiro: Eizaburō Kawamura
• Mari Yoshikawa: Prostitute
• Yuki Minami: Runaway prostitute

Critical appraisal

Director Katsuhiko Fujii had previously worked with the duo of Naomi Tani

Naomi Tani

is a Japanese actress who is best known for her appearances in Nikkatsu's Roman Porno films with an S&M theme during the 1970s.-Early career:Born October 20, 1948, in the Hakata ward of Fukuoka, Naomi Tani moved to Tokyo at the age of 18. After arrival in Tokyo, she was featured in a photo layout...

 and Terumi Azuma in the successful Cruelty: Black Rose Torture

Cruelty: Black Rose Torture

aka Black Rose Slave is a 1975 Japanese film in Nikkatsu's Roman porno series, directed by Katsuhiko Fujii and starring Naomi Tani.-Synopsis:...

(also 1975). In their Japanese Cinema Encyclopedia: The Sex Films, the Weissers compare Oryu's Passion: Bondage Skin to this previous film, writing, that Cruelty: Black Rose Torture "looks like poetry compared to this hodgepodge of impossible coincidences and ridiculous plot tangents." Among the film's many weak points, they particularly complain about the story's poorly realized characters. They judge that Naomi Tani, however, manages to overcome the weak material, writing, "Ms Tani's larger-than-life screen presence is the only reason to watch." Fujii would regain the knack he had demonstrated for the S&M genre in Cruelty: Black Rose Torture, and go on to be regarded as one of Nikkatsu's top S&M directors.

Availability

Oryu's Passion: Bondage Skin was released theatrically in Japan on June 18, 1975. It was released on home video in VHS format on August 16, 1983 and re-released on May 1, 1992 and again on April 18, 1994.