Rumi Tama
Encyclopedia
aka is a Japanese film director
, actress, and screenwriter
, known for her work in the pink film genre. After making her acting debut in 1965, she appeared in independent pink films throughout the rest of the decade, often for director Akitaka Kimata, whom she would later marry, and his son Seiji Izumi. Tama took a brief retirement in the early 1970s, then began appearing in films in Nikkatsu
's Roman Porno series in 1975. She began directing in 1981, helming at least 80 films as of 2002.
's Setagaya
neighborhood. Her family had close ties to the film industry. Her father was a set designer at Daiei
, and her uncle was the cinematographer Kimio Watanabe at the same studio. Tama's brother was employed at Toei
as a lighting technician. Her sister also became a pink film actress, following Tama's entry into the field, appearing in Masao Adachi
's . Using the stagename , her career mostly involved acting in supporting roles in films with Tama.
Rumi Tama made her film debut as an actress in the 1965 Tokyo Eiga pink film release, . She starred in many of these independent softcore theatrical films throughout the rest of the decade, appearing often in films by and his son Akiyoshi, who was born in 1946 and directed under the stagename . These films were produced through Kimata's Pro Taka, and usually distributed by Million Film
. Akitaka Kimata was born in 1915 and founded Pro Taka as a pink film production company in 1965. His first film in the genre, River of Flesh, was directed by his son, and included Tama in the cast. Tama would later marry Akitaka Kimata, becoming his third wife.
Typical of the films Tama made with her future husband was Pervert (Koshokuma, 1968), in which she was cast as one of the victims of a college professor who enjoys capturing women for torture. Tama received attention particularly for her role in Shin'ya Yamamoto's . She retired from the film industry for a time in the early 1970s to devote time to her family.
in 1975, and appeared in their Roman Porno films for the next six years. In order to offset the loss of many filmmakers who had left when the studio changed its production to almost solely its Roman Porno series in 1971, Nikkatsu recruited performers from the pink film world. An admirer of Tama, Nikkatsu director Shogorō Nishimura
was instrumental in the studio's decision to hire the actress to star in their Apartment Wife series.
The Apartment Wife series was one of the leading titles in Nikkatsu's Roman Porno genre. Nikkatsu inaugurated its Roman porno line with Nishimura's Apartment Wife: Affair In the Afternoon
(1971), and its success ensured the continuation of the Roman Porno direction the studio took for the next 17 years. The "Apartment Wife" series had made Roman Porno "queens" out of Kazuko Shirakawa
and then Junko Miyashita
, who starred in eight entries in the series. Nikkatsu chose Tama to be Miyashita's successor in the series, and her debut film for the studio was Nishimura's . Tama's husband Akitaka Kimata also came out of retirement to write the script for Tama's second "Apartment Wife" episode, . This film is credited with rejuvenating the series. Its story, in which a husband discovers that his wife has been appearing in pornography without his knowledge, has been cited as an influence on the Angel Guts
series (1978–1994). Tama refused to act in the next entry in the Apartment Wife series, director Shinichi Shiratori's , complaining that the script was inferior.
Among the films in which Tama acted for Seiji Izumi, her future stepson, during this era were , which Jasper Sharp describes as "Pinku eiga at its most mean-spirited and thuggish". Sharp notes that the film, while not very explicit, is nonetheless disturbing due to its sober depictions of a series of assaults. He comments that Tama performing these scenes for her future stepson director lends the film some inadvertently Freudian connotations.
Tama starred for Shogorō Nishimura again in . This film had Tama straying far from her "Apartment Wife" persona, playing the role of a woman who has served prison time for physically abusing her unfaithful husband. Upon her release from incarceration she goes on a love-making spree with the intent of exacting revenge on her ex-husband by seducing his mistress' lover. Though Nishimura was an enthusiastic supporter of Tama, most of their collaborations are not ranked among the best efforts of either of the two.
Tama played pop-singer-turned-Roman Porno-actress Runa Takamura
's mother in Kōyū Ohara
's 1976 Roman Porno, , based on Takamura's life. Known as the "King of Pop Art Porn", director Ohara again worked with Tama in the 1978 nunsploitation
film, . Tama returned to the Apartment Wife series in 1978, for Apartment Wife: Night By Ourselves. She and Akitaka Kimata were married on September 15, 1978.
studio (later renamed OP Eiga), Kyōko Ōgimachi was the first female director of a pink film when she helmed Yakuza Geisha in 1965. Pink film industry insiders, however, doubt the veracity of this claim, noting that Ōgimachi was the mistress of Mitsugu Ōkura, head of the studio, and that he was known for showing preferential treatment to Ōgimachi. After this film, Ōgimachi never directed again. Sachi Hamano
was the first significant female pink film director. She debuted in 1971 and founded her own studio in 1984. Rumi Tama made her debut as a director in 1981 with the film . By 2002 she had directed and scripted about eighty films, most of which were produced and distributed by her husband's Pro Taka and Million Film
studios. Her later films were distributed by Exces.
Tama's , distributed by Million Film
, is a rape and revenge film
involving a college-aged protagonist who avenges herself against her abusers: her father and her professor. Some of Tama's directorial credits are , , and .
During the late 1990s, Tama worked in Shintōhō's "Hard Porno" line of films. Her last directorial effort, as of 2009, was the V-cinema
.
Film director
A film director is a person who directs the actors and film crew in filmmaking. They control a film's artistic and dramatic nathan roach, while guiding the technical crew and actors.-Responsibilities:...
, actress, and screenwriter
Screenwriter
Screenwriters or scriptwriters or scenario writers are people who write/create the short or feature-length screenplays from which mass media such as films, television programs, Comics or video games are based.-Profession:...
, known for her work in the pink film genre. After making her acting debut in 1965, she appeared in independent pink films throughout the rest of the decade, often for director Akitaka Kimata, whom she would later marry, and his son Seiji Izumi. Tama took a brief retirement in the early 1970s, then began appearing in films 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 in 1975. She began directing in 1981, helming at least 80 films as of 2002.
Early life and career
Rumi Tama was born on January 15, 1949 in TokyoTokyo
, ; officially , is one of the 47 prefectures of Japan. Tokyo is the capital of Japan, the center of the Greater Tokyo Area, and the largest metropolitan area of Japan. It is the seat of the Japanese government and the Imperial Palace, and the home of the Japanese Imperial Family...
's Setagaya
Setagaya, Tokyo
is one of the 23 special wards of Tokyo in Japan. It is also the name of a neighborhood within the ward. The ward calls itself the City of Setagaya in English...
neighborhood. Her family had close ties to the film industry. Her father was a set designer at Daiei
Daiei
, based in Kobe, is one of the largest supermarket chains in Japan. In 1957, Isao Nakauchi founded the chain in Osaka near Sembayashi Station on the Keihan train line. Daiei is now under a restructuring process supported by Marubeni Corporation and ÆON Co., Ltd., another Japanese supermarket chain....
, and her uncle was the cinematographer Kimio Watanabe at the same studio. Tama's brother was employed at Toei
Toei Company
is a Japanese film, television production, and distribution corporation. Based in Tokyo, Toei owns and operates thirty-four movie theaters across Japan, a modest vertically-integrated studio system by the standards of the 1930s United States; operates studios at Tokyo and Kyoto; and is a...
as a lighting technician. Her sister also became a pink film actress, following Tama's entry into the field, appearing in Masao Adachi
Masao Adachi
Masao Adachi is a Japanese screenwriter and director who was most active in the 1960s and 1970s.-Career:...
's . Using the stagename , her career mostly involved acting in supporting roles in films with Tama.
Rumi Tama made her film debut as an actress in the 1965 Tokyo Eiga pink film release, . She starred in many of these independent softcore theatrical films throughout the rest of the decade, appearing often in films by and his son Akiyoshi, who was born in 1946 and directed under the stagename . These films were produced through Kimata's Pro Taka, and usually distributed by Million Film
Million Film
was one of the early independent studios which produced pink films. Along with OP Eiga, Shintōhō, Kantō and Kōji Wakamatsu's production studio, Million Film was one of the most influential on the genre during its first decade...
. Akitaka Kimata was born in 1915 and founded Pro Taka as a pink film production company in 1965. His first film in the genre, River of Flesh, was directed by his son, and included Tama in the cast. Tama would later marry Akitaka Kimata, becoming his third wife.
Typical of the films Tama made with her future husband was Pervert (Koshokuma, 1968), in which she was cast as one of the victims of a college professor who enjoys capturing women for torture. Tama received attention particularly for her role in Shin'ya Yamamoto's . She retired from the film industry for a time in the early 1970s to devote time to her family.
Acting at Nikkatsu
Rumi Tama came out of retirement to act for the major film studio NikkatsuNikkatsu
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:...
in 1975, and appeared in their Roman Porno films for the next six years. In order to offset the loss of many filmmakers who had left when the studio changed its production to almost solely its Roman Porno series in 1971, Nikkatsu recruited performers from the pink film world. An admirer of Tama, Nikkatsu director Shogorō Nishimura
Shōgorō Nishimura
-Filmography:* Zankoku onna jōshi * Apartment Wife: Affair In the Afternoon * Affair at Twilight * Drifter's Affair * Sigh of Roses * Apartment Wife: Secret Rendezvous...
was instrumental in the studio's decision to hire the actress to star in their Apartment Wife series.
The Apartment Wife series was one of the leading titles in Nikkatsu's Roman Porno genre. Nikkatsu inaugurated its Roman porno line with Nishimura's Apartment Wife: Affair In the Afternoon
Apartment Wife: Affair In the Afternoon
aka From 3 to Sex is a 1971 Japanese film in Nikkatsu's Roman porno series. The first film in this successful new direction for the studio, it was directed by Shōgorō Nishimura and starred Kazuko Shirakawa.-Synopsis:...
(1971), and its success ensured the continuation of the Roman Porno direction the studio took for the next 17 years. The "Apartment Wife" series had made Roman Porno "queens" out of Kazuko Shirakawa
Kazuko Shirakawa
is a Japanese actress who is best known for her appearances in Nikkatsu's Roman Porno films during the 1970s. She appeared in Nikkatsu's first film in the Roman Porno series, Apartment Wife , and is considered the first of the three "Nikkatsu Queens" of the 1970s...
and then Junko Miyashita
Junko Miyashita
is a Japanese actress who had a long and varied career working both in pink film and mainstream cinema.- Career :Junko Miyashita was born in Tokyo on January 29, 1949. She was working as a waitress at a coffee shop when she was recruited to work in Pink films....
, who starred in eight entries in the series. Nikkatsu chose Tama to be Miyashita's successor in the series, and her debut film for the studio was Nishimura's . Tama's husband Akitaka Kimata also came out of retirement to write the script for Tama's second "Apartment Wife" episode, . This film is credited with rejuvenating the series. Its story, in which a husband discovers that his wife has been appearing in pornography without his knowledge, has been cited as an influence on the Angel Guts
Angel Guts
is a nine-film series of pink films made mostly by the Nikkatsu Corporation between 1978 and 1994. Like all pink films the major theme is sex, but there is plenty of violence involved as well. The films were based on the manga series by Takashi Ishii...
series (1978–1994). Tama refused to act in the next entry in the Apartment Wife series, director Shinichi Shiratori's , complaining that the script was inferior.
Among the films in which Tama acted for Seiji Izumi, her future stepson, during this era were , which Jasper Sharp describes as "Pinku eiga at its most mean-spirited and thuggish". Sharp notes that the film, while not very explicit, is nonetheless disturbing due to its sober depictions of a series of assaults. He comments that Tama performing these scenes for her future stepson director lends the film some inadvertently Freudian connotations.
Tama starred for Shogorō Nishimura again in . This film had Tama straying far from her "Apartment Wife" persona, playing the role of a woman who has served prison time for physically abusing her unfaithful husband. Upon her release from incarceration she goes on a love-making spree with the intent of exacting revenge on her ex-husband by seducing his mistress' lover. Though Nishimura was an enthusiastic supporter of Tama, most of their collaborations are not ranked among the best efforts of either of the two.
Tama played pop-singer-turned-Roman Porno-actress Runa Takamura
Runa Takamura
was a J-pop singer, actress, and dancer of Japanese and German descent.Takamura was a member of , a musical group promoted by Watanabe Productions, composed of young women of mixed Japanese and foreign ancestry who sang and go-go danced on the Fuji TV show BEAT POP...
's mother in Kōyū Ohara
Koyu Ohara
is a Japanese film director best known known for his popular Roman Porno films, Fairy in a Cage and the Pink Tush Girl series...
's 1976 Roman Porno, , based on Takamura's life. Known as the "King of Pop Art Porn", director Ohara again worked with Tama in the 1978 nunsploitation
Nunsploitation
Nunsploitation is a subgenre of exploitation film which had its peak in Europe in the 1970s. These films typically involve Christian nuns living in convents during the Middle Ages. The main conflict of the story is usually of a religious or sexual nature, such as religious oppression or sexual...
film, . Tama returned to the Apartment Wife series in 1978, for Apartment Wife: Night By Ourselves. She and Akitaka Kimata were married on September 15, 1978.
Directing
In the early 1980s, Rumi Tama began directing, becoming one of the few women to direct in the pink film genre. According to publicity from the Ōkura EigaOP Eiga
, also known as is the largest and one of the oldest independent Japanese studios which produce and distribute pink films. Along with Shintōhō, Kantō, Million Film, and Kōji Wakamatsu's production studio, Ōkura was one of the most influential studios on the pink film genre...
studio (later renamed OP Eiga), Kyōko Ōgimachi was the first female director of a pink film when she helmed Yakuza Geisha in 1965. Pink film industry insiders, however, doubt the veracity of this claim, noting that Ōgimachi was the mistress of Mitsugu Ōkura, head of the studio, and that he was known for showing preferential treatment to Ōgimachi. After this film, Ōgimachi never directed again. Sachi Hamano
Sachi Hamano
aka and , is a Japanese film director. She is the most prolific and written-about female pink film director.-Life and career:Sachi Hamano was born as Sachiko Suzuki in Tokushima Prefecture on March 19, 1948. While in high school, Hamano decided she wanted to become a film director...
was the first significant female pink film director. She debuted in 1971 and founded her own studio in 1984. Rumi Tama made her debut as a director in 1981 with the film . By 2002 she had directed and scripted about eighty films, most of which were produced and distributed by her husband's Pro Taka and Million Film
Million Film
was one of the early independent studios which produced pink films. Along with OP Eiga, Shintōhō, Kantō and Kōji Wakamatsu's production studio, Million Film was one of the most influential on the genre during its first decade...
studios. Her later films were distributed by Exces.
Tama's , distributed by Million Film
Million Film
was one of the early independent studios which produced pink films. Along with OP Eiga, Shintōhō, Kantō and Kōji Wakamatsu's production studio, Million Film was one of the most influential on the genre during its first decade...
, is a rape and revenge film
Rape and revenge films
Rape and revenge films are a subgenre of exploitation film that was particularly popular in the 1970s. Rape/revenge movies generally follow the same three act structure:...
involving a college-aged protagonist who avenges herself against her abusers: her father and her professor. Some of Tama's directorial credits are , , and .
During the late 1990s, Tama worked in Shintōhō's "Hard Porno" line of films. Her last directorial effort, as of 2009, was the V-cinema
V-Cinema
Japanese is the direct-to-video industry that appeared in Japan in the 1980s. The term is a trademark of Toei Company but is widely used in the West to describe any Japanese direct-to-video release. In Japan the term used is...
.