DIR. NIWATSUKINO NORIHIRO
CAST. TSUJIOKA MASATO, IWAISHI HIDETA
YEAR. 2016
COUNTRY. JAPAN
RUN-TIME. 70 MINS
RATING. 18
£6.00 (£4.50 conc.)
Doors 6PM
Film 6.30PM
Ninko, a young Buddhist monk leads an ascetic existence, but his abstinence is continuously challenged in the form of an unusual curse: he is irresistible to women. Blaming himself for his poor virtue, when Ninko meets a masked seductress in the forest, he seeks refuge in the mountains, desperate to escape temptation, only to find a spectre has followed him. When he meets a Samurai who claims he can kill ghosts, Ninko thinks he might have found a solution. Can he finally find solitude? A merger of live action and stunning animation inspired by traditional Japanese art including Buddhist mandala drawings, woodblock prints and erotic drawings, Suffering of Ninko is a beautiful and bawdy addition to the rich tradition of Japanese ghost stories, both tongue-in-cheek and an earnest enquiry into sexual repression.
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“Seriously bizarre… a pastiche of Japanese erotica with a dash of folkloric fantasy… Iwatsukino’s animation of two-dimensional art is extraordinarily imaginative”
“Visually, there’s really nothing quite like Suffering of Ninko... creative and exciting, if eccentric and frequently bizarre… there’s an obvious craftsmanship and talent at work here, and Iwatsukino stands out from other young and first time filmmakers as having a distinctive vision of his own. Genuinely original”
“Director Niwatsukino probes at the taboo topic of sexuality and in particular, the repression of sexuality…. Suffering of Ninko provides no easy answer or message, but its use of Japanese folklore, traditional art and unabashed nudity certainly makes the film an exhilarating experience”