Pure unadulterated genre cinema in all its glory, Female Prisoner #701 Scorpion is deeply stylistic, featuring a film language that is much attuned with the general panache one expects from an exploitation female vengeance story. What is striking, in particular, is how much the film enunciates the pain and dire circumstances of Nami, wallowing in the physical and mental degradation through aural and visual expressivity that is never sensual despite it being largely illustrated through physical punishment. The eventual moment of catharsis - born out of vengeance - is strengthened by the film's illustration of suffering, with Nami's long winded journey for liberation, both materially and metaphysically, being a text that can be read as a straight-forward escapist revenge film or more incisively as a semi-implicit commentary on contemporary Japanese culture. The film's sub-textual examination of the feminine ethos in a male dominated world is rather clear, but the film also says something interesting about institutionalism (the carceral state) and how such large scale institutions can bolster and normalize certain forms of oppression related to non-normative modes of identity and hierarchal status. Hadn't seen this movie in close to 20 years and I'm happy to report it still remains a seminal work of genre filmmaking that titillates with its unadulterated panache while also providing ample space of variant reading related to femininity, punitive justice, and the toxic nature of all normative ideals propped up by majority-driven power structures.
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AuthorLove of all things cinema brought me here. Archives
June 2023
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