Hendryk
Banned
Aww, it's a fascinating topic. Allow me to quote a fellow enthusiast:TMI, good sir.
One should admire an actress who takes her job to heartAmbitious to make a career for herself, Tani targeted the BDSM micro-genre. (For the wet-behind-the-ears among you: BDSM stands for "bondage, domination, sadism, masochism.") She almost immediately found an enthusiastic audience. In films with titles like "Bed of Violent Desires" and "Carnal Punishment," she became a huge national favorite.
It's easy to see why. Tani had lusher than average (for a Japanese woman) breasts; a melodramatic, diva-esque temperament alongside a hyper-responsive physicality; and a deep respect for what gave her audiences pleasure.
"Schoolgirl" may not have been in her range. But "mother" certainly was, as was "goddess" and "wife."
As was, especially, "bondage and torture object." Seldom has anyone looked so good wearing nothing but ropes, or maybe ropes and a half-ripped-off kimono. Suffering (and achieving ecstasy) on camera while being bound and sometimes beaten was Naomi Tani's metier, even her vocation, and she did it beautifully.
Her skills may or may not have come to her naturally, but it's certain that she also worked at them. "Naomi Tani" the screen queen was a consciously-created artifact. Tani deliberately kept herself out of the sun because she felt that pale skin shows off blushes and bruises more vividly than dark skin does. She kept a few extra pounds on her frame because she felt that slightly-plump flesh takes welts and rope-marks well, and because ropes bite into plump flesh so appetizingly.
One thing Naomi was known for was her ability to take actual physical punishment. In "Wife to be Sacrificed," a Tani movie directed by the very talented Masaru Konuma that The Wife and I enjoyed the other evening, Tani's tormentor binds her tight, strings her up, drags her through mud, and whacks her hard, over and over. Tani gasps, protests -- and keeps on delivering the beauty and the emotions. What a trouper.
Alongside the man dealing out the abuse, we're invited to observe Tani's desperate reactions in a quiet and transfixed state. Hey, doesn't much of movie history consist of directors putting actresses in highly-charged fictional circumstances and helping us to observe them as they feel their feelings? In fact, much of "Wife to be Sacrificed" comes across as a kind of grotty, '70s variation on poetic silent movies.
I'm guessing the rise of straight-to-video movies, itself a byproduct of VHS technology.Why did this change happen?