Review of The Pornographers

A surrogate father and dedicated family man supports himself by selling blue movies, but don't be misled by the blunt title: all the unsavory details of the skin trade are left (almost) entirely to the viewer's imagination. Likewise the film itself unfolds with indirect subtlety, using dramatic wide-screen compositions, strong black and white photography, and more than one oblique narrative trick (flashbacks, startling jump cuts) to suggest the fragile disposition of its protagonist: a decent man struggling to reconcile his almost puritan morality with an overactive libido (to disastrous effect). Under the typically intelligent direction of Shohei Imamura the story becomes intense, unusual, and occasionally powerful, moving gracefully from humor to horror and back again, by way of some striking fantasy dream sequences. The final shot, in particular, goes straight to the core of the hapless title character, last seen adrift and oblivious in his unmoored houseboat, floating away over the distant horizon.