Yoyochu within the Land from the Rising Sex ((Yoyochu: sex to Yoyogi Tadashi no sekai))

A Star Sands discharge of a Gold View, Star Sands production. (Worldwide sales: Gold View, Tokyo, japan.) Created by Kiyo Joo, Mitsunobu Kawamura. Directed by Masato Ishioka.With: Tadashi Yoyogi, Koji Okumura, Hikaru Kito, Satoru Makimura, Masanori Saito, Mina Kashiwagi, Genji Nakamura, Saki Kurihara, Toru Muranishi.When the term "porn auteur" could be right for anybody, it's most likely 72-year-old Tadashi Yoyogi, the fascinating subject of "Yoyochu within the Land from the Rising Sex." Helmed by Yoyogi's former apprentice Masato Ishioka ("Scout-Guy"), the docu is definitely an engaging summary of postwar Japanese erotic cinema told with the encounters of 1 of their most distinctive and effective professionals. Launched theatrically in Japan in Feb, pic's combo of racy footage and intelligent insight should help it to penetrate offshore homevid and niche broadcast marketplaces.. Born Teruo Watanabe in 1938, Yoyogi, known openly as "Yoyochu" but still turning out twelve films annually, is certainly not such as the sleazy operator one might expect from the resume including game titles for example "Psycho Hypnotic Ecstasy" and "Horny Amateur Wife." An affable sort who takes his work seriously, Yoyogi talks about his colorful existence and extremely changing financial fortunes with intelligence, candor and a large amount of dry wit. Docu launches by having an entertaining recap of Yoyogi getting into "pink" (hardcore) movies in early sixties following a brief career like a flower arranger along with a frightening stint controlling a mob-possessed strip club. Employed by the planet Eiga and Prima Planner companies, Yoyogi established his status with "Senior High School Geisha," a significant hit that sparked an obscenity situation against Nikkatsu, a staggering major studio that saved itself from collapse by subcontracting Prima Planner to create highly lucrative pornos. The upshot would be a six-year legal brawl, throughout which Yoyogi faced the possibilities of prison before support from respected company directors Nagisa Oshima and Shohei Imamura assisted quash the situation. Stating his legal troubles as inspiration to look at clearly Japanese sexuality, Yoyogi moved into hardcore photos around the same time frame homevideo made an appearance. Benefiting around the then-astronomical rental costs for videotapes, Yoyogi directed a number of a relevant video-to-35mm theatrical hits that shot nude model Kyoko Aizome to national fame. Although just a little gushing together with his offscreen conversation, helmer Ishioka works in removing the highly personal motives regulating Yoyogi's directions within the 500-plus movies he's made, most significantly his concentrate on female sexuality and need to interact with femme audiences. Working together with entertainers on concepts and execution, Yoyogi accomplished spectacular success using the lengthy-running "Onanie" (masturbation) series and also the written-by-women "Lewd Performance" collection. Others films, by which women were hypnotized and sent into trance-like states happen to be less well accepted. The overall feeling among female entertainers showing up within the docu is summed up by Saki Kurihara who states, "You understood something important on his set." Peppered with testimony by key adult-video industry figures acknowledging Yoyogi like a groundbreaker deserving his status as "the seeker of truth within the sex industry," docu is definitely interesting, even though pace drags just a little toward the finish. Production values are modest but effective. Clips show lots of raunch, but mask out XXX-ranked areas of the frame. Tech jobs are fine.Camera (color/B&W, widescreen, HD), Ishioka, Ken Nishikawa, Kyuhei Tsubakihara editors, Ishioka, Toshihide Fukano music, Hideo Goto seem (stereo system), Yasushi Takizawa. Examined at Busan Film Festival (Wide Position), March. 25, 2011. (Also in Rome, Hawaii film festivals.) Running time: 115 MIN. Contact the range newsroom at news@variety.com