Sarita Rafferty
There are moments that feel comical, some horrific, and some downright inspiring but the tonal shifts hardly matter as the end results come to a film that's perfect for this time.
trashgang
This is one of those typical women in prison flicks you just can't feel comfortable watching it. Even with a lack of an actual story it still is watchable but you will have to sit through torture in sexual ways and humiliation of the captured woman.If you aren't into those kind of flicks especially coming from Japan than you will hate this. I've seen a few of them and this one comes out of the hand of Guts of a Virgin/Beauty" director Kazuo "Gaira" Komizu then you should know enough. I surely can say that while watching it I can say that this is only for the strong horror buffs and surely not for women to watch.It all starts with the capturing of a girl. Next shot you are already at the slavery room where some guys are having diner while a girl is hanging upside down naked begging for mercy. She gets it if she give head to one on the guys which she does. The close up of spitting out the semen gives you an idea of what to come. Oh yes, we do have on rebellion inside the group of girls but her punishment involves rape while being inserted with needles (see also Imprint (2005)). What makes it complete is the sad ending...Only made for the lovers of (s)exploitation.Gore 0/5 Nudity 3/5 Effects 0/5 Story 2/5 Comedy 0/5
fertilecelluloid
An office lady with no relatives is kidnapped by slave traders and locked in a warehouse with four other unfortunates. The traders "test" the ladies out in unspeakable ways before shipping them off to Africa.I didn't find Yasuro Uegaki's FEMALE MARKET to be too much or particularly appalling. It does present some sexual abuse sequences with a Pasolini/SALO-style sense of indifference and it does get cracking with the rape and whipping rather quickly, but it rapidly loses steam and is inevitably undone by a very bland, predictable plot.As Nikkatsu movies go, it's not as well photographed as most and its limited locations leave it looking very stage-bound. There's a minor attempt to essay a "relationship" between the most defiant of the kidnapped women and the most sensitive of the bad guys, but even this is too little too late when you compare it to the character dynamics of such fare as ASSAULT JACK THE RIPPER (my nominee for Best Violent Pink Film Ever Made) or WHITE ROSE CAMPUS: THEN, EVERYBODY GETS RAPED.The film's final scene, where the bad guy turned good is discovered washed up on a beach, is a fitting capper and is consistent with FEMALE MARKET's downbeat tone.I wouldn't recommend this film to those seeking great exploitation because it lacks serious energy and is turgidly paced.For completest only.
Bogey Man
Japanese Yasuaki Uegaki's film, Female Market: Imprisonment (1986) is one incredibly harrowing, brutal and strong rape related film that won't leave even the most jaded exploitation enthusiasts alone. The film tells the inhuman story of a bunch of young Japanese females who one night get kidnapped and taken to some abandoned looking factory area to be abused by some drug dealers and human slavery bosses. It is soon revealed that none of the girls have too many close relatives so they won't be searched after their disappearance. This all may sound like a plot from some Jess Franco women in prison flick, but it is more. This is Japanese exploitation which means only one thing: extreme.Kazuo 'Gaira' Komizu wrote the film, and this madman is of course best known for his outrageous sleazy Guts/Entrails trilogy consisting of films Guts of a Virgin, Guts of a Beauty (both 1986) and Guts of a Virgin 3: Rusted Body (1987). All these films include almost hardcore level female (and male) nudity and sex and plenty of hyper sleazy goings on including kinky sex, some insane gore, monster semen and the like. The films are pretty harmless and not so "shocking" no matter what casual viewer would think about them (which I won't try to find out!). Female Market, however, goes farther and it is nasty with the capital N. The first 30 minutes or so are nothing but merciless scenes of the girls being brutally raped, abused, tortured and also killed. Soon it turns into some kind of revenge attempt and also escape story, but I won't go into the spoiling details. The first half of the short feature (uncut PAL version runs only 68 minutes) are as depraved, sadistic, misogynistic and brutal scenery as ever possible. It is not about graphic gore or anything like that, it is about the mean spirit and mentality behind those scenes.What makes Japanese exploitation usually so interesting is the fact that no matter how sick, low and sadistic it may be, it may also have some very interesting and effective cinematic elements and details that prove the talent of the makers. The infamous Guinea Pigs are among these, especially the Mermaid episode directed by manga artist Hideshi Hino. That goes to Female Market, too, as the visual style and darkness is among the most impressive I've seen for long time, in a film like this! It is close to the finale of Japanese master Takeshi Kitano's Violent Cop (1989) in its bleakness and calm shadow filled darkness. When this darkness and depressing visual world is delivered with the mentioned hyper strong images of abuse and rape, you can imagine this film will blow you away. And it does, even an experienced exploitation cinema fanatics have admitted this film being almost unbearably daunting an experience and I am among those. Japanese film makers have proven their ability and talent to hammer their messages to the skull and spine cord of the viewer (Shinya Tsukamoto, Takashi Ishii to name just a few masters), and that definitely goes to their exploitation films, too. Something that's lacking from the cheesy Euro trash films from the sixties to the late eighties.Female Market can also be seen as a pessimistic look of our nature and its brute and hidden sides, willing to dominate and humiliate each other as most of the rape scenes and scenes overall are pretty silent, without dialogue, which naturally gives much greater power to the images in cinema, and Takeshi Kitano is definitely among the most striking examples of this. The place it all happened may turn into a seemingly normal harbor warehouse next morning indicating that the human market is a big organized crime activity born in a big city and totally uncontrollable and extremely dangerous. This is the kind of film that can make the viewer hate himself just because of the fact that he realizes belonging to the same race, human race. But still the imagery is unnecessarily too graphic and gratuitous to make the above analyze as valid as I'd like it to be, and it seems they wanted to do an exploitation film with some brains in the other half of the piece.
The actors are very good, some of the acts are so graphic that the prints include the traditional Japanese optical fogging to not show the pubic hair, and that goes to all of the mentioned Guts films, too. The cinematography is impressive, the editing always peaceful, and the screenplay hasn't got unnecessary bits of dialogue and speech. This film really is something I won't forget too easily, nor am I willing to see it ever again too soon I think. If you've seen Jess Franco's Sadomania (1980) or some other of the low budget (s)exploitation films from Europe and elsewhere, imagine that to the nth sadism degree filled with dark visuality and you have a CLUE what kind of an experience Female Market will be. The kind of film that is quite impossible to recommend to anyone, and the 3/10 rating I'll give was not also too easy a choice. Again, Japanese cinema has amazed me, but not quite in the way I would've prefer.
libertyvalance
Having seen loads of seventies genre movies from all over the world it is hard for me to find Female Market a must. There is no inspired storyline to lift it above the middle of the road 'women in prison' exploitation fare that has been made over and over again ad nauseum. What is compelling in this film is not the story but the cool delivery of its shocking scenes of ultra violence; most often of a sexual nature. The randomness of the gruesome acts bludgeons you to utter apathy until you beg for it all to end. It simply is too much. The scene in which one of the female victims begs her warden to kill her is one of the more understandable. What makes this watchable is the superb photography and deft direction. Also the lead character's unwillingness to surrender her will to her captors makes for some interesting scenes but nothing much comes from it. No high flyer then, but a well crafted genre movie that harks back to Love Camp 7 and Ilsa She Wolf of the SS. For the fans.
