Offscreen 2010

Female Prisoner Scorpion

The Female Scorpion character is based on a manga by Toru Shinohara. The episodes in the series continue to be made today, but none of them even come close to the initial trilogy presented tonight in 35mm! The superb Meiko Kaji, who plays Sasori, excels in this radical and practically mute role, the opposite of the original obscenity-spitting manga character. She endures endless challenges and humiliation, thus accumulating a level of hatred rarely achieved in cinema.
Shunya Ito gives each scene a special flavor. The three episodes were released in the space of 11 months! Regardless they are just as coherent as they are different from one another, each own retaining a high level of intensity. The camera movements, colors, music, costumes, sets.. the entire series is surprising and puts all other "women in prison" films to shame. Ito combines the heritage of Kinji Fukasaku and Seijun Suzuki and is able to create a "complete" genre film that is both popular and intelligent, all while proposing parallels between the sadistic prison system and misogyny in Japanses society.