Rating: C+
Dir: Shigeru Doi
Star: Kimie Shingyôji, Yuko Katagiri, Jun Izumi, Gorô Ôhashi
Based on the title and the opening shot – a close-up of a naked breast – you would be forgiven for expecting this to be another sleazy Japanese women-in-prison film. You would be disappointed I know I was. This is much more of a drama, though not an entirely uninteresting one. Instead, the vast bulk of it takes place outside the prison walls, if still involving the titular inmates. It apparently takes place in the Edo era. Though since this covers an almost three hundred year period, from 1600-1868, that’s about as helpful in pinning down the time-frame, as saying “ye olde days of yore”.
Ochiyo (Shingyôji) is the daughter of a doctor, in jail and awaiting execution – by crucifixion, no less! – for her alleged involvement in the poisoning deaths of five patients. She is literally on the way to her cross, when a fire breaks out in the city, and she’s returned to jail. With some help from the inmates, the prison also catches light, and everyone gets a three-day pass, with the promise of a reduced sentence if they return. [I suspect Western convicts might not be quite so honourable] Ochiyo spends her time looking for the real poisoners, and uncovers a conspiracy involving a jealous rival of her father, which goes considerably higher than is comfortable. Knowing the authorities will turn a blind eye, it’s up to her to deliver justice of a more ruthless kind to those responsible.
These elements are quite interesting, and I was genuinely intrigued by the opening scenes, which depict life in the women’s prison. It all appears thoroughly regimented to a striking degree, with the prisoners policing themselves. When a needle goes missing, it’s the cell’s “top dog” who demands everyone’s compliance in finding it. I’d have been fine if the whole film had unfolded there, for once the prisoners are out on their furlough, forward momentum definitely stalls for a bit, in favour of Ochiyo wandering the streets. It becomes much more of a period piece soap-opera, with emotions largely in lieu of plot development. Doesn’t help that all the characters seem to be sporting identical hair-cuts and costumes, making it hard to identify any more than their gender.
Once we establish the guilty parties – Ochiyo extracting the information with a mix of sex and liquor – then things definitely perk up, as we see her take revenge. One party gets sent flying down the stairs, while another is poisoned, with the help of Ogin (Katagiri), another temporarily ex-convict, who’s a skilled pickpocket [Well, fairly skilled: I guess if she was really good, she wouldn’t be in prison, and not for the first time]. I guess Ochiyo is working on the assumption that if she’s going to be convicted as a poisoner, she might as well be a poisoner. There’s a ticking clock, with her needing to return in time, to get her death sentence commuted. By the end, I was adequately invested: however, I can’t lie and say that was the case throughout.