The Pornographers
1966, NR, 128 min.
Directed by Shohei Imamura, Narrated by , Voices by , Starring Shoichi Ozawa, Sumiko Sakamoto.

The Austin Film Society series examines the films of Japanese director Shohei Imamura, one of the most important ñ and least internationally known ñ post-war filmmakers. The Pornographers tells the story of a “harried little man” who makes 8mm porn movies for impotent men, “all while juggling police, yakuza, blackmailers, and his makeshift family.” The “family” consists of a widow who keeps a carp whom she believes to be her reincarnated husband, a blackmailing stepson, and a seductive stepdaughter. A deeply perverse-sounding work.

This article appears in November 5 • 1999.

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Marjorie Baumgarten is a film critic and contributing writer at The Austin Chronicle, where she has worked in many capacities since the paper's founding in 1981. She served as the Chronicle's Film Reviews editor for 25 years.