ZOOM UP: GRADUATION PHOTO: A Sexploitation Opus At War With Itself
If you're interested in the subversive side of genrecinema, Nikkatsu's "Roman Porno" era is a fascinating subject forstudy. This was ostensibly a line of sexploitation films but they were oftensubverted by filmmakers who superficially satisfied the demands of the genrewhile working in experimental or thematic elements that cut against thecommercial grain. The viewers would getthe required sex and nudity but it might be delivered in a way that confoundsprurient interest.
ZoomUp: Graduation Photo is an interesting example of theseconcepts, playing like a sexploitation film plot that collided with a grimexpose of sexuality. The plot largely revolves around Yoko (Reiko Nakamura), ayoung woman who looks for work as a model and stumbles into a porn magazinephotography outfit led by Sakuma (Shinji Sekikawa). To her own surprise, she impulsively takes thegig.
The resulting photos cost Yoko her boyfriend but sheovercomes her embarrassment to stick with the job, becoming fascinated as theshoots become more perverse and demanding. She develops a strange, S&Mstyle relationship with Sakuma. Her story is contrasted with that of Junko(Yuka Koizumi), another young woman who confronts the photographers after beingraped by porn addicts who read one of the company's magazines. She also findsherself drawn into their world, becoming a participant in the ever-edgier photoshoots.
The resulting film often feels like it is at war withitself. Zoom Up: Graduation Photodelivers on certain sexploitation expectations: the two female leads are oftenundressed and participate in a number of sex scenes. The plot dictates theirparticipation rather than organic character or story-driven motivations. This film is on the shorter end of Nikkatsu'sRoman Porno line, running just under 70 minutes, so it sometimes feels like dramaticbeats that would explain the women's' choices are sidelined in favor of keepingthe bare flesh and kink scenarios rolling out (by the end, the photo shootscenarios go to heights of deadpan lunacy to shock the viewer).
However, it's also worth noting that Zoom Up: Graduation Photo presentsthese elements in ways that are often more confrontational than pandering tothe viewer. The key male characters who drive the narrative - Sakuma and theother photographers, Yoko's boyfriend, the teens who rape Junko - are allpresented in a distinctly unflattering light. They're all compulsive anddysfunctional about sex, despite being "in power" in the conventionalsense, and all hypocritical about the power they wield in the battle of thesexes. Sakura in particular is fascinating: he's a predator who tries to conhis victims into accepting blame for working for him, capable of showingtenderness then turning it off in a icy way when it's time to take photos.
Director Yoshihiro Kawasaki takes a distance similar tohis Sakura character in how he handles the film: the majority of the sex is filmedin a sterile, matter-of-fact way where the audience is spared none of thediscomfort or confusion of the female characters. It never shies away fromdepicting the twisted photo shoot scenarios, which often include forced bondagegoing too far, but he also doesn't try to force the audience's sympathies inone direction or another. He also manages a coda that is both open-ended anddarkly humorous.
Thus, Zoom Up:Graduation Photo is a fascinating artifact from the Nikkatsu era; a filmthat simultaneously "delivers the goods" for its target audience yetpresents them in a way designed to make them uncomfortable about the pornographybusiness and its predatory practices. Pretty heady material for a 70-minuteskin flick, eh?
DVDNotes: Impulse Pictures has released this title as part oftheir ongoing line of Nikkatsu erotica. It offers a nice, anamorphicallyenhanced transfer that reflects the film's early '80s look appropriately andfreshly translated English subtitles.