Red Angel
Director: Yasuzo Masumura
Year Released: 1966
Rating: 3.0
A young nurse during the China-Japan war sees countless soldiers suffering and dying - but before they depart this mortal coil, they want to get laid. The grisly elements - bloody bodies, amputations - act as a peculiar (and fascinating) corollary to the sexual elements: the sensuousness of life in direct clash with the brutal reality of death, as 'power' and 'masculinity' are linked with penetration and heterosexuality. The dying and/or maimed aren't calling out for their mothers, they're calling for their whores. Not to be ignored is Matsumoto's ability to create a true sense of claustrophobia, and the black and white stock negates the bloodiness while sending the imagination spiraling.
