Review: Although the Roman Porno genre experienced its golden age in the 1970’s, its popularity has long since dwindled. The blame can be put on the hardcore pornography industry. What is most tragic about all this is Roman Porno essentially isn’t about the sex or nudity, it’s about the characters and their interactions with one another. Fathering practically every installment of the ANGEL GUTS series, Takashi Ishii returned in 1994 to revisit Roman Porno with RED DIZZINESS.

RED VERTIGO ditches the old B-movie feel and instead takes on the look of an art film. Only one sex scene in this film feels exploitive, and that’s when our heroine, Nami, catches her boyfriend in bed with another woman. However, the consensual sex that is the climax is pretty long. The thing is though, no matter how much sexual content is placed in RED VERTIGO, it doesn’t feel like another installment of the series. Rather, this film stands amongst the ranks of such erotic cinema as LAST TANGO IN PARIS, EROTICA, and Y TU MAMA TAMBIEN.

The forte of this installment is definitely the display of inner turmoil and hopelessness of the two main characters. Right from the first scene, there is an eerie sense of dread. Ishii has chosen not to introduce the female lead until after her attempted rape by her patients. From there on, her character starts to unravel before our eyes. At the same time, our male lead, Muraki, has his own troubles. Having lost a hefty sum of money for his investors, Muraki is constantly barraged with threats, forcing him to hide in his own home. Where Nami has no one else to talk to about her troubles, all of Muraki’s past colleagues have turned on him. When a chance encounter finally puts these two together, they discover that although the conditions in which they met are the worst possible, they find solace in each others arms. Their actions are a result of their desperations. Nami can restore Muraki’s lost manhood and Muraki can restore Nami’s stolen womanhood, and in doing so, they fall in love.

Ishii has an incredible talent by translating moving images into lines of poetry. While his actors only do a decent job, the set up is amazing. Every scene is hauntingly beautiful. The colors of blue and red have never merged so exquisitely before. I could go on about how great this film is directed, but my words can’t begin to accurately describe just how breathtaking it is. But to make my point, in the scene where Nami is being “touched” by Muraki, although disturbing in nature, I just felt it was genius of how Ishii made the audience feel distress Nami was feeling.

Some of the themes of RED VERTIGO echo those of the past Angel Guts films. The theme of how all males are corrupt and all females are pure to start with is once again presented in this film, but rather than saying that all humanity is evil, Ishii changes this by stating society is the evil one. The only way to triumph over this evil is the meaningful relationships between man and woman. Ishii has also stated his films and mangas depicted rough sex because it was unreal. It was sex that couldn’t result in a child. The sex between Nami and Muraki is erotically charged, but sincerely made.

I was moved by this film. I’m not sure if it was because this was the first Roman Porno film I viewed, but it really made me respect the genre. I use to brush these films off as cheap and exploitive trash, but RED VERTIGO has opened new doors for me. RED VERTIGO blossoms into a spectacular piece of cinema with every frame. If you are thinking about entering the world of Roman Porno, then this film is the perfect starting point.