Tokyo Decadence

Submissive prostitute Ai (Miho Nikaido), is finding life hard to bear after she discovers her lover is married. She submerges herself deeper into her sordid job doing tricks for sleazy Japanese business men and brutal Yakuza to help take away the pain of his deceit.

Tokyo Decadence, as the title implies, is a snapshot of the sexual predilections of Japan’s capital and most definitely not a film for the prudish. Telling the story of a call girl who seems to attract only the most dubious of clientele, Ai is a timid, quiet girl in a world full of debauchery, S&M, bondage, asphyxiation and other sexual fetishes.

The film’s languid pace will be problematic to the raincoat brigade but non-stop sex is not what Tokyo Decadence is about. There is very little straight sex in the film. As she visits each new trick the surreal degradation she has to endure for money affects Ai mentally rather than physically. Not that there isn’t plenty of sexual activity on display. The film’s most publicised sequence involves Ai stripping for what seems like an eternity whilst pressed against the penthouse level window over looking a breathtaking neon lit Tokyo skyline. The juxtaposition of her innocent naked flesh and the harsh realities of modern life and the degradations it breeds are palpable.

The film is lent an added shine by the soundtrack by Ryouchi Sakamoto, the genius behind such classic works as Merry Christmas. Mr Lawrence (1982) Bertolucci’s The Sheltering Sky (1990). Director Ryû Murakami, who also wrote the source book and script, lets his camera linger and forces the audience into some uncomfortable situations, none more so when Ai gets a brief shocking glimpse into a den of iniquity that she has no intention of entering. There is actually very little full frontal nudity in the film - pubic hair was taboo on film in Japan until very recently  - but that doesn’t diminish the ability of Tokyo Decadence to shock. The central performance by Miho Mikaido is an incredibly brave one.

Despite the film’s provocative subject matter this is a sombre and numbing affair. There really is little enjoyment to be had in Tokyo Decadence and it is no surprise to find out that Murakami also wrote Takashi Miike’s Audition (1999). Anyone seeking to be titillated should avoid it. This is a serious look into the dark seedy underbelly of a city gone mad with loneliness and the depraved depths to which some people will go for sexual gratification.

 

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