is a 2000 Japanese film written and directed by

Masato Ishioka is a Japanese director, screenwriter and business executive who had an early career as an adult video (AV) director. Life and career Masato Ishioka was born in 1960 in Shizuoka Prefecture, Japan. He attended Meiji University, graduating in 1983 ...

Plot

Twenty-year-old Atsushi and his seventeen-year-old girlfriend Mari arrive in Tokyo from the suburbs with plans to marry despite their parent's objections but they are soon pulled into the city's dark underside. Atsushi meets Miki, a fading adult video (AV) actress, and gets introduced by the veteran Yoshiya to the occupation of "scoutman", recruiters who ply the streets trying to convince young girls to join the AV industry. Meanwhile, Mari, looking for work, runs into Kana who initiates her into the business of selling tickets to swinger's parties. The young couple continue to fall deeper into the seductions of Tokyo's sex industry and away from each other.

Cast

Miku Matsumoto , born June 26, 1981, is a female Japanese mixed martial artist. She retired as the DEEP Women's Lightweight (106-Pound) Champion in 2010. Growing up, Matsumoto studied piano and penmanship and was not interested in sports. She began training in ...

as Mari * Hideo Nakaizumi as Atsushi * Yuka Fujimoto as Kana * Akihito Yoshiie as Yoshiya *

Yuri Komuro (born July 28, 1976 in Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan) is a Japanese actress, author and former AV idol. She was one of the top actresses in the AV field during the late 1990s and in her dominant period from 1996 to 1999 was called "The AV Queen". ...

as Miki *

Shirō Shimomoto is a Japanese '' pink film'' actor and director from Osaka, Japan. He has been called "one of the most individual actors" in the world of pink film. Life and career Shimomoto was born in Osaka, Japan on August 14, 1948. He started his career as ...

as Sugishita *

Kei Morikawa is a Japanese mainstream film and adult video (AV) director. Over a career of more than 20 years in adult entertainment, he directed in excess of 200 adult videos. Life and career Adult video (AV) director Morikawa started directing adult videos ...

as Director

Production

Director

learned his trade working as an assistant director in the

adult video Pornographic films (pornos), erotic films, sex films, and 18+ films are films that present sexually explicit subject matter in order to arouse and satisfy the viewer. Pornographic films present sexual fantasies and usually include eroticall ...

(AV) industry under

Tadashi Yoyogi is a Japanese director of pink film and adult videos (AV). He is known as the "Father of Japanese Adult Video" and has been credited with establishing the model in his early work for many of the adult videos produced since. Life and career Tadas ...

Athena Eizou is an early pioneering Japanese adult video (AV) production company. They have offices in the Shibuya ward of Tokyo, Japan. Company information Athena Eizou was founded December 21, 1981, by pink film director Tadashi Yoyogi and Hikaru Kitoh (� ...

for several years. Other veterans of the adult industry in the film include former AV star

, playing the part of Miki, as well as actresses Fuka Sakurai () and Yuna Miyazawa (), and AV director

in small roles.

Release

The film made the round of the international film festivals, appearing at the

Venice Film Festival The Venice Film Festival or Venice International Film Festival ( it, Mostra Internazionale d'Arte Cinematografica della Biennale di Venezia, "International Exhibition of Cinematographic Art of the Venice Biennale") is an annual film festival he ...

on September 6, 2000, the

Toronto International Film Festival The Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF, often stylized as tiff) is one of the largest publicly attended film festivals in the world, attracting over 480,000 people annually. Since its founding in 1976, TIFF has grown to become a permane ...

on September 14, 2000, the

Hong Kong International Film Festival The Hong Kong International Film Festival (HKIFF), is one of Asia’s oldest international film festivals. Founded in 1976, the festival features different movies, filmmakers from different countries in Hong Kong. HKIFF screens around 230 films ...

on April 8, 2001 and the

Singapore International Film Festival The Singapore International Film Festival (SGIFF) (Chinese: 新加坡国际电影节) is the longest-running film festival in Singapore. Founded in 1987, the festival has a focus on showcasing international films and providing a global platform for ...

on April 21, 2001. The movie made its theatrical debut in Japan as on October 27, 2001 at the Nakano Musashino Hall, known for showcasing new Japanese filmmakers. A Region 2 DVD version of was released in Japan on November 22, 2002 and an NTSC All Regions version (as ''Scout Man'') was also produced.

Reception

Critics

The film was generally well received by critics, Mark Schilling at the Japan Times Online gives the movie four stars and praises its realistic portrayal of Japan's sex industry while Jasper Sharp calls it "perhaps the most honest and realistic films about the sex industry from the past few years."

Awards

The film won director Ishioka the

Directors Guild of Japan New Directors Award The is given annually by the Directors Guild of Japan to a new director of a film released that year who is considered the most "suitable" for the award. The winner is selected by a committee formed of DGJ members. All formats—feature film, docum ...

for 2001 and the Directors' Week Special Jury Award at the 2001

Fantasporto Fantasporto, also known as Fantas, is an international film festival, annually organized since 1981 in Porto, Portugal. Giving screen space to Fantasy film, fantasy/Science fiction film, science fiction/Horror film, horror-oriented commercial fe ...

References

External links

* * {{jmdb title, year=2001, id=dy002920, title=ＰＡＩＮ／ペイン 2000 films Japanese romantic drama films