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Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

ese ''

pink film in its broadest sense includes almost any Japanese theatrical film that includes nudity (hence 'pink') or deals with sexual content. This encompasses everything from dramas to action thrillers and exploitation film features. The Western equiv ...

'' directed by

Shinji Imaoka a.k.a. is a Japanese film director, screenwriter, and actor. He is one of a group of '' pink film'' directors of the 2000s known collectively as the , which besides Imaoka, also includes Toshiya Ueno, Mitsuru Meike, Yūji Tajiri, Yoshitaka ...

Synopsis

This erotic comedy follows the life of Haruo Maekawa, a young man who makes a living catching squid. Haruo is obsessed with catching a legendary giant squid rumored to live in Tokyo Bay. Haruo's uncle Takashi, fallen on hard times, comes to stay with his nephew until he can get back on his feet. Uncle Takashi is addicted to energy drinks, and seduces any woman in sight, including Haruo's girlfriend Rika. After making a sexual conquest, Uncle Takashi "marks his territory" by writing his name in red on the back of the woman. He takes a job as a pizza delivery man, but this job ends when he gets in an accident. While praying at a Shintō shrine, Uncle Takashi is bitten in the scrotum by a poisonous snake and dies. The uncle is destined to spend the afterlife in Hell unless his nephew and girlfriend can rescue him from the King of Hell.

Critical reception

In ''

The Japan Times ''The Japan Times'' is Japan's largest and oldest English-language daily newspaper. It is published by , a subsidiary of News2u Holdings, Inc.. It is headquartered in the in Kioicho, Chiyoda, Tokyo. History ''The Japan Times'' was launched by ...

'',

Mark Schilling Mark Schilling (born 1949) is an American film critic, journalist, translator, and author based in Tokyo, Japan. He has written for ''The Japan Times'', ''Variety'', and ''Screen International''. Biography Schilling began working for ''The Japan ...

writes that the film is, "a surrealistic comedy about the erotic trials and triumphs of a pep-tonic addicted middle-age man and his squid-fishing nephew, climaxing in a descent to love-hotel hell, with Satan as the desk clerk." Jasper Sharp, in ''Behind the Pink Curtain: The Complete History of Japanese Sex Cinema'', calls the ''Uncle's Paradise'' one of director Imaoka's least satisfactory and least typical works. He writes, however, that the film works well "in a structureless, no-holds-barred nonsense sort of way, chockfull of some admittedly very funny belly laughs." The ''pink film'' community awarded lead actress

Minami Aoyama is a Japanese former ''pink film'' actress and AV idol. She appeared in award-winning ''pink films'', and was herself given a Best Actress award for her work in this genre in 2006. Life and career Minami Aoyama was born in Tokyo on May 28, 1982 ...

with the Best Actress prize at the

Pink Grand Prix The or is an annual Japanese film award ceremony which recognizes excellence in the pink film genre. Referred to by Miho Toda as the "Academy Awards of the Pink Film", the ceremony attracts a diverse audience of industry personnel, film scholar ...

ceremony. ''Pink film'' veteran Shiro Shimomoto was given the Best Actor award for his role as Uncle Takashi. Mutsuo Yoshioka won Best Actor second place for his role as the nephew. The film was picked as the eighth best ''pink'' release of 2006. At the

Pinky Ribbon Awards The are a Japanese cinema awards ceremony which recognizes excellence in the ''pink film'' genre. The award is held by , a Kansai region paper covering the ''pink film'' industry. Readers of the paper elect the winners of the awards, which have ...

, ''Uncle's Paradise'' was given the Silver Prize.

Bibliography

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References

External links

Official homepage
{{Shinji Imaoka 2006 films 2000s erotic films Films directed by Shinji Imaoka 2000s Japanese-language films Pink films Shintōhō Eiga films 2000s Japanese films