Films that take the audience inside Japan's huge and diverse porn industry have been appearing for decades. In the 1991 "Skinless Night," Rokuro Mochizuki told a semi-autobiographical story about a porn director's desperation to escape the business (an aim that the widely praised film helped Mochizuki himself achieve). Last year, former pinku eiga (softcore adult film) director Ryuichi Hiroki featured a segment about a porn shoot in "Kabukicho Love Hotel," referencing his own experiences.
Veteran AV ("adult video," or hardcore) director Kei Morikawa has taken a fresh, briskly entertaining approach to this subject in his new film "Makeup Room." Winner of the Grand Prix in the Fantastic Off-Theater Competition of this year's Yubari International Fantastic Film Festival, the film unfolds from beginning to end in a room where five actresses put on makeup prior to filming their latest AV epic.
Not a single scene shows tussling on the futon. Instead the focus is on the lives and personalities of the actresses in the present getting-ready-for-work moment, with the director and other male staff playing supporting roles. The film's rock-solid center is the make-up artist, Kyoko (Aki Morita), who is genuinely sympathetic to her charges, while intently focused on hustling them out of the room looking good — at least until the camera rolls.