Acting
If all pictures became current, in that they pass by and in doing so, are connectable with one another, whether elegantly or obscenely, through translation or associationhow would it be possible to fasten down a picture? Hito Steyerls light-hearted picture translations are about fastening things in an elegant-obscene way: In Tokyo she is looking for a photo series that she posed for in 1987 as a rope bondage model. While making inquiries with experts and authorities in the bondage arts (which are mainly marketed online nowadays), she found what she was looking for in a magazine archive. The cinematic tension is extremely high just now says the translator while Steyerl looks through photos of herself from her days as a film student.
Directed by Masami Akita,who is also one of Japan's leading noise musicians under the name Merzbow. With a soundtrack by the director himself, this intense and ultra-gory seppuku film shows a young woman taking her own life by an act of ritual harakiri.
A woman in a nurse’s outfit sits in a dark room. She kneels on a mat and looks over a knife, touching it with her fingers and examining it. She runs the knife over her stocking clad legs and contemplates suicide. She plunges the blade into her abdominal region and pulls it across.
A school girl kneels on her mat looking over an old photo album containing pictures of people committing seppuku. Becoming aroused by what she sees, she touches herself and licks her fingertips. She pulls out a knife of her own, takes off her uniform, and in a very fetishistic manner proceeds to slit open her stomach and then pull out her guts.
Part of the Zankoku-bi: Onna harakiri 01 series.
The only difference with this one as opposed to the other "entries" - is this one has 2 girls committing suicide, and they are outdoors and wearing samurai style outfits as opposed to Japanese robes or some other "costume". Also, they stab themselves with samurai swords instead of the typical shorter ritual knives...
Documentary about the art of Japanese bondage.
A black and white preface shows a woman in a traditional kimono climbing the stairs as WWII era Mitsubishi Zeros fly through the sky and footage of the Japanese military of the era is superimposed over the footage. She stops at the top of the stairs to say her prayers, rings a bell, and heads inside where the footage is shot in color. She unravels her kimono and rubs her face with the cloth before wrapping her blade and lovingly touching it. She pulls it across her stomach and slits herself open, falling to the mat. She crawls across the mat, dying, slipping in her own slick blood until she can't move anymore.
