Bumpkin Soup

Synopsis

On the grounds of a college campus in Tokyo in the early 80s, country girl Akiko (Yoriko Doguchi, FX’s Shogun) drifts in and out of odd interactions with the offbeat, intellectually dense and dirty-minded student body as she half-heartedly searches for her hometown sweetheart Yoshioka. After discovering that he has become a rather elusive campus nobody, Akiko changes course and subjects herself to the wild, erotic whims of Psychology Professor Hirayama (played by award-winning director Juzo Itami) in his search to determine the theory of shame.

From master filmmaker Kiyoshi Kurosawa, known for his cerebral style and erudite direction in contemporary classics like Cure, Tokyo Sonata and Pulse, comes a Pinku film “most obviously inspired by mid-career Godard” (Hayley Scanlon, Window to Worlds) that was subsequently shelved by Nikkatsu for being too quirky and bizarre. Satirizing everything from left-wing student politics to musical numbers and academia, Kurosawa’s early work is a moody and post-modern “search for meaning in the modern world.” (Rouven Linnarz, Asian Movie Pulse)

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