Afternoon Affair: Kyoto Holy Tapestry/Comments
From The Grindhouse Cinema Database
- Afternoon Affair: Kyoto Holy Tapestry was the first Masaru Konuma film I ever saw. I remember writing about Konuma ”I can't say for sure whether he's an exploitation director gone psychologist, or a psychologist turned into a pervert movie maker”. Now, years and half dozen Konuma films later I’d say it’s probably not the latter. I feel Konuma can be great, or at least good, when he feels like it, but he’s also capable of delivering appalling trash. Afternoon Affair: Kyoto Holy Tapestry (perhaps better known by its Japanese title Hirusagari no joji koto-mandara) is not among Konuma’s best work, but it’s far from his worst. The opening of Hirusagari no joji Koto-mandara is rather light, even romantic (within the genre limits) and doesn't exactly prepare the audience for the more twisted stuff (with some sm) that follows. Of course if you’re a genre fan you probably won’t be shocked by anything, but more casual viewers may have problems with some scenes. The final 15 minutes however is unexpectedly beautiful. There's short glimpses of that greatness earlier in the movie as well, but it's the ending that really saves this otherwise 'not so exceptionally remarkable' Nikkatsu Roman production. --HungFist
