Exclusive Trailer and Poster for Love Hotel Revives Shinji Somai’s Pinku Classic

      Are there six words in the English language sweeter than “A Pinku Classic from Shinji Somai”? In recent years, his films have been restored and released with great care and enthusiasm, bringing him from the shadows of cinephile obscurity into the Japanese film canon. Amidst this revival, there has been a notable absence of Love Hotel, an emotional and, of course, elegantly shot film from the Directors Company. Cinema Guild, continuing their commendable efforts, has acquired it (along with Somai's even rarer The Friends) and plans to release a restored version at Metrograph on April 4. In anticipation of this, we are excited to exclusively present the trailer and poster.

      Here’s the official synopsis: “A story of two damaged souls. A call-girl named Yumi, the ‘night-blooming flower,’ and Tetsuro, a married man with debts to the yakuza, have a violent encounter in a low-cost love hotel. Years later, haunted by the memory of that night, they reconnect and embark on a peculiar love affair. With the intent to complete what they began, they revisit the site of their initial dark passion. Infused with a taste for wicked absurdity and charged with operatic emotions, Love Hotel is propelled by the irrational forces that draw two bodies together. It’s a film that offers a uniquely materialist perspective on eros, expressed through Shinji Somai’s extended takes, where each shot presents a precarious balance filled with earthly tension and vibrant physicality. Created in the same year as Typhoon Club, this mournful erotica stands out as one of Somai’s most enchanting and disturbingly romantic works, marking a pinnacle in Nikkatsu Studio’s renowned Roman Porno film cycle.”

      See the preview and poster (by Brian Hung) below: