ShunyaIto (伊藤俊也 Itō Shun'ya) is a Japanese film director famed for starting the Sasori (Female Prisoner #701: Scorpion, etc.) series of 1970s exploitation films based on Toru Shinohara's manga and starring Meiko Kaji.
Ito worked for Toei Company for most of his career.
He won Best Picture at the Japanese Academy Awards in 1985 with his film Gray Sunset, a story of an man suffering from Alzheimer's disease.
en.wikipedia.org /wiki/Shunya_Ito (219 words)
WIP Flicks - The East(Site not responding. Last check: 2007-10-08)
Ito shoots almost the entire sequence in a beautifully staged, minimalist play style, and this is kind of staging he'll use to even better effect in the sequel, Jailhouse 41.
Ito dumps the soundtrack in favor of pictures and, though some of the camera work seems kinda static, there's plenty of long slow zooms and a lot of hair gets tangled up and so forth.
Ito's direction becomes very stylized as he uses of symbols and techniques from both tradional Japanese theater and modern cinema to create surreal atmosphere in which anything might happen.
Director ShunyaIto in later interviews says he saw the film as a statement about revolt against institutionalized force, that Scorpion acts as a single voice of defiance to say “No”.
Although in truth the film’s politics are really not that different from the primal red-bloodedness of revenge fantasy films like Straw Dogs (1971), The Last House on the Left (1972) and especially women’s revenge films such as Day of the Woman/I Spit on Your Grave (1978), Dirty Weekend (1992) and Baise-Moi (2000).
Ito uses narrative devices such as randomly cutting the sound off for about 30 seconds or so at a time and at one point breaking into traditional Japanese narrative song to tell the stories of the seven escapees.
Female Prisoner 701 Scorpion(Site not responding. Last check: 2007-10-08)
ShunyaIto's directorial debut Female Prisoner 701 Scorpion is full of hallucinatory surreal vision that could have come straight from hell.
One of her first jobs with Toei, Female Prisoner 701 Scorpion as Nami Matsushima, a part which she would play four times and with the success of the Lady Snowblood films Meiko Kaji was one of the most preeminent female action stars of the 1970's.
ShunyaIto's direction is inspired and what he achieves on an artistic level for such a low budget and genre film is astonishing.
Shunya Ito - Encyclopedia Glossary Meaning Explanation Shunya Ito(Site not responding. Last check: 2007-10-08)
ShunyaIto - Encyclopedia Glossary Meaning Explanation ShunyaIto.
ShunyaIto (伊藤俊也 Itō Shun'ya) is a Japanese film director famed for starting the manga-based Sasori (Female Prisoner #701: Scorpion, etc.) series of 1970s exploitation films starring Meiko Kaji.
Female Prisoner Scorpion Beast Stable(Site not responding. Last check: 2007-10-08)
ShunyaIto director of the first three Female Scorpion films would return to direct Female Prisoner Scorpion Beast Stable which would end up being his final film as the series director.
ShunyaIto expertly uses every inch of the frame and his stylized use of colors and editing make Female Scorpion Prisoner Beast Stable something more then a mere exploitation film.
Female Prisoner Scorpion Beast Stable is out of the three ShunyaIto directed definitely his most accomplished film and it is too bad he directed so few films.
Intelliflix: Rent Female Prisoner #701: Scorpion on DVD(Site not responding. Last check: 2007-10-08)
Through her suffering at the hands of the jailers and other prisoners, director ShunyaIto creates a portrait of a woman is full of strength, beauty and an honor which outshines her peers and the cage within which she's contained.
Director ShunyaIto struck a delicate balance between art and trash and created one of the most ambitious, sleazy, and beautiful women in prison films ever made...
Here's hoping the third installment (also directed by Ito) is given a similar treatment in the near future.
Amazon.ca: Editorial Reviews DVD: Female Convict Scorpion - Jailhouse 41 (Widescreen)(Site not responding. Last check: 2007-10-08)
Kaji gives a near silent performance as the smoldering Matsu, who stares out from under artfully tousled hair with piercing eyes and spars with her bullying, psychotic cellblock rival.
Director ShunyaIto paints his striking set pieces in brilliant colors: an autumnal death scene that turns from restful, leaf-blown orange to a desolate gray in a flash, a blue waterfall that suddenly runs red with blood, an escape down a literal mountain of garbage.
Mastered from a gorgeous widescreen print, the image is sharp and the colors vivid.
Amazon.ca: DVD: Female Prisoner 701 Scorpion(Site not responding. Last check: 2007-10-08)
ShunyaIto directed this unusual women's prison film which spawned three direct sequels and a pair of spin-offs.
Actress-singer Meiko Kaji, best-known for the "Alleycat Rock" series beginning with Naraneko Rokku: Onna Bancho (1970), stars as Nami, who escapes a prison with her friend Yukiko (Hiroko Ooji).
This DVD is not subtitled in English, and the film is impossible to return because Amazon.com charges a restocking fee of 50%.
Amazon.com: Female Prisoner #701 - Scorpion (1973): DVD(Site not responding. Last check: 2007-10-08)
What makes "Scorpion" different is the fact that Director ShunyaIto - in his debut film - decided to ride the fine line between art and trash.
He combines the best elements of the vindictive woman's feature along with artsy lighting in order to achieve the effect of a car crash: the viewer really hates to slow down and watch, but there really must be something to see here, right?
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