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Released
1966 · FILM

The Pornographers

Directed by
Shohei Imamura
Written by
Akiyuki Nosaka, Shohei Imamura
Runtime
128 min
Language
JA
ComedyDrama
Streaming on
  • The Criterion Channel

Synopsis

Subu makes pornographic films. He sees nothing wrong with it. They are an aid to a repressed society, and he uses the money to support his landlady, Haru, and her family. From time to time, Haru shares her bed with Subu, though she believes her dead husband, reincarnated as a carp, disapproves. Director Shohei Imamura has always delighted in the kinky exploits of lowlifes, and in this 1966 classic, he finds subversive humor in the bizarre dynamics of Haru, her Oedipal son, and her daughter, the true object of her pornographer-boyfriend’s obsession. Imamura’s comic treatment of such taboos as voyeurism and incest sparked controversy when the film was released, but The Pornographers has outlasted its critics, and now seems frankly ahead of its time.

Credits

Actors
Editor
Director of Photography
Writers
Director

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How many hands made this film

The scale of the collaboration

Principal cast & crew: 19

These are the principals we have on file — the full crew ran to the hundreds. Every film this size was made by far more hands than any credits list ever names.

Why a floor?

This is a minimum, not a total. We only count the credits we’ve captured so far, and coverage is uneven — a blockbuster might show a few hundred names while another of the same size shows a couple dozen. The real crews all ran into the thousands. The number here only grows as full credits are enriched — so we frame it as a floor, never a headcount.

Craft leads on file

Edited by Mutsuo TanjiShot by Shinsaku HimedaScored by Toshiro Kusunoki

Also known as

  • Einführung in die Menschenkundede
  • The Pornographersen
  • El pornógrafoes
  • Le Pornographefr
  • Introduzione all'antropologiait
  • Erogotoshi-tachi yori: Jinruigaku nyûmonja

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