Pillowbook
The Pillow Book (1996) (Netherlands/France/UK)
Director: Peter Greenaway
Producer: Kees Kasander
Screenplay: Peter Greenaway
Cast: Ewan McGregor, Vivian Wu, Yoshi Oida, Ken Ogata
The film is set in modern day Hong Kong and revolves around Nagiko (Wu), a talented author with a queer thing for having calligraphy written on her body. She meets bisexual Jerome (McGregor), and he successfully persuades her to write calligraphy on his body. Together, they fulfill Nagiko’s mad plot against her publisher, but for a high price.
The Pillow Book is described as ‘a challenging and richly erotic slice of Asian culture, heavily dominated by visual imagery… a tale in which the overriding concerns are sex and death, power and revenge’ (Laura Jackson, A Force To Be Reckoned With, 1999). It is a delightful, dark, poetic film that will take you to greater heights of sensuality. A BIG plus is McGregor’s full frontal glorious moment.
Rating: !!!!
! - can light up a cigarette
!! - can light up a candle
!!! - can light up a stove
!!!! - can light up the firplace
!!!!! - explosive