Shinji Imaoka (今岡信治 or 㠄㠾㠊㠋㠗ã‚"ã ˜,
㠄㠾㠊㠋㠗ã‚"ã ¢, Imaoka Shinji) a.k.a. 羅門ナカ is a
Japanese film director, screenwriter, and actor. He is one of a group
of pink film directors of the 2000s known collectively as the "Seven
Lucky Gods of Pink"(ãƒ"ãƒ³ã‚¯ä¸ƒç¦ ç¥ž, shichifukujin), which besides
Imaoka, also includes Toshiya Ueno, Mitsuru Meike, YÅ«ji Tajiri,
Yoshitaka Kamata, ToshirÅ Enomoto and Rei Sakamoto.Shinji Imaoka was
born in Osaka in 1965. He attended Yokohama City University, but
dropped out in 1990 in order to pursue a film career. He entered the
film industry as an assistant director at pink film pioneer Satoru
Kobayashi's Shishi Productions. There he worked principally under
Hisayasu SatÅ , and also with such directors at Takahisa Zeze and
Mototsugu Watanabe. In December 1994 he worked as assistant director
to the esteemed Nikkatsu Roman Porno director Tatsumi Kumashiro on his
last film, Immoral: Indecent Relations
(インモラル･淫ら㠪関係, Immoral: midarana kankei).
Imaoka's directorial debut film was Sex Party of the Beasts: Come
Together (ç £ã Ÿã ¡ã ®æ€§å®´ãƒ»ã‚¤ã‚¯ã ¨ã 㠄㠣㠗ょ) a.k.a.
Waiting for the Comet (1995).In his Behind the Pink Curtain: The
Complete History of Japanese Sex Cinema, Jasper Sharp writes that
Imaoka's style is quite different from that of his mentor, Hisayasu
SatÅ , and that his approach to the pink film is much closer to
Toshiki SatÅ . Like Toshiki SatÅ , Imaoka's sex scenes are often
sparser than the norm for a pink film, and not given much emphasis.
According to Sharp, "[Imaoka's] films possess the same deadpan comic
touch that masks a painfully honest emotional core, although Imaoka's
peculiar brand of pathos is less wry and more sentimental." Further,
he writes, "Imaoka's particular strength is his understated depiction
of characters trapped in a rut, desperately reaching out for something
they secretly know they can't have."While Imaoka's approach to the sex
scenes has not won him favor with the traditional pink film audience
and theater owners, his films have been praised by critics. He has
been awarded Best Director at the Pink Grand Prix, and two of his
films have been voted the Best Film of the year at the ceremony. In
2000, the Tokyo Athénée Français gave Imaoka a career retrospective
tribute which broke the institution's record for attendance.
㠄㠾㠊㠋㠗ã‚"ã ¢, Imaoka Shinji) a.k.a. 羅門ナカ is a
Japanese film director, screenwriter, and actor. He is one of a group
of pink film directors of the 2000s known collectively as the "Seven
Lucky Gods of Pink"(ãƒ"ãƒ³ã‚¯ä¸ƒç¦ ç¥ž, shichifukujin), which besides
Imaoka, also includes Toshiya Ueno, Mitsuru Meike, YÅ«ji Tajiri,
Yoshitaka Kamata, ToshirÅ Enomoto and Rei Sakamoto.Shinji Imaoka was
born in Osaka in 1965. He attended Yokohama City University, but
dropped out in 1990 in order to pursue a film career. He entered the
film industry as an assistant director at pink film pioneer Satoru
Kobayashi's Shishi Productions. There he worked principally under
Hisayasu SatÅ , and also with such directors at Takahisa Zeze and
Mototsugu Watanabe. In December 1994 he worked as assistant director
to the esteemed Nikkatsu Roman Porno director Tatsumi Kumashiro on his
last film, Immoral: Indecent Relations
(インモラル･淫ら㠪関係, Immoral: midarana kankei).
Imaoka's directorial debut film was Sex Party of the Beasts: Come
Together (ç £ã Ÿã ¡ã ®æ€§å®´ãƒ»ã‚¤ã‚¯ã ¨ã 㠄㠣㠗ょ) a.k.a.
Waiting for the Comet (1995).In his Behind the Pink Curtain: The
Complete History of Japanese Sex Cinema, Jasper Sharp writes that
Imaoka's style is quite different from that of his mentor, Hisayasu
SatÅ , and that his approach to the pink film is much closer to
Toshiki SatÅ . Like Toshiki SatÅ , Imaoka's sex scenes are often
sparser than the norm for a pink film, and not given much emphasis.
According to Sharp, "[Imaoka's] films possess the same deadpan comic
touch that masks a painfully honest emotional core, although Imaoka's
peculiar brand of pathos is less wry and more sentimental." Further,
he writes, "Imaoka's particular strength is his understated depiction
of characters trapped in a rut, desperately reaching out for something
they secretly know they can't have."While Imaoka's approach to the sex
scenes has not won him favor with the traditional pink film audience
and theater owners, his films have been praised by critics. He has
been awarded Best Director at the Pink Grand Prix, and two of his
films have been voted the Best Film of the year at the ceremony. In
2000, the Tokyo Athénée Français gave Imaoka a career retrospective
tribute which broke the institution's record for attendance.
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