Flower & Snake (2004) Hana To Hebi

Movie Rating NR Contains: Strong Language Violence Graphic Violence Sex Nudity Mature Situations

Director: Takashi Ishii Movie Genre: Erotic, Thriller Country: Japan Flower & Snake Score Card The following scores are based on a 0.0 to 10.0 rating scale Hover your mouse pointer over the name of each scoring category below for a description Direction: 4.8 Writing: 3.0 Acting: 4.0 Cinematography: 6.0 Sound and Score: 5.0 Functionality: 7.0 Presentation: 5.0 Genre Comparison: 6.0 General Comparison: 3.0 Overall: 4.9 Reviewed 2006-02-06 17:45:40

Flower & Snake from director Takashi Ishii is an adaptation of the S&M novel by Oniruku Dan. Shizuko Tooyama is a beautiful professional dancer with a successful marriage and a seemingly perfect life. What she does not know is her husband, Takayoshi, owes the yakuza a large sum of money. The yakuza threaten to turn over a videotape with Takayoshi engaging in illegal activities with them to his boss. The only way that Takayoshi can pay the yakuza off is by selling his wife to them for use as a sex slave. Shizuko is then kidnapped, ritually gang-raped and subjected to countless types of sexual torture. Her abuse is primarily for the enjoyment of the head boss of that yakuza family. It was his attraction to Shizuko that prompted his underlings to arrange her purchase.

The sex in this movie is graphic, gratuitous, and surprisingly erotic. The erotic aspects of the story are established early on with the sex scenes between Shizuko and Takayoshi before Shizuko gets kidnapped. This eroticism is still evident in the more torturous sex scenes. Ishii choreographed the sex scenes in this movie to cater to every viewer's darkest fantasies. The occult-like rituals that are performed on Shizuko add an element of fantasy to the narrative and the abandoned warehouse setting is quite unnerving.

Flower & Snake is more of an exercise in deviant sex and grotesque imagery than a titillating erotic story. The sex scenes are more disturbing than arousing. The conclusion feels like it was tacked on at the end of the movie just to have a resolution of the conflict. The movie's only way of compensating for its many flaws is maintaining a constant output of sexual content. This spreads the already paper-thin plot out to the point of nonexistence. Even though Flower & Snake is lacking in the entertainment department, the erotic fetishism and disgusting excess make for an uncomfortable experience that lingers for quite some time.