Pratt Film Society Presents “Female Convict Scorpionâ€
Wednesday, Apr 04, 2012 @ 4:30 pm
ARC Room E2
FEMALE CONVICT SCORPION: JAILHOUSE 4
Directed by Shunya Ito
(1972, Japan, 90 mins.)
An absolutely phenomenal surrealist-cum-exploitation picture, Female Convict Scorpion--Jailhouse 41 is the second in a series of films about Matsu (known to her fellow inmates as "Scorpion"), a diminutive but volatile woman who is wrongly sent to prison by a betraying boyfriend. Spectacularly photographed, these pictures feature an anti-heroine who is beautiful, strong, principled and basically honorable and decent--especially when compared to everyone around her. One of the truly genuine masterpieces of violent 1970s cinema, Female Convict Scorpion--Jailhouse 41 is, in its own way, as subversive as Donald Cammell & Nicolas Roeg's Performance, John Boorman's Point Blank and Jean-Luc Godard's Weekend.