Glamorous Life of Sachiko Hanai opens Alamo Downtown in Jan.

We are pleased to be bringing back one of the audience favorite films of the 2006 Fantastic Fest for a theatrical run. The type of strange cinematic odyssey that can only originate from those wacky Japanese, Sachiko Hanai takes the barest structure of the Pinku Film (Japanese softcore) and packs it with an insane story of the political espionage, trepanation, the cloned finger of George Bush and a whole lot more. For those who checked it out during the fest, please tell your friends that the goodness is coming back one more time.

Festival Description: "What do you get when you cross a counter-culture political manifesto with a softcore sex film, an absurdist comedy and a critique on intellectualism? Read on, brave cineastes! Sachiko Hanai (Emi Kuroda) is an escort who specializes in fetishes and role-play sessions. One afternoon, chilling in a restaurant, she witnesses a dispute between two men that ends with a fatal shooting. Sachiko jumps up to photograph the gunman with her cell phone, only to find her diligence cut short when a bullet is fired into her skull. Incredibly, the bullet does not kill her. Instead, it serves as a trepanation act, leading Sachiko to experience a life-altering intellectual awakening. With a gaping hole in her head, Sachiko knows exactly where to go: the library! She voraciously studies the works of a plethora of philosophers, poets and political essayists. Now able to speak foreign languages and horny at the mere mention of Susan Sontag or Noam Chomsky, Sachiko seduces a professor while pondering theories of the universe. Trouble is, when she left the restaurant after being shot, she accidentally grabbed an item that resembled a lipstick cylinder but actually contained a replica of George W. Bush’s finger, designed with the evil purpose of pushing the last button anyone wants to see pushed. She finds herself hunted by a crazed mobster who is determined to force the reunification of North and South Korea! Wow. I mean… WOW. Mitsuru Meike has made quite the molotov cocktail here. Hired to make a standard softcore “pink movie,” Meike delivered the barest requirements of the genre while taking full advantage of the fact that he was actually making a film to create a challenging and hugely original auteur work (not unlike what Stephen Sayadian did with Café Flesh) that is as hilarious as it is subversive, as politically confrontational as it is gloriously pervy and strangely profound. Originally released in 2003 under the quaint title Horny Home Tuto r: Teacher’s Love Juice, Meike’s film immediately attained underground cult notoriety - while presumably frustrating many would-be wankers - allowing him the opportunity to add substantial footage and create an altered director’s cut which we now know as Glamorous Life…You have never seen anything like this." (Mitch Davis, Fantasia Film Festival)

Check out the trailer on the Alamo YouTube site.
Fantastic Fest 2006 description and festival reviews