aka and is a 2003

2003 in film

The year 2003 in film involved some significant events. Releases of sequels took place with movies like The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King, 2 Fast 2 Furious, Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle, The Matrix Reloaded, The Matrix Revolutions, Pokémon Heroes, Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines,...

 Japan

Japan

Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...

ese Pink film directed by Toshiya Ueno

Toshiya Ueno

is a Japanese film director, actor, screenwriter, and producer. He is one of the pink film directors known collectively as the .-Life and career:...

. It was chosen as Best Film of the year at the Pink Grand Prix

Pink Grand Prix

The or is an annual Japanese film award ceremony which recognizes excellence in the pink film. Known as the "Academy Awards of the Pink Film", the ceremony attracts a diverse audience of industry personnel, film scholars and the general public....

 ceremony.

Synopsis

A diverse group of people, all with troubles in their daily lives, meet online and decide to commit suicide together. Isolated from society at large, they form a physical bond as the appointed time approaches.

Cast

• Hidehisa Ebata: "Hanko" (大友寛司)
• Noriko Murayama: "Maria" (Michiko Sano)
• Nikki Sasaki: "Screen" (Mamiko Yoshida)
• Minami Aoyama
  Minami Aoyama
  is a Japanese AV idol and pink film actress. She has appeared in award-winning pink films, and was herself given a Best Actress award for her work in this genre in 2006.-Life and career:...
  
  : "Myū" (Kazuki Aikawa)
• Akio Kurauchi: "Innocent" (Yutaka Matsunaga)
• Rumi Hoshino: Hiromi Shimada
• Yōta Kawase: Yukio Sano
• Suzuka Takaki: Miyuki
• Mika Ogawa: Ami
• Rie Sumiyoshi: Matsunaga's mother
• Shirō Shimomoto: Shop owner
• Takeshi Itō: Shop worker
• Kinuta: Fat woman

Critical reception

Anglophone pink film scholar Jasper Sharp notes that there are two different audiences for contemporary pink films: The traditional pink theater-goer who is generally interested in seeing sex on the screen, and the devotees of pink cinema represented by such publications as P*G magazine and its website. As with many of Kokuei's pink films, Ambiguous did not prove very marketable for the traditional softcore porn audience, in part because of its downbeat subject matter. However when looked at as a film which happens to include sex scenes—Kokuei's approach to the pink genre—Sharp writes Obscene Internet Group "stands as one of the most genuinely insightful and of-the-moment films produced within the Japanese independent sector in its year."

The readers of P*G magazine showed their approval of the film by awarding it Best Film and giving Hidekazu Takahara the Silver Prize for screenplay.

Availability

Like many pink films, Ambiguous has gone under more than one title. Originally released in theatres as Obscene Internet Group: Make Me Come!!, the film was shown at the Pink Grand Prix under the title Ambiguous, the title under which it was also released on DVD in Japan and internationally. The film has also been released on DVD in Japan as Group Suicide: The Last Supper. Sacrament released the film as "Ambiguous" on English-subtitled Region 2 DVD on 22nd February 2006.