Rating: 4/5
To be deceived is a woman's crime.
A women’s prison receives a commendation for their work, only for Nami and Yuki to stage a breakout. Yuki gets her period, putting the dogs on their scent. One gets Yuki, but Nami beats it away with a stick. Just when they seemed cornered, a flying bird distracts the shooter, allowing Nami to wrestle him and Yuki to bash him in. But it’s not enough, and the guards find them and bring them back.
The captain punishes the guards for their slackness and the prisoners by reducing their meals for a week. They throw all the food in the trash, causing the prisoners to riot. Meanwhile, Nami lands Yuki in solitary confinement, tied up, communicating through butting their heads on the wall. Nami can get out if she swears never to try and escape again.
How did Nami get here in the first place? It started with a boy named Sugimi, a narcotics officer on the Drugs Squad, who took her virginity. He asked Nami to help him with a drug smuggling ring infiltration that immediately goes wrong, and the drug dealers take turns SAing her. It turns out that Sugumi was only using her to get a bribe from the yakuza. Nami tries to take her revenge by stabbing Sugumi, but the police stop her and arrest her.
Now, while in prison, Sugumi plans to stage Nami’s murder and free himself of her once and for all. Will Nami be able to escape these sadistic prison guards and vengeful inmates and enact her revenge?
The camera work is quite agile and expressive, making even the smallest scene dynamic. Some moments are surreal, with phantom wind and near-choreographed movement. The color is also stellar! The shower fight scene is an all-timer. There’s also an unusual scene where the women line up nude, going through a jungle gym of pipes so the guards can ensure they’re not smuggling contraband inside them.
I already knew Meiko Kaji was a badass from Stray Cat Rock: Delinquent Girl Boss, where she outshone Aikko Wada in every scene. Here, she gets to take center stage, kicking ass and pleasuring women into submission.
I wanted to revisit this movie since my tastes have changed in the couple of years since I initially watched this. While I appreciated it the last time, I don’t think I fully realized how special this movie is. This movie might be the quintessential women-in-prison film and one of the coolest exploitation movies from the era.