Pinku redi no katsudo dai shashin
366 Weird Movies may earn commissions from purchases made through product links.
DIRECTED BY: Tsugunobu Kotani
FEATURING: Keiko Masuda, Mie, Isamu Ago
PLOT: A director, a producer, and a folklorist seek the perfect idea for a movie to promote the pop band “The Pink Lady.”
COMMENTS: How to promote a pop band cinematically? Through a musical, of course, but what kind? This movie takes this question as its starting point, exploring it through three distinct tales that traverse genres and styles.
The subject here is the iconic, albeit obscure, pop musical duo “The Pink Lady,” mad up of two girls singing as one. According to Wikipedia, they were a short-lived, briefly popular act from the late-70s and early-80s, featuring Mie and Keiko Masuda (formerly known as Kei). The movie makes clear from early on—especially through its exaggerated acting—that it will retain a lighthearted comic tone, while at the same time being self-conscious and self-referential.
This aspect of self-parody becomes apparent as we watch a film director, a folklorist, and a producer come together to brainstorm ideas for an upcoming movie about the duo. Each one of them has his own idea of what this movie should be, and chaos ensues. For viewers, this results in a fun romp, a mix of genres, each depicting a different take on the musical they want to create. We have an old-fashioned romantic melodrama, a cheesy sci-fi monster movie, and a western. Mie and Kei are always the protagonists, with playful musical numbers accompanying the story beats.
Pink Lady’s Motion Picture isn’t afraid to embrace absurdism. It doesn’t always makes perfect sense, and it doesn’t need to. But it’s not subversive or transgressive in any serious way; it’s harmless, mindless entertainment for mass consumption by a local, albeit westernized, Japanese audience. The flick is also of sociological interest, depicting, through the juxtaposition of disparate cinematic genres, a society divided between tradition and foreign influence.
WHAT THE CRITICS SAY:
I am officially old: I remember the summer replacement series that ran in the U.S. with these two. It was called “Pink Lady and Jeff” (comedian Jeff Altman was the official host, as the ladies could not speak English.) Sid and Marty Krofft were behind developing the show, and just assumed the ladies were bilingual. Since they weren’t, it caused many problems for the production team. They had one English-language single that they recorded phonetically, “Kiss in the Dark” (on YouTube) – I don’t think it charted in the U.S., but they were popular in Japan. They were cute and the show was fun fluff, but the attempt to get them on America’s radar failed miserably – the show was cancelled after 5 episodes. Jeff Altman still performs, but I suspect he doesn’t care to recall his time trying to make Pink Lady happen here.
Interesting, thanks for the info.
As it happens, Pink Lady AND Jeff are pretty open to discuss their foray into variety TV and comfortable with their dubious legacy, as this podcast attests.
https://youtu.be/-rrDcbBqKew?si=hpsluxIPFym8PyKe
LOL, mea culpa! They had Pink Lady HOT DOGS??? 🤣 Glad everyone has a sense of humor about things.