Movie Reviews
Film Review: Season of Terror (1969) by Koji Wakamatsu
“What did you watch? A pink film?”
By the late 60s and the beginning of 70s, a number of independent filmmakers frequently mixed fiction with non-fiction while appropriating journalistic materials of well-known media events. Nagisa Oshima and Koji Wakamatsu were two of the most prominent directors in that regard, with “Season of Terror”, which was released just two months after “Go, Go, Second Time Virgin” , being a prominent sample.
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In that fashion, the movie begins by presenting a series of press photographs and newspaper headlines, mostly focusing on the student riots and their clashes with the police, along with the military training of what appears to be a rightist group. As soon as the rather impressive montage is finished, we are introduced to the first protagonist of the movie, a former radical leader who has been out of sight for quite some time. Next, we get to meet the other two, with two policemen who have received reports by an informant that the young man is planning to assassinate PM Sato, who is about to leave for the US to negotiate about the return of Okinawa.
To do so, they plant a bug in his apartment and start listening to him through the apartment of a single across the street, whose owner has agreed to let them use one of the rooms. However, what they hear is not revolutionary in any way, since the young man seems to stay in his apartment all day, only being visited by two young beautiful women, who take care of his every need, and have almost constant sex with him. The visit of an old friend is the only moment they gain some info, with the visitor, however, ending up chastising the former activist for abandoning the “struggle”. As he accuses him of desertion and essentially considers him a hippy, the two policemen start to realize how futile the week they have to spend there is. If that was not enough, during the nights, the woman in the apartment the two officers are staying is also having sex.
One of the main and most evident purposes here is evidently to criticize the police, in a way though, that can only be described as intense mocking. Starting from the torturing of the informant, and continuing with the fact their “mission” is relegated into peeping in various forms, the ridiculousness of their actions becomes rather obvious. Their rhetoric, particularly of the younger of the two, since the older one seems to be somewhat more cynic, also moves in the same direction, with him mentioning torture as means to an end and compassion as a completely unnecessary concept. That the woman owner of the house has sex almost every night and essentially treats them as guests in a somewhat forceful manner, barging into their room to bring them tea and food whenever she likes, furthers their ridicule even more.
Where this aspect is cemented, though, is definitely on the finale of the movie, with Wakamatsu presenting it as quite ironic, again in the same mocking path. At the same time, and in a rather interesting aspect, the finale also makes the viewer question the whole movie and what we were seeing until that moment, particularly regarding the behavior and action of the young activist, in one of the best traits of the film, highlighting both Kazuo Komizu’s writing and Wakamatsu’s direction.
While essentially a pinku film, wherein Wakamatsu and Adachi ingeniously utilized the medium’s freedom to make pointed sociopolitical commentary, Wakamatsu found himself compelled to incorporate numerous sex scenes adhering to the genre’s “guidelines”. Consequently, the film brims with erotic sequences, approached this time with a delicate balance between the artistic and the voyeuristic. Wakamatsu strategically situates the camera at a distance from the protagonists for most of the film, minimizing overt titillation, although the recurring threesomes contribute to this aspect. Moreover, within the film’s framework, the voyeurs are portrayed as policemen, further enhancing the underlying satire and imparting the sex scenes with a distinct contextual significance.
In that regard, Hideo Ito’s black-and-white cinematography is excellent throughout, with the way he presents the two apartments as completely different spaces, with the one of the police being claustrophobic and the one of the revolutionary, a place of sex, being truly impressive to watch. The editing, with the exception of the rather fast introductory montage, results in a leisure pace, with Wakamatsu lingering intently on the sex scenes, and passing the rest in faster fashion. The buildup to the finale, though, which comes at an ideal moment in 78 minutes of the movie, is rather competent, with the splash of color also working well.
The acting definitely has a secondary role here, with the women appearing almost exclusively in sex scenes, and the men playing archetypal roles, even through this radically unusual approach Wakamatsu implements here.
“Season of Terror” is another testament to how Wakamatsu could take the sex film and make social comments and political statements through it, and a movie that has definitely stood the test of time
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By ABBIE BERNSTEIN / Staff Writer
Posted: May 8th, 2026 / 08:34 PM
AFFECTION movie poster | ©2026 Brainstorm Media
Rating: Not Rated
Stars: Jessica Rothe, Joseph Cross, Julianna Layne
Writer: BT Meza
Director: BT Meza
Distributor: Brainstorm Media
Release Date: May 8, 2026
AFFECTION is an odd title for this tale. While it is about a number of topics and emotions, fondness isn’t one of them. Obsession, definitely. Love, possibly. The kind of general warm fellow feelings associated with “affection”? No.
There have been a lot of movies lately in which characters – mostly women – are grappling with false identities and/or false memories imposed upon them, mostly by men.
Let us stipulate that the protagonist (Jessica Rothe) in AFFECTION is not an android or in an artificial reality. However, we can tell something is way off from the opening sequence. A car is stalled on a tree-bordered highway. Rothe’s character is lying face down on the asphalt beside it, possibly dead.
But then the young woman rises, dragging a broken ankle. She experiences a full-body seizure. Fighting to recover, she sees oncoming headlights and tries to run, only to be hit by a car.
The woman wakes up in a bed she doesn’t recognize, next to a man (Joseph Cross) she likewise is sure she’s never seen before. One big confrontation later, the man says his name is Bruce – and that the woman is his wife, Ellie.
Ellie insists that her name is Sarah Thompson, and she is married to someone else, with a son. When she sees her reflection in a mirror, she doesn’t relate to the face looking back at her.
Bruce counters that Ellie has a rare neurological condition that causes her to block out her waking life and believe her dreams are real. This is why they agreed, together, to move to this isolated house, without the kinds of interruptions that can hinder Ellie’s recovery.
The set-up is presented in a way where we share Ellie’s skepticism. But Ellie and Bruce’s little daughter Alice (Julianna Layne) immediately identifies Ellie as “Mommy!” Alice appears to be too young to be in on any kind of deception, so what is going on here?
AFFECTION eventually explains this via a helpful videotape, though it’s so convoluted that viewers watching on streaming may want to replay the sequence to make sure they understand the exposition.
Writer/director BT Meza musters a sense of menace and lurking weirdness, as well as making great use of his location.
We still have a lot of questions, many of which are still unanswered by the film’s end. It may not matter to the points AFFECTION is trying to make, but a better sense of exactly how all this started might help our investment.
As it is, despite a heroically versatile performance by Rothe, a credible and anguished turn by Cross and appealing work from Layne, we’re so busy trying to piece together what’s important and what’s not and how we’re supposed to feel about all of it that it can be hard to keep track of the action as it unfolds.
Agree or not, Meza’s arguments are lucid and illustrated clearly by AFFECTION’s events. However, the movie is structured in a way that becomes more frustrating as it goes. We comprehend it intellectually but can’t engage viscerally.
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RICHMOND, Va. (WRIC) — In this episode of 8News Reel Talk, digital producer Julia Broberg is joined by anchor Deanna Allbrittin and reporter Allison Williams to talk about “The Devil Wears Prada 2.”
The hosts gave their reviews and assigned the following star ratings:
Deanna: ★★★★.5
Allison: ★★★.25
Julia: ★★
To watch more livestreams and digital video content, head to the WRIC+ Originals page. You can also watch full on-demand videos on your smart TV using the WRIC+ app.
Billie Eilish fans prepare yourself, the much talked about secret project has finally arrived on the big screens!
Billie Eilish has always been about intimacy over artifice, but her latest concert film takes that to a visceral new level. Co-directed by Eilish and James Cameron, Billie Eilish – Hit Me Hard and Soft: The Tour (Live in 3D) manages to bridge the gap between a massive stadium show and the quiet grit of life backstage.
The film starts 18 minutes out from the show and builds the tension until audiences are literally folded into a box with her. Being taken under the stage, passing fans who have no idea she’s inches away, sets a tone of total immersion. What makes this film different is the balance between the spectacle and the behind-the-scenes reality. We see the creative shorthand between Billie and James Cameron as they chase what she calls the “best kind of sensory overload”.
The film is very much fan focussed, with the sound mix being so specific that you can hear individual fans singing along in sync with the visuals.
There are so many standout moments, the handheld camera work during “Bad Guy” that gives a dizzying POV of the band, and the chilling minute of silence Billie requests from the crowd to record a vocal loop.
The film captures her unique stage presence. Influenced by rap culture, Billie refuses to have anyone else on stage, unlike many female artists that use back up dancers. Billie can hold the entire stadium in awe by herself which is incredible to witness, until Finneas joins her for a beautiful, emotional piano set.
Between the high-tech visuals and the “Puppy Room” (where she keeps rescue dogs for staff to decompress), the film feels incredibly personal. While the film doesn’t give us any new insights into Billie, Billie Eilish – Hit Me Hard and Soft: The Tour (Live in 3D) is an enjoyable experience that elevates the tradition concert film.
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