Under the Carp Banner 2006 Horror Movie Review

Kazuhiro Sano was not only one of the most influential men of pinku eiga (Japanese soft-core [**]) in the 1990s, but also a director who turned down many opportunities to work in mainstream cinema. 

Accustomed to script and star in most of his own pictures, Sano focuses more on romance rather than abuse, although the characters rarely enjoy a `happy ending’. He also uses his exploitative works to subject aspects of his society to close scrutiny, the one in this case being its militaristic tendency. 

`Under the Carp Banner’ interweaves stories, comic, bizarre and tragic,  concerning the sexual relations of his protagonists, with themes of alienation, violence and social disintegration, whose relevance has never been greater than it is today.