Takahisa Zeze

Takahisa Zeze (瀬々敬久, Zeze Takahisa, born 24 May 1960[1]) is a Japanese film director and screenwriter first known for his soft-core pornographic pink films of the 1990s. Along with fellow directors, Kazuhiro Sano, Toshiki Satō, and Hisayasu Sato, he is known as one of the "Four Heavenly Kings of Pink" (ピンク四天王, pinku shitennō).[2] In recent years, he has directed such major commercial hits as 64: Part I, 64: Part II, and The 8-Year Engagement, while continuing to make independent art films like Heaven's Story and Kiku and Guillotine.

Takahisa Zeze
Born	24 May 1960 Japan
Occupation	Film director Screenwriter
Years active	1989–present

Life and career

"I try to show relationships, I make films about love. It's not just about the act of having sex, but what leads up to it and what comes after. What are the feelings of the people before, while they do it and after they did it? It's this development that interests me. I don't care very much about rape, because it's very one-sided and doesn't allow for this kind of development... I don't want to depict characters as having sex, but as making love."
-- Takahisa Zeze[3]

Takahisa Zeze was born in 1960 and graduated from Kyoto University in 1986. While attending this prestigious university, Zeze began making experimental films. He began his career in the film industry working for Shishi Productions as a screenwriter and assistant director for various pink film directors, including Hisayasu Satō.[4]

Zeze usually writes the scripts for his films, which often contain examinations of social concerns not usually found in the pink film genre. His style is much less violent than Sato's, and rarely includes rape, one of the traditional thematic staples of the pink film from earliest times. Zeze also engages in more satire and self-conscious humor than is typical in the genre. He has the habit of giving his films eccentric titles during their production which the studios replace with a more commercially exploitable name before release. For example, Zeze's title My Existence Is a Phenomenon Based on the Hypothesis of Blue Light Generated by Organic Currency was changed to Amazon Garden: Uniform Lesbians.[4] He sometimes uses whimsical pseudonyms in his directorial credit, such as "Jean-Luc Zeze" or "South Pole #1". After a decade of making pink films, Zeze turned to mainstream releases in 1997 with Kokkuri.[4] While continuing to work in the pink film genre, he has since directed several mainstream successes such as Rush!, Hysteric and Dog Star.[5] In 2002 Zeze was honored with a career retrospective at Italy's Far East Film Festival.[5]

He often works with the cinematographer Kōichi Saitō.

Partial filmography

Release title[6]	Zeze's title	Release date	Studio
Extracurricular Activity: Rape! 課外授業　暴行 Kagai Jugyo: Boko	Go to Haneda and You Will See Kids Dressed like Pirates Ready to Attack	1989-06-24	Kokuei/Shintōhō Eiga
Beast Lust: Devil Rampage 獣欲魔　乱行 Juyoku-ma Ranko	Blue Sky	1989-12-02	Kokuei/Shintōhō Eiga
Indecent Tongue Technique 破廉恥舌戯テクニック Harenchi Zetsugi Technique	Moon Over the Desert	June 1990	Kokuei/Shintōhō Eiga
Molester's Train: Rie's Fundoshi Underwear 痴漢電車　りえのフンドシ Chikan Densha: Rie no Fundoshi	Coconut Crush	June 1990	Media Top/Shintōhō Eiga
Obscene Runaway Gang: Beast 猥褻暴走集団　獣 Waisetsu Boso Shudan: Kemono	Noman's Land	1991-05-18	Kokuei/Shintōhō Eiga
Amazon Garden: Uniform Lesbians 禁男の園　ザ・制服レズ Kindan no Sono: The Seifuku Les	My Existence Is a Phenomenon Based on the Hypothesis of Blue Light Generated by Organic Currency	1992-10-10	Kokuei/Shintōhō Eiga
Molester's Train: Mischievous Wives 痴漢電車　いけない妻たち Chikan Densha: Ikenai Tsuma-tachi	My Train Is Supposed to be Going North But It's Going South	1992-11-28	Kokuei/Shintōhō Eiga
Widow: Bliss on the Seventh Day of Mourning 未亡人　初七日の悶え Mibojin: Shonanuka no Modae	The Monk Farted	1993-03-19	Kokuei/Shintōhō Eiga
Widow: Bliss in a Mourning Dress 未亡人　喪服の悶え Mibojin: Mofuku no Modae	Modern Story About Bandits	1993-11-19	Kokuei/Shintōhō Eiga
High Class Bathhouse Sex Technique: Blissful Secret Acts 高級ソープテクニック４　悶絶秘戯 Kokyu Soap Technique: Monzetsu Higi The Dream of Garuda	Dream of the Phoenix	1994-04-22	Kokuei/Shintōhō Eiga
Genuine Lesbian: Embarrassing Position 本番レズ　恥ずかしい体位 Honban Les: Hazukashii Taii	Fallen Angels in September	1994-11-25	Kokuei/Shintōhō Eiga
Lots of Dirty Stuff すけべてんこもり Sukebe Tenkomori	End of the World	1995-07-28	Kokuei/Shintōhō Eiga
Endless Sex 終わらないセックス Owaranai Sex	Night-Chirping Locust	1995-09-15	Kokuei/Shintōhō Eiga
Red Love Affair 赫い情事 Akai Joji	The Expected Scene	1996-01-12	Kokuei/Shintōhō Eiga
Kokkuri / Fox Spirit ＫＯＫＫＵＲＩ・こっくりさん Kokkuri-san		1997-05-24	Nikkatsu
Woman with Black Underwear: Snake-Headed Fish 黒い下着の女　雷魚 Kuroi Shitagi no Onna: Raigyo		1997-05-31	Kokuei/Shintōhō Eiga
Anarchy in Japansuke: The Woman Who Comes When Watched アナーキー・インじゃぱんすけ　見られてイク女 Anaakii in jyapansuke: mirarete iku onna		1999-04-23	Kokuei/Shintōhō Eiga
Hysteric	I Don't Want to Let You Go Until Dawn	2000-05-06	Legend Pictures
Tokyo X Erotica トーキョー×エロティカ　痺れる快楽 Tokyo X Erotica: Shibireru Kairaku		2001-08-31	Kokuei/Shintōhō Eiga
Rush!		2001-06-23	ElkInfinity
Dog Star ドッグ・スター		2002-04-27	Omega Micott Inc./Legend Pictures
Moon Child		2003-04-19	Shochiku/Mainichi Shimbun/WoWow
Yuda 「エロス番長」シリーズ　ユダ "Eros Honban" Series: Yuda		2004-08-21	EuroSpace
A Gap in the Skin 肌の隙間 Hada no Sukima		2004-12-07	Kokuei/Shintōhō Eiga
Sanctuary		2006-10-07	Legend Pictures
Shisei: Ochita Jorōgumo		2007-01-13	NTT Resonant/Art Port
Heaven's Story		2010-10-02
Antoki no Inochi		2011-11	Shochiku
Strayer's Chronicle		2015-06-27
64: Part I		2016-05-07
64: Part II		2016-06-11
Nariyuki na Tamashii		2017
The 8-Year Engagement		2017	Shochiku
Kiku and Guillotine		2018
My Friend "A"		2018
The Promised Land		2019
Threads: Our Tapestry of Love		2020
Mamorarenakatta Monotachi e		2021	Shochiku
Ashita no Shokutaku		2021	Kadokawa

References

1. "Zeze Takahisa". Nihon jinmei daijiten+Plus. Kōdansha. Retrieved 29 January 2013.
2. Domenig, Roland (2002). "Vital flesh: the mysterious world of Pink Eiga". Archived from the original on 18 November 2004. Retrieved 4 October 2007.
3. Zeze, Takahisa quoted in "Takahisa Zeze interview". Midnight Eye. Retrieved 4 October 2007.
4. Weisser, Thomas; Yuko Mihara Weisser (1998). "Spotlight: Four Kings of Pink (Takahisa Zeze)". Japanese Cinema Encyclopedia: The Sex Films. Miami: Vital Books : Asian Cult Cinema Publications. p. 487. ISBN 1-889288-52-7.
5. "Takahisa Zeze interview". Midnight Eye. Retrieved 4 October 2007.
6. Filmography from Weisser, Thomas; Yuko Mihara Weisser (1998). "Spotlight: Four Kings of Pink (Takahisa Zeze)". Japanese Cinema Encyclopedia: The Sex Films. Miami: Vital Books : Asian Cult Cinema Publications. pp. 487–492. ISBN 1-889288-52-7.; Takahisa Zeze at IMDb and "瀬々敬久 (Takahisa Zeze)" (in Japanese). Japanese Movie Database. Retrieved 4 October 2007.

• "Takahisa Zeze interview". Midnight Eye. Retrieved 4 October 2007.
• "Takahisa Zeze". Allmovie. Archived from the original on 26 April 2006. Retrieved 4 October 2007.
• "Takahisa Zeze". The Complete Index to World Film. Retrieved 1 July 2007.
• Takahisa Zeze at IMDb
• "瀬々敬久 (Takahisa Zeze)" (in Japanese). Japanese Movie Database. Retrieved 1 July 2007.
• Toda, Miho (4 March 2003). "Takahisa Zeze Interview" (in Japanese). channel.slowtrain.org. Retrieved 23 July 2009.
• Weisser, Thomas; Yuko Mihara Weisser (1998). "Spotlight: Four Kings of Pink (Takahisa Zeze)". Japanese Cinema Encyclopedia: The Sex Films. Miami: Vital Books : Asian Cult Cinema Publications. pp. 487–492. ISBN 1-889288-52-7.

External links

• Takahisa Zeze at IMDb