(The Pimp). “Of Imamura’s late films, Zegen is the most like his early masterworks: epic, energetic, sexually impudent, and grotesquely funny. A satire about colonialism, commerce, and carnality, Zegen is based on the true story of a hairdresser, Iheiji Muraoka (Ken Ogata), sent to Manchuria to spy on the Russian army. A born entrepreneur, Muraoka set up a chain of brothels throughout Asia—a kind of fornication franchise—and became ‘the big Boss of the South Seas.’ As Imamura portrays him, the ‘zegen’ is a decent but doltish and blindly patriotic businessman who views his development of a prostitution empire throughout Southeast Asia as the vanguard of Japan’s military adventurism: ‘For the sake of a great cause, I procure women.’”

—James Quandt, Cinematheque Ontario

• Written by Imamura, Kota Okabe. Photographed by Masao Tochizawa. With Ken Ogata, Mitsuko Baisho, Chung-Hsiung Ko, Norihei Miki. (120 mins, In Japanese with English subtitles, Color, 35mm, From The Japan Foundation, permission Toei)