Japanese cinema has a proud tradition of body horror and over the past ten years or so, the Sushi Typhoon phenomenon alone has given us a whole host of flying limbs and mad mutations which are lots of fun to watch. For many of us, films of this ilk have pretty much set the bar for what’s possible to do on screen, with each subsequent movie going one step further – nothing is too silly or extreme. Lest we forget, though, Japan also boasts an equally proud heritage of kink, and in Mai-Chan’s Daily Life, the two have become one. A fetish film coupled with body horror? The result is nothing if not memorable…
Based, as you might have guessed, on an adult manga (which features in the opening and closing credits, as a nice nod to the source material) Mai-Chan’s Daily Life starts with a young woman, Miyako, who is seeking employment. She gets invited for an interview to begin work as a live-in maid at an isolated estate on the outskirts of Tokyo. There’s another maid already incumbent, the cute Mai of the film’s title – whose role it is to show Miyako the ropes. Still, given that the interview involved stripping off ‘to get measured’, it doesn’t take a genius to work out that the job is not exactly conventional. The girls have to dress up as cats to eat their meals off the floor, for example, and they must keep the torture chamber immaculately clean. Their employers – Mr and Mrs Kaede – are indeed a pair of perverts, but they’re enabled to go that little bit further in their pursuits by the fact that Mai seems to have the supernatural ability to regenerate, whatever is done to her. So the Kaedes routinely gouge out her eyes, hack off her digits, and then simply wait for it all to grow back. And, when Miyako sees them doing this, it isn’t long until she’s getting off on the hi-jinks as well.
Considering this is a film really about sexual sadism, the tone of Mai-Chan’s Daily Life is closer to black comedy than anything else and the tone is largely rather light, with the film not taking itself terribly seriously. Much of this is down to the unaffected, very natural performances given by the two girls, Miyako Akane and An Koshi – the latter of whom has some pedigree as a genre film actress (having worked with the incomparable Asami in the past, for instance) but Miyako Akane is completely new to acting, yet does a fine job here, believably vulnerable and batshit insane by turns (see image above for evidence). The film is visually incredibly stylish, alternating between lo-fi black and white footage and lurid high colour, with lots of ambitious shooting styles being used, effective set pieces and an interesting musical score. Elements of the film reminded me of Buttgereit and particularly Nekromantik in places, not least in some of the grotesque ornamentation in the interiors – and other films came to mind during viewing, too, namely the splatter-tastic Naked Blood, which deals with its subject matter in a similar way, and perhaps also arguably the strongest chapter in the infamous Guinea Pig movies, Flowers of Flesh and Blood, though without the grim handling. The film seems to have a sense of where it fits in to Japanese genre cinema which has preceded it, but it’s very much its own animal too, and if you thought you’d seen it all – you haven’t.
Pretty much every kink you can think of is represented in Mai-Chan’s Daily Life, so there really is something for everyone, though aficionados of high heels and hosiery probably get the best deal here. The film also features everything from frilly pants to cannibalism, however, so if your tastes run a little more niche, then you still won’t be too disappointed. Although plot is not something the film particularly concerns itself with, the whole thing is irrepressibly warped and as such, oddly charming; I would say it’s very difficult to come away from a viewing without having been very entertained. And, if you want to know more about what in the world was behind this project, the great Redemption Films release comes complete with a two-part behind-the-scenes documentary, as well as featuring the original trailer too.
Mai-Chan’s Daily Life is available to buy now from Redemption Films.