Fantastic Fest 2011

Director Shinji Imaoka live in person!

Everything in Asuka’s life was going according to 
plan. Content with her job in the fish factory, she spends her nights
 making preparations for her upcoming marriage to her boss, Taki. That
 is until one day when she spots a mysterious creature emerging from a
 lake near work. Asuka quickly realizes that it is Aoki, an old school
 friend of hers who drowned at the age of 17 and has been reincarnated
 as a kappa – a scaly, reptilian watersprite found in Japanese 
folklore. There is an instant attraction, but reality sets in and soon
 Asuka is going to great lengths to hide not only Aoki’s true identity, 
but also their true feelings for each other.



Playfully riffing on the kappa mythology, UNDERWATER LOVE is not your
 typical romantic comedy. Director Shinji Imaoka, a Fantastic Fest alum
 (UNCLE'S PARADISE, 2007) and one of the legendary Seven Lucky Gods of 
Pink, turns the popular Japanese softcore genre on its head. Employing 
everything from musical numbers by the French-German group Stereo
Total, unforgettable sumo wrestling and necrophilia sequences and
 slapstick hijinks worthy of a British farce, Imaoka culls together an
inventive cinematic experience that is as silly as it is sensual. Shot
 by world-class cinematographer Christopher Doyle, the man responsible
 for much of the iconic imagery of the Wong Kar-Wai films, UNDERWATER LOVE brings a level of visual ingenuity to pornographic cinema.



But fear not - for all of its innovation, UNDERWATER LOVE does not
 disappoint in shock value. Reveling in the absurdity of kappa-human 
copulation, Imaoka presents us with some outrageous sex scenes 
involving aquatically enhanced genitalia that are sure to illicit a
strong audience response. Raunchy, hilarious and, at times, just down
right wrong, UNDERWATER LOVE is one naughty good time you won’t want 
to miss out on. (Michael Lerman)

Japanese films at Fantastic Fest 2011 are presented by WELL GO USA ENTERTAINMENT