RSSChisato Morishita – Aphrodite
06 Mar 2009 Comments Off
in Reviews
Introduction: This is the second of the double review of the double release from E-Net Frontier. Likely, you have just finished the review of Artemis done by Guest Reviewer Al-The-Editor published in early March, 2006. At the time of pre-publication, he has just handed off the lead to me for my review of Aphrodite. Please continue:
Chisato Morishita – Aphrodite (October 19th, 2005)
E-Net Frontier
Catalog # – ENFD-5024 – Region 2 Disc – 4:3 Aspect
Running Time: 55 Minutes
OK Al, thanks for the lead-in, I have control. Now I’ll bring forth Aphrodite with Chisato Morishita in the title role. According to Wikipedia, Aphrodite is the Goddess of Love and Beauty in the pantheon of Greek mythology.
For sure, Chisato Morishita qualifies to carry the title of a modern day Aphrodite.
The opening montage has the same upbeat rock score that closed out the last scene in Artemis, which Al just discussed. In fact the closing 30 seconds of this montage seem like they were part of the closing scene of Artemis, but instead used here, with Chisato looking grand as she playfully takes us on a tour of the old town of the magnificent resort of Mykonos.
Let’s talk about Chisato; she’s tall and lean. Her personality is very outgoing. She’s talkative and she smiles often as well as easily. She’s perfectly comfortable in front of a camera. I get a sense that she doesn’t need to work hard when she’s on screen. It’s like she knows men can’t take their eyes off her. I think this adds to her naturalness and her ability to relax on screen. She can just walk down the street, taking in the sights, and from our perspective, that’s fine.
About Mykonos, the style of most homes is a simple white box-like structure. So, many of the scenes will show white homes as backgrounds. The color comes from the doors, shutters, and banisters with Chisato’s clothing providing the only additional color. You’ll see what I mean.
Take this scene with Chisato in a nightgown. Between the white walls, the dark shadows, and the ambient light, her garment provides almost the sole element of color. This is a masterful bit of color and light management.
Chisato looks like she’s going to blend in with rocks in the next scene; only her sparkling silver pumps and her very light blue colored bathing costume mark her presence. They might have shot this scene with a camera placement level with or above her. The constant look from below placed her face in shadow.
Chisato looks great in this black bikini, but not nearly as good as she does in the white bikini (below) set against the deep blue sea and the light blue sky. The deck is high above the water.
The chairs are blue, the table is white, the drapes are white, and the bottle of sparkling water is a rich blue. So it’s no wonder that you notice the one object that’s out of place: the horizontal yellow stripe which is actually the slice of lemon in her drinking glass.
Another marvelously composed shot, if you ask me. Sometimes if you pay attention, these gems capture your attention despite the obvious charms of the model.
By the way, did you notice the placement of the rose on her bikini panties?
There’s a bath-tub and shower scene, and strangely enough it seems that quite often the model is asked to put on more clothing for the shower than she might wear to the beach or the swimming pool. She wears this pink slip over her white bikini in the bath-tub, but when she’s drying off, it’s gone. Just another thing to ponder, eh?
We find Chisato out by the pool next. This scene gives all of us another opportunity to notice the white cottages which seems to grow like wild flowers on the hillside.
Chisato looks great in the black dress in the next scene, only they give her nothing to do. “Just pose on this sofa, then maybe just stand up by the window. We’ll do all the work.” It’s kind of languid and romantic if not active.
Mykonos is known for its historic mini-windmills. Check out Chisato in the cute sun hat and the white knit bikini top. I thought this scene was one of the best in the DVD. Looking out over the hillside homes with Chisato in the foreground (below) was just magical.
Before you know it, we are on the beach. Chisato wears a black and gold bikini. The sea gently washes the shore and the overall effect is soothing, relaxing, and tempting. Look at the horizon with other Greek islands in view — will you be consulting a travel agent? This DVD clearly showcases both a beautiful woman and a beautiful destination.
I’ll score Chisato’s Aphrodite at four point zero, and leave you with the thought that I thoroughly enjoyed it. Chisato narrates intermittently and her excitement comes through even without understanding a word. Finally, after the credits, we get a look at Chisato at work. Looks like they asked to do a modeling gig as well as star in the videos.
And now, we’ll let Al the Editor sum up the experience of Chisato Morishita in Greece…
Now you’ve seen them both. Director Takao Oshima and Director of Photography Naoki Takanuma worked on both videos, with Noboyuki Kihara on camera. Working as a team they produced something so typically Japanese yet with more than a hint of the Hellenic. Stylistically there is a particular “look” running throughout. The model frequently appears against a bright background while the highlights are allowed to blow out to plain white. On many shots, a soft, dark vignetting appears at the corners of the frame. None of this is unintentional. The Director wanted it that way.
Coming fresh to idol videos I wasn’t sure what to expect in the way of music. What we have here is pleasant and doesn’t get in the way of the visuals. I can imagine the Director sitting down with a pile of production music CDs. Unavoidable fact #1: the only way to choose film music is to listen to it. What usually happens is that you start listening then, when you wake up, the CD has ended and you can’t remember a single tune. But now and again, you will think, “Ah, this is just right for such-and-such a scene!” That’s probably what’s happened here.
What isn’t always immediately apparent is that the music is what determines the length of each scene. Here, the pictures are cut to the individual tunes, which is an easy way of working because you know in advance that a scene will run for say 3 minutes 37 seconds. You lay down the music track first then fit the shots in with the natural cutting points. You have a beginning, a middle and an ending. And when you’ve done, it isn’t disjointed, jerky or rushed, it just sounds right.
The Director and his crew, and later, the Editors — three of them are credited — work as a team to create something they can be pleased with. And that’s not the only teamwork we’ve witnessed here. For the first time, AoV has used two reviewers, working independently to produce a double review of a complementary pair of DVDs. Truly, there’s a lot to be said for teamwork.
AFTERWARD: As you have finished the reviews by now, you’re seeing them on JustMeMike’s New Also on Video website, which was launched only a few months ago in December of 2008. Before that, beginning in August of 2006, The New Also On Video was hosted at Gijo.org which was the Gravure Idol tribute website; the work of Zatoichi, a friend of mine in Japan.
But even before that, from November 1998 until April of 2006, the original Also on Video was published elsewhere on the web. We did it in a monthly web-zine format, meaning the new issue replaced the old issue, which would vanish forever from the web. While I wrote each of those monthly issues, each containing 5 or 6 articles or reviews, it was Al-The-Editor who not only edited my texts, but also did all the layout for each article as well as the overall design of the site.
So when he said in the Artemis review that he had never seen an idol video it was true. His only hands-on activity with gravure idol videos were the words and pictures I sent him. He was a talented guy. Al had many other projects going including web-design, writing, editing not only for me but for many other authors, as well as making his own videos for Flying Rabbit Productions. Al lived in the UK and I lived in the US, but our cross-the-pond work got done anyway. But Al’s health started to deteriorate in late 2005, so I sent him a number of Idol videos in early 2006. We then decided to do the Artemis and Aphrodite reviews in the format that you just read.
Al edited one more issue of AoV in April 2006. That was the last issue of the old AoV. He passed away in the late spring of 2006. Despite working together on AoV from ’98 well into the 21st Century’s first decade, sadly, we never met face to face. He has been missed.