FEMALE TROUBLE (1974)

"The world of hetrosexual is a sick and boring life."

Featuring at least 18 (by my count) cast members from PINK FLAMINGOS, FEMALE TROUBLE tells the entertaining story of Dawn Davenport (played by Divine).  When the film starts Dawn is in high school and desperately wants some "cha-cha heels" for Christmas.  When she doesn't get them she goes berserk and attacks her parents.  Even knocking the Christmas tree down on her mother.  She storms out of the house and is picked up by a seedy stranger (played by Divine not in drag).  They have loud sex on a mattress in the woods and she ends up pregnant.  She supports herself and her daughter (Mink Stole) by stealing.  Then one fateful day she meets the bizarre couple (Mary Vivian Pearce and David Lochary) that own the Lipstick Beauty Salon and her life changes forever.

FEMALE TROUBLE isn't as good as PINK FLAMINGOS but it's still a really fun film with lots of great performances.  Divine has the most outrageous screen presence, but Mink Stole was so hilarious she steals every scene she had with Divine.  Non-stop vulgar behavior, unattractive nudity I didn't even take screenshots of, lots of screaming, trampoline jumping, tons of flabby flesh on display, dismemberment, acid throwing, incest and a quick pace that never gives you time to be bored.  Recommended for fans of filth.

THE WORLD OF KANAKO (2014)

Whew! This film was exhausting.  It wasn't the story (although it was depressing) that wore me out, but the fast editing and the non-stop tight shots.  I honestly don't think there was a single shot in the entire film that was over 15 seconds long.  I only counted one that was 12 seconds.  On the bright side though, the music and the acting are great.

Former detective Koji Yakusho's daughter has disappeared.  His ex-wife doesn't even tell him until after she's been missing for a few days!  He barely even knows his daughter, but nothing will stop him from finding her.  Even if it means he has to rape two women, sexually assault an underage girl, get shot once, vomit a few times, kidnap a woman, step on glass, shoot a guys hand off, get stabbed with a screwdriver, purposely wreck his car twice, kidnap a young boy and attack nearly every person he comes in contact with.  And was it all worth it?  Not really, because in the end he finds out that this daughter is pretty much the human incarnation of the demon Pazuzu from the "The Exorcist" novel.  This chick is pure evil.

Despite the frantic editing, I still enjoyed THE WORLD OF KANAKO.  At first it was pissing me off, but eventually I began to get used to it and got lost in the story.  Good performances by Koji Yakusho and Nana Komatsu, dark as fook story, runtime that was 20 minutes too long, great music (I especially liked "LSD" by Trippple Nippples and "Free Fall" by Yoko Kanno), male-on-female rape, male-on-male rape, some guy stepping on another guys exposed intestines, crooked cops, torture, sexual predators.  THE WORLD OF KANAKO isn't a feel good film by any stretch of the imagination, but if you enjoy dark crime dramas then you'll probably like it.  Just be ready for the editing.