Female Prisoner Scorpion: Jailhouse 41
Shunya Ito’s first entry in the Female Prisoner Scorpion series, Female Prisoner #701: Scorpion, was essentially a women-in-prison picture that combined the action, violence and titillation typical of that subgenre with a striking number of audacious artistic touches. Ito’s second entry, Female Prisoner Scorpion: Jailhouse 41, was a whole other animal entirely. Emboldened, perhaps, by the success of the first film and the amount of creative leeway given him by Toei, Ito this time largely dispensed with genre trappings and delivered a film that was even more obviously the product of a singular directorial vision. Relentlessly bleak and harrowing, yet suffused with a desolate, breathtaking beauty and daring sense of visual invention, Jailhouse 41 is like a nightmare you don’t want to wake up from.
#1 by MatthewF on September 27, 2008 - 2:23 am
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Does anybody know if the titles of these films are straight translations? As they’re always so random. During my time in japan, many times I saw random collections of english words thrown together to form a ‘cool’ slogan; Terminal Monkey Dance Lightning!
#2 by Joshua on September 27, 2008 - 4:04 pm
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Yeah, that’s a pretty direct translation. It’s a lot pithier (is that a word?) in Japanese.
#3 by Blake Matthews on September 27, 2008 - 5:00 pm
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Is it part of the Japanese language to have a two-word description of a person in a title: Female Prisoner Scorpion, Devil Hunter Yoko, Vampire Princess Miryu(sp.), Magical Student (whatever), Sukiyaki Western Django, etc.
#4 by El Santo on September 27, 2008 - 6:18 pm
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I call that the “Modifier Noun Proper-Name” formula. Heaven knows it’s sufficiently ubiquitous to deserve a name of its own.
#5 by Joshua on September 27, 2008 - 11:40 pm
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It’s also related to word order and how it’s translated. Japanese puts all modifying words and clauses before the noun, and apparently whoever translates these titles doesn’t want to mess with the word order, probably to keep the Japanese “feel” to the title. “Sasori the female prisoner,” “Yoko the Devil Hunter,” and “Miyu the Vampire Princess” would be equally good translations.
#6 by MatthewF on September 28, 2008 - 2:33 am
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Surprised Website-reader me
#7 by KeithA on September 29, 2008 - 8:50 am
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Although none of this excuses the convenience store I saw in Tokyo called “Oh Felching.” Someone learned some English slang but didn’t, perhaps, fully investigate the meaning of that slang.
#8 by El Santo on September 29, 2008 - 9:32 am
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“Although none of this excuses the convenience store I saw in Tokyo called ‘Oh Felching.’ ”
Not quite as good as that, but my favorite thing along those lines from my Tokyo trip was a little boutique in (I think) Harajuku called “Nudy Boy.” Obviously, they sold clothes.
#9 by Todd on September 29, 2008 - 10:44 am
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““Sasori the female prisoner,” “Yoko the Devil Hunter,” and “Miyu the Vampire Princess” would be equally good translations.”
Other translation options are less clear. For instance, is it “Terrifying High School for Girls”, or “High School for Terrifying Girls”?
Also, I’m sure it will surprise no one that there is no reference to anything called “Jailhouse 41” anywhere in this movie.