aka Imprisonment Factory

As narrator Natsumi (Ai Takeuchi) tells it, the “factory” is a subject of urban legend: a hidden, gangster-run facility where people deep in debt or trouble work off their obligations and are never heard from or seen again. Her boyfriend Koji, a reporter, goes undercover to investigate but disappears. Desperate Natsumi deliberately maxes out her credit cards so she can penetrate the secrets of the factory and find Koji.

Men and women labor in separate divisions of the factory, but the girls in Natsumi’s section aren’t safe from male predators. When any girl violates the rules, the “guidance counselor” can hike up her debt by thousands of dollars. Or, he can jump her bones and maybe forget the incident – maybe. Security personnel also feel free to take girls behind the constantly whirring and grinding machinery.

The only place where male and female workers meet is in the cafeteria, where Natsumi submits to an “elbow job” in an attempt to get information about Koji. But a catfight ensues between Natsumi and a jealous girl. The girl is taken away by male security guards, but Natsumi gets a trip to the ladies’ room with female supervisor Kurusawa (Nagisa Umeno), who started as a factory girl but fucked her way out of debt and into a high position. She douses Natsumi with buckets of water as the girl begs to know Koji’s whereabouts.

After the guidance counselor whispers to Natsumi that he has what she seeks, she takes the rap for another girl so she can be taken to his office. But he produces paperwork confirming Koji’s death in an accident. When Natsumi accuses him of lying, he shoves the papers in her face, tackles her on the sofa, grabs a scissors, cuts open her top and torments her nipples with the instrument. Natsumi puts up a good fight, but soon she is just another victim of the “counseling couch”.

Snooping in Kurusawa’s bedroom, Natsumi notices that she constantly wears a certain key around her neck, even while she’s boinking the company president. To get close to Kurusawa and her key, Natsumi presents herself in the women’s lavatory and initially co-operates in some sudsy snogging. She eventually rejects Kurusawa, but comes away with an impression of the key in a bar of soap (crafty little vixen – she must’ve watched a lot of prison movies.) But Kurusawa learns that Natsumi has been spying on her, so she ties the girl AOH in the counseling office. Natsumi feigns shock, but the lascivious president gets a reaction from her when he engages in some strategic groping. He dismisses Kurusawa and the others, then gets busy assaulting her on that same damn sofa (!). Natsumi’s hands are still tied together but unfortunately she’s not tied down to anything. But she looks great and her reactions are very nice. Interestingly, in the shot of the aftermath (which I really like), Natsumi’s hands are tied behind instead of in front (?). The material used to bind her wrists looks like pieces of rubber hose or straps.

Other girls in Natsumi’s section get raped earlier in the film, but we only see this happen in a brief montage with Natsumi narrating. I won’t give away the ending, but there’s no more GIMPage in the movie.

Movie plusses: The performances are decent, and the filmmakers do quite a bit with a small budget. Star Ai Takeuchi spends most of the early part of the movie wearing an enigmatic expression, like a Japanese Mona Lisa. But she becomes more animated as the movie goes on and the action gets hotter. The girls struggle and resist well. Takeuchi and Umeno are attractive rivals. Natsumi’s rape scenes are quite lengthy and intense. I never used the FF button.

Movie minuses: Some might be disappointed by the lack of explicit sex. There’s little bondage and no torture. This story is really about sexual slavery. These girls are bound by their oppressive circumstances, not by ropes or chains. I would like to have seen longer depictions of the other girls getting “penalized”.

In the “Making of...” feature on the DVD, Takeuchi is shown doing a very sexy, sweaty photoshoot in a much more revealing outfit than the one she actually wears in the film. Too bad they didn’t have her (and the other girls) look like this in the movie itself.