Nurses Sex Journal / Watashi no sex-hakusho (1976)

One of Japanese director Chusei Sone's better pinku eiga films of the period, this softcore melodrama features talk-show hostess Maria Mitsui as Akemi, a laboratory technician who spends her evenings spying on her gangster neighbor (Nobutaka Masutomi) as he makes love to his stripper girlfriend (Meika Seri). The objects of Akemi's voyeuristic attentions learn of her interests and suggest that she'd make a fine prostitute. Not surprisingly, Akemi agrees and channels her interests into this more lucrative occupation. Despite the silly plot, this well-made Nikkatsu film was a bit of a comeback for Sone, who had slipped from his reputation as the studio's most reliable director with a series of remarkably dull efforts in the mid-'70s. This one manages to be entertaining, and was a sign of even better films to come, as Sone entered the most creative period of his career with superior efforts like Tenshi No Harawata Akai Kyoshitsu and Akai Boko