| Cloistered Nun: Runa’s Confessions (1976) |
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| Director: | Masaru Konuma |
| Writers: | Toshiro Ashizawa |
| Starring: | Runa Takamura, Kumi Taguchi, Roger Prince, and Aoi Nakajima |
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The Plot: Young Runa (Runa Takamura) is a nun who felt pushed into the monastery after her sister Kumi (Kumi Taguchi) stole her boyfriend. While Runa begins her new life as a nun, Kumi and the previously mentioned boyfriend immediately break off their relationship. For poor Runa, the life of peaceful worship that one expects of a nun turns out to be a nightmarish world of torture. The abbot at the monastery also happens to be a rather sadistic man who likes to get his jollies off with all of the fresh nuns, and poor Runa seems to be his main target. After being far away from home for a long period of time, Runa returns and approaches her sister with a large financial opportunity. However, this opportunity will only work for Kumi if she can team back up with Runa’s former lover. As the story begins to unfold, it becomes more apparent that Runa may be hiding a few tricks up her sleeve. |
| The Review |
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The only main problem with Cloistered Nun comes from its lack of engaging characters or even plot changes. The few interesting moments within Cloistered Nun usually arise from the kinkiest of sex acts that are performed, but even these moments transpire and turn into something rather elementary. The subplot revolving around Runa’s sister and her attempt to swindle Runa, by pretending to be in a committed relationship with Runa’s former lover so that she can grab the very lofty resell value of Runa’s former monastery, begins with a certain amount of intrigue but quickly devolves into something far less interesting. The monotonous movements of the script are only of interest whenever something spicy happens onscreen, but these moments unfortunately turn out to be far too infrequent. There are quite possibly some arguments being made within the film about imperialism and Western ideals being spread around, but I see this as less likely the case in comparison to Norifumi Suzuki’s clasasic School of the Holy Beast. Catholicism plays a far less sacred or prominent role within this film, and outside of a few moments of nun-related sex, this project becomes something else entirely different. I won’t completely dispose of the notion that Konuma had high aspirations for his film and its narrative content, but I am quite doubtful that this was a script that went through laborious rewrites or given considerable analytical thought.
| The Conclusion |
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