Zoom Up: Seiko's Thigh

Director - Koyu Ohara (Female Leopard, Youth Part II)
Starring - Mayumi Terashima (Love Hard, Love Deep), Mari Kishida (Bakku ga daisuki!), and Jun Ueno (Heat, Top Stripper)
Release Date - 1982
Genre - Romance/Drama
Format - DVD (Personal Collection) (Screener)

Rating (out of 5):

     My sleazy marathon is coming to an end.  I started this raunchy adventure on Sunday when I tossed in Dustin Mills' Slaughterhouse Slumber Party.  I followed that up with several Impulse Pictures releases.  The first was the very uneventful Helena before diving into a few Japanese torture porn flicks.  Lolita: Vibrator Torture and Woman in a Box: Virgin Sacrifice were both surprisingly fun.  The last film in this sleazfest was the 1982 romantic drama Zoom Up: Seiko's Thigh.  Once again I want to thank Impulse Pictures for sending these films my way.  Normally, I would have skipped all these if I was left to find them on my own so thank you for broadening my taste in films.
     The film follows a lonely photographer who is in love with the woman that lives in the apartment across the street from his own.  He has promised himself to her and vows to never sleep with any woman until he can be with her.  However, he soon changes his mind when he catches her in a car with her professor.  Later that evening he finds himself in the woods with a young woman where he loses his virginity.  This opens up a new world for him and finds himself in several different sexual encounters before his love stumbles in on him with a stranger.  Her confesses his love for her only to be shunned by her.  Later she finds herself in a very sticky situation with her professor and the photographer intervenes to save her only to find himself on the business end of an asswhoopin by a group of guys.  She finally sees him for the man he is and confesses her love for him.
     I was expecting another roughie when I tossed this one in and was greeted with a movie I could almost see people living here in the states during the Hughes era of the 80s...minus the dry humping and nudity of course.  It was actually very light hearted in a sense and fun to see just where we were going next.  The acting in this one is very well done.  There is a few scenes where we get some awkward reactions or unconventional reactions but the film is pretty consistent with solid performances.  The story for this one was not what I was expecting.  I was expecting another weird torture porn horror flick with horrible sex scenes.  Instead, its a weird romantic drama following a pervert that photographs women pissing or up skirt who falls in love with someone who doesn't want him at first but eventually comes around.  It's a weird story but it works.  Finally, this one is void of blood and no death scenes.  It focuses on the story and how the characters react to the scenes.  Overall, Zoom Up is one of the few Impulse Pictures releases that I will be revisiting.  I really enjoyed the story and can see myself watching this one a few more times.  Check it out now on DVD from Impulse Pictures.