Notes

After The Devil's Path (2014) and Twisted Justice (2016), Director Kazuya Shiraishi takes on playwriting in his new "roman-porno" Dawn of the Felines. Portraying a journalistic perspective on the lives of women living bravely in the current society, Shiraishi pays a tribute to the great Noboru Tanaka's "roman-porno" movie Night of the Felines (1972). Talented newcomer Juri Ihata plays the leading role of Masako. Ihata made her debut as a child model at age 2 and has acted in many films, dramas and plays, including a role of Miho Nakayama's childhood in A Sleeping Forest (1998, CX). Shiraishi recommended Ihata to his mentor and director Koji Wakamatsu about 10 years ago during the shooting of Cycling Chronicles: Landscapes The Boy Saw, for which Shiraishi was the assistant director. He considered meeting Ihata again after 10 years as destiny and picked her for the leading role. Ihata boldly takes on love scenes too in the movie, which is her first as the main actor. Other characters in the story include a single mother Yui and a housewife working as sex worker Rie, both of whom work at the same place as Masako. The role of Yui is played by Satsuki Maue who presents a refreshing portrayal of the character in her second film as an actress, while Michie, the actress who made a spectacular debut with Imprint/Masters of Horror: Imprint, enacts her role without inhibition.
Then, among the male characters surrounding these women, there is the manager of the sex club where they work, played with a touch of humor by Takuma Otoo of the popular actors' group TEAM NACS, who also featured in Twisted Justice, and a supporting role played by Tomohiro Kaku, a regular in Shunji Iwai's works, who pitches in with good looks and solid acting. The film also features Hideaki Murata and Kazunobu Kubota of the comedy duo Torosalmon as struggling artists involved in underground work. Murata's character plays a key role in the unfolding of the plot as single mother Yui's customer.
Also making an appearance are Ken Yoshizawa who was part of Tanaka's Night of the Felines, and "roman-porno" queen Kazuko Shirakawa in a cameo role as the owner of an SM club. Shirakawa praises the script saying she would have liked to play the leading role had she been younger.

Cast

Juri Ihata
Satsuki Maue
Hideaki Murata

Director・Work Data